Taylor Swift feared happiness could 'dry up' her songwriting

The new album includes a song which interpolates George Michael's Father Figure. The late singer's estate said they were "delighted" when Swift approached them about using it.

"When we heard the track we had no hesitation in agreeing to this association between two great artists and we know George would have felt the same," Michael's estate said on Facebook.

Another song on the album, Actually Romantic, prompted speculation that the song is a diss track about Charli XCX.

But others have played that down, noting that Swift said last year that she was "blown away" by Charli XCX's work, and praised the British star's music as "surreal and inventive".

Here are six other things we learned from Swift's interviews, plus what critics are saying about the album so far.

The singer spoke affectionately in several of the interviews about how she's loving life with Kelce.

"He's such a natural, just in life. He's just never been nervous about anything in his entire life, so it's pretty fun," she told Heart's Emma Bunton and Jamie Theakston.

"He's fun and vibrant and has this infectious personality, makes me laugh so much. There's a line in a song that says, you just wanted a best friend who you think is hot - and that's kind of it!"

That song is Wi$h Li$t, from the new album, which includes the lines: "Please, God, bring me a best friend who I think is hot / I thought I had it right, once, twice, but I did not."

Her prayers, it seems, have now been answered.

She added: "It's this interesting thing, that you've been you your whole life, but we are different shades of ourselves at different volume levels, and this person came into my life and everybody's like, 'Yeah, you've never been so you'.

"People fuel you, they fuel every part of you, and they make you walk taller, and they make you present in a more vibrant way. And hopefully that bleeds into the music too."

Swift showed off her diamond engagement ring, which she confirmed Kelce designed with an "amazing jeweller" called Kindred Lubeck.

"She does all of her gold engraving by hand," Swift told Heart. "I just thought all of her stuff was so cool, so I'd shown him a video a year and a half ago.

"And he was just paying attention to everything, it turns out, because when I saw the ring I was like, 'Aaahh, I know who made that!'

"And also that you listened to me. It was like, you really know me. I didn't know what I would want, but he did somehow. And that's kind of a flex."

Kelce popped the question in his garden, surrounded by lavish flower arrangements, straight after the couple recorded an episode of his podcast in August.

"He really crushed it in surprising me," she told Norton. "While we were talking on his podcast, he had a complete garden built out the back of his house to propose in. He went all out – 10 out of 10."

Asked when the wedding is happening, Swift joked, "you'll know", adding that it will not be until she has finished promoting the new album.

"I want to do the album stuff first, and the wedding is what happens after in terms of planning," she said. "I think it will be fun to plan."

Swift's Eras Tour was an "astonishing challenge", she told Hits Radio's Fleur East, Will Best and James Barr, saying how proud she was of her crew, performers and indeed herself.

The tour famously became the first in history to surpass $1bn (£786m) in ticket sales when it ended in December after nearly two years. It featured a 44-song setlist lasting more than three hours, with 149 shows spanning five continents.

All this meant setting herself some tough goals.

"So you're like, don't get sick, don't let any outside noise into your head, focus on only this one thing," she said.

Swift wrote and recorded her latest album at the same time as during her recent Eras Tour.

Swift explained she tries to be very measured about how she uses her mobile and social media, with her focus on being "peaceful and happy".

"I really am not much of a scroller at all," she told Hits Radio.

"I don't have the apps on my phone, because it's really effective, they know what I want to see and they're going to show it to me.

"So I'd rather spend those hours doing something else or planning something fun for the fans for the way we're going to put out this album, or baking."

She added: "I have a lot of hobbies, and I didn't really have as many hobbies when I spent a lot of time scrolling.

"It's been so much fun mandating a different relationship with social media. When there's so much of any type of opinion about me, it's like, don't put that in my brain."

The singer also discussed how she bought back the master recordings of her earlier albums this year, something she described as "a lifelong dream".

"I don't respond to stuff generally, but not owning it really pissed me off," she told Norton.

"I didn't think I should be given it – I was happy to pay and at a premium. I am glad I spoke publicly about it and my fans got behind it and championed it.

"I couldn't believe it happened. Travis and I were in tears when it did. Every time it is mentioned, I get a wave of euphoria still."

In the music industry, the owner of a master recording controls the way it is distributed and licensed. The artist still earns royalties, but controlling the masters offers protection over how the work is used in future.

To date, she has released four re-recorded albums - known as "Taylor's Versions" - with dozens of bonus tracks and supplementary material.

Meanwhile, The Life of a Showgirl has received broadly positive reviews from critics, some of which have been shared by Swift on social media.

Rolling Stone's Maya Georgi awarded the album five stars, saying Swift "hand-picks elements from all of her eras, just as she did on tour, and combines what works best".

In a four-star review, the Independent's Roisin O'Connor said: "The Life of a Showgirl might be one of her most uneven records, but she's as compelling as she's ever been – the showgirl, the ringmaster and the circus all in one."

There was a colder reception from the Guardian's Alexis Petridis, whose two-star review said the album was "dull razzle-dazzle from a star who seems frazzled", while the Financial Times' Ludovic Hunter-Tilney said the album was "charismatic, but lacks sparkle".

But the Telegraph Neil McCormick awarded four stars, noting: "The overwhelming emotional mood is relief. It pervades the songs, a self-soothing blanket of gratitude that she has been rescued from solitude."