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Taylor Swift Prepares for an Epic Journey to the Super Bowl. Will She Make It?

US singer-songwriter Taylor Swift made history with her fourth Album of the Year Grammy, this time for 'Midnights'. Valerie Macon / AFP
US singer-songwriter Taylor Swift made history with her fourth Album of the Year Grammy, this time for 'Midnights'. Valerie Macon / AFP
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Taylor Swift Prepares for an Epic Journey to the Super Bowl. Will She Make It?

US singer-songwriter Taylor Swift made history with her fourth Album of the Year Grammy, this time for 'Midnights'. Valerie Macon / AFP
US singer-songwriter Taylor Swift made history with her fourth Album of the Year Grammy, this time for 'Midnights'. Valerie Macon / AFP

Will she make it?
Taylor Swift's last song will still be ringing in the ears of thousands of fans at the Tokyo Dome on Saturday night when the singer is expected to rush to a private jet at Haneda airport that will take her on a time-zone-spanning journey to see her boyfriend, NFL star Travis Kelce, play in the Super Bowl in Las Vegas.
The prospect of this race against time, crossing nine time zones and the international date line, has fired imaginations, and speculation, for weeks.
At Saturday night’s concert, there was plenty of evidence of the unique cultural phenomenon that is the Swift-Kelce relationship, a nexus of professional football and the huge star power of Swift. In addition to sequined dresses celebrating Swift in the packed Tokyo Dome, there were Travis Kelce jerseys and hats and other gear celebrating his team, the Kansas City Chiefs. Some in Tokyo spent thousands of dollars to attend the pop superstar’s concerts this week.
To call the worldwide scrutiny of Swift's travels intense is an understatement.
Fans have tracked her jet. The planet-warming carbon emissions of her globe-trotting travels have been criticized. Officials have weighed in on her ability to park her jet in Las Vegas airports.
Even Japanese diplomats have gotten into the act. The Japanese Embassy in Washington posted on social media that she could make the Super Bowl in time, including in their statement three Swift song titles – “Speak Now”, “Fearless” and “Red."
“If she departs Tokyo in the evening after her concert, she should comfortably arrive in Las Vegas before the Super Bowl begins,” it said.
Office worker Hitomi Takahashi, 29, bought matching Taylor Swift sweatshirts along with her friend and was taking photos just outside of the dome on Saturday. “I hope she can return in time. It’s so romantic,” she said.
She is aware of the criticisms Swift is facing about her private jets, but said the singer was being singled out unfairly.
“Many other people are flying on business, and she is here for her work. She faces a bashing because she is famous and stands out,” Takahashi said.
Swift has been crisscrossing the globe this week already.
Before coming to Asia, she attended the Grammys in Los Angeles, winning her 14th Grammy and a record-breaking fourth Album of the Year award for “Midnights.” The show was watched by nearly 17 million people. She also made a surprise announcement that her next album is ready to drop in April.
Then the four concerts in Tokyo, and now apparently a rushed trip to try to make it to Las Vegas to watch Kelce, the tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs, play in the Super Bowl. She has followed Kelce for much of the Chiefs’ season.
If it all goes as planned she’s then expected to fly to Australia later this week to continue her tour.
“This week is truly the best kind of chaos,” Swift posted Wednesday on Instagram.

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Keri Hilson's 'We Need to Talk' Marks Her Return to Music after a 15-Year Absence

Keri Hilson poses for a portrait on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)
Keri Hilson poses for a portrait on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)
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Keri Hilson's 'We Need to Talk' Marks Her Return to Music after a 15-Year Absence

Keri Hilson poses for a portrait on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)
Keri Hilson poses for a portrait on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)

The last time Keri Hilson put out an album, Barack Obama was in the second year of his first term as US president, the iPad was released and Instagram was brand new.
“On some days, I’m like that was just a blink away. But for the most part, yeah, it feels like a long time because I’ve been waiting. I felt stagnant, I felt stuck for a while, and conflicted,” said the two-time Grammy-nominated artist. “I’m very much approaching this like I’m starting over because that’s how it feels to me. I’ve lived nine lives since I last released ... I’m a whole different person.”
Hilson, the 42-year-old R&B star known for late 2000s hits like “Knock You Down,” featuring Kanye West and Ne-Yo. and “Pretty Girl Rock,” released “WE NEED TO TALK: LOVE” on Friday. It's her third album, following 2010’s “No Boys Allowed,” and is the first of a trilogy set for release this year. Led by the sultry single “Bae,” the nine-track album delves into romance and introspection.
“I feel resolved, both with the art and within about stepping back into the light. So, I think that resolve kind of had to be found before I felt confident enough to release the body of work and also unleash myself to the world again,” explained Hilson, who said she’s never stopped recording. “There were songs in my past that I felt were political moves, songs I didn’t really love that I had to sing ... I didn’t want to feel like that this time around.”
THE DISAPPEARANCE
One of those songs was a leaked remix to her popular 2009 single “Turnin Me On” featuring Lil Wayne, which peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100. Lyrics included diss fans perceived to be aimed at Beyoncé.
Hilson, who had yet to drop her introductory album, “In A Perfect World,” which debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard Top 200 and No. 1 on Top R&B albums, claimed that she was forced to sing the lines, “She can sing / But she need to move it to the left, left,” assumed to reference Beyoncé’s “Irreplaceable.” She says she was threatened her album might not be released if she refused.
Last week, Hilson trended on social media following an interview with iHeartMedia’s “The Breakfast Club” after recalling the incident. While she has talked about it several times in the past, during that interview, the singer publicly named those involved, including producer Polow Da Don who she was signed to. She did not name singer-songwriter Ester Dean. However, after social media users tagged Dean in posts, she later identified herself.
The ending of a decade long relationship, a lack of control over her career and the intense, never-ending backlash from the BeyHive triggered depression and led to her retreat from music.
THE COMEBACK
During her time away, the Georgia native embarked on a journey of healing that included therapy, journaling and spiritual retreats.
“There were some perspectives that I needed to uncover ... untruths, beliefs that I kind of picked up or inherited about myself,” said Hilson, who shifted to acting.
Her comeback has included very selective press, avoiding what she describes as “new media” outlets such as social media-driven platforms, saying monetization can reward the promotion of gossip or incentivize the creation of lies. The salacious blog culture of the 2010s was a driving force in fanning the flames of her perceived beef with Beyoncé, who has never publicly commented on the situation.
Hilson “can definitely operate and navigate within the realm of R&B. She has a fan base,” said Keithan Samuels, founder of the popular website RatedRnB.com. “Her core fan base has matured ... she can navigate within this new era of R&B where there’s a lot of diversity and sound.”
THE MUSIC
Crafted with unofficial writing camps and records created throughout the years, “WE NEED TO TALK: LOVE” finds Hilson delivering vulnerable and flirty lyrics over a wide range of R&B sounds. Writing on all but one song, she avoided current R&B trends that developed during her absence, citing individuality as a key to her early success. She also believes algorithms have created a culture of musical homogeny, rather than creativity.
There are quintessential “Ms. Keri Baby” songs like the fun, Pop&B styled “Somethin (Bout U),” but there’s also the introspective “Naked (Love),” and “Say It,” in which she expresses, “I won’t say I love you / ‘til you say you love me.”
“I’m very ‘girl boss’ in my life, right? When it comes to relationships, I prefer to be a lady. I prefer to be approached. ... I prefer for the man to say ‘I love you’ first. I just prefer for a man to lead,” said Hilson. “I’m really a damsel – without the distress.”
The bedroom mood is set on the sexy slow jam “Scream,” while the bright “Whatever” floats with beautiful stacked harmonies.
“I feel like it’s something I would have written for Whitney. And I actually wrote a song for Whitney that she never was able to record,” said Hilson, who began her career as an in-demand writer whose credits include songs for Chris Brown, Mary J. Blige, Jennifer Lopez and Britney Spears. “This reminds me of a Whitney Houston record, where I think she would be now.”
Samuels of RatedRnB.com says this project is evident of the newfound control Hilson has over her career.
“It’s definitely not, to me, an attempt to have this commercial comeback ... it feels more personal,” said Samuels. “The other two albums, I feel like were more catered to what was current then.”
THE FREEDOM
Hilson says she’s still open to writing for other artists and giving away songs that may not fit her current musical era. She also has a new Lifetime movie, “Fame: A Temptations Story,” co-starring Keshia Chanté, premiering April 26 at 8 p.m. EDT. Hilson says acting is now an equal part of her career.
Though Hilson may be cautiously re-emerging musically, fans are welcoming her return. After The Breakfast Club interview, fans flooded her with sympathy and positivity, possibly due to a combination of her finally telling her side of the story in detail, as well as the passing of time. Some fans said they forgot about the incident or were too young to know about it.
“I just control what I can control ... I control what I allow to bring me up or down. These are realizations that I’ve had since I’ve been away,” said Hilson. “I feel unburdened ... I’m not projecting too much of the past onto now, and all of that is freeing.”