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Taylor Swift Talks New Music On "New Heights" Podcast; British Prime Minister Meets With Ukraine's Zelenskyy In London; Dallas Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones Reveals Cancer Battle. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired August 14, 2025 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:30:00]
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RENE MARSH, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Louisiana is likely the last stop in the U.S. before the people on board are deported.
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MJ LEE, CNN ANCHOR: A highway camera captured a law enforcement officer helping a woman during flash flooding in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Her vehicle became stranded in floodwaters after heavy storms on Tuesday. The officer picked her up and carried her on his back trudging through knee-deep water to take her to safety.
Meanwhile, the death toll from the flooding has risen to four. That's after emergency crews found the remains of a man who was swept away by floodwaters. The other victims include two adults and a child whose car was crushed by a falling tree.
An Alaska river surged to a new record high Wednesday after a glacial outburst the day before. Waves of water rushed from a lake formed by the Mendenhall glacier flowing into a river running along the west side of the capital city of Juneau.
This is the third consecutive year of this kind of flooding. Officials say newly installed flood barriers have been helping to protect the city. The Arctic, including Alaska, is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet as global temperatures rise.
A spike in temperatures is fueling heatwaves and wildfires across Europe. This video was taken in western Greece where flames swept through a cement factory and olive tree orchards and forced mass evacuations.
Meanwhile in northern Portugal, hundreds of firefighters have been working to put out a blaze burning since Saturday. Helicopters have been called in to dump water on those flames.
And not just residents but livestock have been evacuated in Albania as high winds forced farmers to move their animals to nearby rivers to avoid the blazes. The country's defense minister says it's been a critical week as forests and farmland burn across the country. And still to come, Taylor Swift is rocking the internet with the announcement of a new album. I'll speak with an industry expert about the superstar's influence on music.
Plus, Oscar-winning actor Daniel Day-Lewis is coming out of retirement. You'll see the first image of him in his comeback role.
(COMMERCIAL)
[05:36:50]
LEE: Pop superstar Taylor Swift took over the "New Heights" podcast on Wednesday to reveal new details on her upcoming highly anticipated 12th studio album. "The Life of a Showgirl" will release later this year on October 3. Swift said the album's 12 tracks describe her life on the road during her record-breaking Eras Tour.
But she also had another reason for this surprise appearance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JASON KELCE, HOST, "NEW HEIGHTS" PODCAST: So we're going to ask the question everybody watching the show is currently asking. Why are you coming on the show? Why "New Heights"? What are you doing? You have so many better things to do with your time.
TAYLOR SWIFT, SINGER-SONGWRITER: This podcast has done a lot for me. I owe a lot to this podcast. I -- this podcast got me a boyfriend ever since Travis decided to use it as his personal data app about two years ago. So --
J. KELCE: It worked pretty good.
SWIFT: Yeah, hey.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: Joining me to discuss everything Taylor Swift is Jason Lipshutz, executive director of music at Billboard. Jason, so fun to have you on this morning to dissect this interview.
Before we really get into it let's listen to Taylor Swift explaining the theme behind her upcoming album -- listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J. KELCE: What is the theme of the album if you would describe it as one, like, theme -- if that's possible?
SWIFT: I would say it's everything that was going on behind the curtain.
J. KELCE: Yeah.
SWIFT: This is the record I've been wanting to make for a very long time. My main goals were melodies that were so infectious -- TRAVIS KELCE, TIGHT END, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS: Check.
SWIFT: -- that you're almost angry at it and lyrics that are just as vivid but crisp --
J. KELCE: Um-hum.
SWIFT: -- and focused, and completely intentional.
T. KELCE: Check. The way to make you dance.
J. KELCE: Do I have to wait until October 3? Do I have to wait until October 3?
T. KELCE: Yes, you do, Jason (bleep).
SWIFT: Yeah.
J. KELCE: This is unfair.
SWIFT: We don't -- we don't trust you at all.
J. KELCE: Yeah. I mean, honestly, smart.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: Friends don't get to cut the line.
Jason, so what do we think of this next era for Taylor Swift?
JASON LIPSHUTZ, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF MUSIC, BILLBOARD: I'm really excited because as a fan of her last few albums. "The Tortured Poets Department" obviously a very extended track list and a lot of really contemplative musings over what was going on through the difficult period of her life.
She's in a great place and we are getting pop bangers, and that is so exciting to me as a fan of her albums that are very kind of pop- focused as she talked about infectious melodies, radio fodder.
You know, she's in -- obviously you can tell through this podcast appearance that she and Travis are in a great moment in their respective lives. She wrote about all the madness of the Eras Tour and did so in a way that returns her to very catchy, radio-friendly pop, and I couldn't be more excited.
LEE: Yeah, and I think a lot of people were tuning in to this podcast not only because they are Swifties but because they're also big fans of her boyfriend and their relationship.
Listen to how she says she knew early on that she had found a good one.
[05:40:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SWIFT: ...which is an incredible -- like, a huge green flag, is that Travis has had the same friends since he's --
J. KELCE: Yeah.
SWIFT: -- probably four years old.
J. KELCE: Yes.
T. KELCE: Clearly.
SWIFT: And he's incredibly good at maintaining friendships and he's so loyal. And his friends are equally loyal and they're just the funniest, most hilarious group of people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: And we should remind everyone too that Travis Kelce had said he tried to give Taylor Swift his number via a friendship bracelet.
So Jason, did you feel like you learned anything new about the Taylor- Travis relationship from this podcast?
LIPSHUTZ: Oh, yeah, absolutely. You know, it's interesting because I was -- I was listening to the podcast when it came out while doing a couple of things around the house. I was doing dishes and cleaning up and then I was like, you know what, I've got to really, like, watch this --
LEE: Um-hum.
LIPSHUTZ: -- to see their dynamic and I'm really glad I did.
I mean, it -- look, I think that announcing the album this way and giving us a peek inside their relationship is very stars. They're just like us, right, where they're talking about baking sourdough and talking about playing flag football together, and all that fun, like, kind of relationship goals metatext. But it's also, like, in terms of just showing that normalcy as well as the happiness and the peace of mind that Taylor clearly has now with her -- with her partner.
And these are two A-list superstars. Obviously, Taylor Swift is the biggest name in music. Travis Kelce -- everyone who follows sports in any form or fashion understands his importance to the NFL. And to see them -- their dynamic and get that for a little over an hour was pretty cool.
LEE: Yeah, and talking about really everyday things as you were saying, like doing physical therapy. It was just really fascinating.
Let's talk a little bit more about her new album, "The Life of a Showgirl." We now know, by the way, why there's so much of the color orange. She said that this album is about what was going on behind the scenes in her inner life during the Eras Tour, and she described it as "so exuberant, and electric, and vibrant." I want to hear some of your best guesses, Jason, about the album, including do you think there will be a lot of Travis Kelce in the songs.
LIPSHUTZ: Yeah, I think so. I mean, I think that if I were to guess, this album thematically will be a mix of two whirlwinds in her life, right? The whirlwind of their relationship and how it obviously became pretty serious pretty quickly, as well as the whirlwind of the biggest pop tour of all time. And navigating a three-hour-plus stadium show around the world for nearly two years and seeing every fan that she possibly could and giving so much of herself to that live show.
So yeah, I think that she's talked about how satisfying and gratifying both the Eras Tour and her relationship with Travis had been. And so that's what I think this album is going to reflect, right? I think that it's going to capture this very kind of manic moment in her professional and personal life but -- both of which were so joyful. I think we're going to get that joy on this album.
LEE: Yeah, absolutely.
And I feel like whenever there is a new Taylor Swift album there's some website that is breaking down. She is just so incredibly popular.
So 1.3 million people tuned into the live YouTube interview. Is this just sort of the perfect culmination of so many things that so many people are crazy about?
LIPSHUTZ: Yeah. You know, and it's interesting because I've been thinking about why this way? You know, obviously because she could have just gone on the podcast and had this amazing, really fun conversation and then announced the album beforehand or afterward. But the fact that --
LEE: Um-hum.
LIPSHUTZ: -- they were intertwined I think part of the goal was to drive that viewership, right? I think that instead -- not just having Taylor Swift on the podcast but Taylor Swift teasing a new album, announcing when it was coming out. I think even if you're -- if you don't care at all about "New Heights," you care about Taylor Swift's career, right, and when this new album is coming out and what it's going to sound like.
So I do think that braiding those experiences together resulted in 1.3 million people watching it at the same time.
LEE: All right, Jason Lipshutz. Fun conversation. Thank you so much.
LIPSHUTZ: Thanks so much.
LEE: And on the eve of a highly anticipated meeting between the U.S. and Russian presidents there's growing concern about whether it might result in more than just tough talk. That's still ahead.
[05:45:00] (COMMERCIAL)
LEE: Welcome back. I'm MJ Lee. Here are some of the stories we're watching today.
Ukraine's president is meeting with the British prime minister in London about Russia's war on Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit with Keir Starmer comes a day before the high-stakes summit between the U.S. and Russian presidents in Alaska. Ukraine and European leaders have urged President Trump to not agree to a peace deal with Vladimir Putin without including them.
[05:50:00]
Israeli's military says its chief of staff has approved the main concept for a new attack plan in Gaza. There's no word on whether the military expansion into Gaza -- about when that will begin, but it could bring Israel closer to fully occupying Gaza for the first time in nearly 20 years.
The White House has stepped up the presence of federal law enforcement in Washington, D.C. Officials there are significantly more National Guard troops patrolling the U.S. capital, which is part of President Trump's crackdown on crime in the city. We're told Guard members are not making arrests but will create a safe environment for other officers.
And European leaders are rallying behind Ukraine ahead of tomorrow's Trump-Putin summit. Today's meeting in London between the British prime minister and the Ukrainian president comes a day after Volodymyr Zelenskyy outlined his terms for peace talks with Russia. That was during a virtual conference with U.S. and European heads of state.
President Trump is threatening Russia with what he calls "very severe consequences" if he believes Putin is still not serious about ending the war in Ukraine when the two men meet in Alaska.
We spoke earlier with Steven Pifer, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, about his expectations for Friday's summit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVEN PIFER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: Mr. Trump has given Putin at least four deadlines in the last three months calling on Russia to change action and to move to find a way to end the war with Ukraine. And each time the deadlines passed. Russia's done absolutely nothing and there have been no consequences.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: Let's get back to Clare Sebastian at 10 Downing Street in London. I understand we were expecting Zelenskyy to come out any moment. Have you gotten -- there he is.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah.
LEE: The two men have stepped out.
SEBASTIAN: Yeah, he's right there.
LEE: What have you learned from inside --
SEBASTIAN: Yeah.
LEE: -- the meeting, Clare?
SEBASTIAN: We haven't had any concrete statements about what happened inside the meeting. You can hear the people are shouting questions. They haven't engaged with any of the questions nor the questions that were asked as they were going in.
The only thing that we do have are some pictures that have come out of the two leaders -- Keir Starmer of the -- of the U.K. and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine -- meeting in the garden at Downing Street and having what looked like a cup of tea together.
And in between the two of them is a bouquet of flowers, including many sunflowers -- which is, of course, a national symbol of Ukraine. I think a picture there that shows the real display of European solidarity that we've seen with Ukraine this week going into that crucial summit -- the first direct talks between U.S. and Russian presidents since before the war.
So look, a sort of meeting today that I think caps off that week that will have given these two leaders a chance to debrief on what they heard yesterday in that major virtual meeting involving European leaders -- President Zelenskyy and President Trump -- and to really look ahead because this summit in Alaska has put the efforts to end this war diplomatically really at a crossroads. We don't know what's going to happen. There's still significant nerves around what will happen when Trump becomes face-to-face with Putin -- whether he will withstand the persuasion of the Russian president.
But he has said, look, if it goes well, he could move very quickly to a second meeting involving Zelenskyy. That likely will have come up in discussions today. And if it doesn't go well, he has threatened severe consequences. Will that happen? We've seen a lot of threats coming from Trump in the past that haven't materialized. So Europe will want to talk through and think through its strategy if that happens -- how it can put pressure on Russia. How it can persuade the U.S. to put pressure Russia.
So a lot of considerations going into this summit but overall this is crucial for Zelenskyy. The audience for him -- the optics matters not only towards the U.S. as it goes into the summit but to the Ukrainian people. Don't forget they're fighting this war so they can their place as a sovereign country at the heart of Europe. So I think this is about substance today, but I think the optics really matter to Zelenskyy at home -- MJ.
LEE: Absolutely, and the stakes are incredibly high.
Clare Sebastian at 10 Downing Street in London. Thank you again. The Dallas Cowboys owner has beat stage four cancer. We'll have details on Jerry Jones' secret battle up next.
(COMMERCIAL)
[05:58:27]
LEE: The owner of the Dallas Cowboys football team is speaking out about his decadeslong fight against cancer. Jerry Jones told the Dallas Daily News that he managed to beat stage four melanoma with the help of an experimental trial drug.
The 82-year-old has kept his battle a secret, undergoing multiple surgeries on his lung and lymph nodes where the cancer cells had spread.
And tennis icon Venus Williams is getting another Barbie in her image. This one, which comes a year after her first, is part of the Barbie inspiring women series. Williams, who has long championed equal pay, got to choose the outfit and she picked her uniform from her 2007 Wimbledon victory. That was the first time the women's and men's singles champions at Wimbledon earned equal prize money.
The new Venus Barbie goes on sale on Friday.
And we are getting a first glimpse of Daniel Day-Lewis in screen action since he came out of his 8-year retirement. This upcoming movie "Anemone" was directed by his son, Ronan Day-Lewis.
The three-time Oscar winner had said that his acting days were over after his 2017 movie "Phantom Thread," but he announced his comeback last year after co-writing the screenplay for "Anemone" with Ronan. The movie will premiere at the New York Film Festival, which gets underway on September 26.
And the latest season of Comedy Central's "SOUTH PARK" has proven to be ratings gold, and season 27 isn't shying away from controversy, taking aim at conservative media figures and the Trump administration.
[06:00:00]
This week's new episode roasts Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Clip from Comedy Central's "SOUTH PARK."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: Paramount says this was "SOUTH PARK's" highest rated episode since 2018 and got the biggest audience shares in the series' history. You can catch the next episode on August 20.
And thank you so much for joining us here on EARLY START. I'm MJ Lee in New York, and "CNN THIS MORNING" starts right now.
