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3rd POV
The studio lights flared bright, bouncing off the polished floor as the audience erupted in applause. A wave of excitement filled the room, the kind that only came when Ellen herself leaned forward in her chair with that mischievous smile. Behind her, a wall of orchids bloomed in pink and white, the set glowing with warmth, as if someone had brought a California garden indoors.
"And now," Ellen's voice rang out, smooth and playful, "please welcome… Taylor S.!"
The band struck the opening chords of Love Story. The audience rose to their feet, clapping and cheering as Taylor stepped onto the stage from behind the curtain. Taylor S. stepped out into the light, her golden curls bouncing with each stride. She wore a sleeveless black dress, shimmering with tiny sequins that caught the spotlight like a spray of midnight stars. The dress swayed just above her knees, elegant yet playful, perfectly framing the youthful confidence in her smile.
Taylor waved, her hand delicate yet full of energy, and walked across the stage. She passed so close to the first row that fans reached out instinctively, almost touching the hem of her dress. The cameras followed her every move, catching her laughter as she reached Ellen, who stood and welcomed her with a quick, friendly hug.
"Look at you!" Ellen teased, settling back into her chair as Taylor took her place on the deep red sofa across from her. "You've been busy. New album, number one songs, and now… you're still smiling as if you just came from prom."
The audience chuckled, leaning forward, eager for more.
Taylor laughed softly, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "That's kind of what it feels like, honestly. Except this time, I get to bring guitars instead of a corsage."
The crowd laughed again, Ellen grinning wide as she tapped her cue cards against her knee. The cameras zoomed in on Taylor's face, her expression glowing under the studio lights—equal parts nervous and thrilled.
It wasn't her first time sitting on a national talk show, not the first time under the gaze of millions watching at home. But even so, Taylor carried herself with a professional grace, her own persona shining brighter than the stage lights.
Ellen leaned forward with her trademark smile and pulled out a copy of Taylor's new album. "Congratulations on the release of Fearless—and your tour? Wow! That's a pretty big headline right there." Her tone was light and teasing, but sharp enough to hit the mark.
Taylor's cheeks flushed as she leaned toward Ellen, her eyes lighting up at the sight of her own album in Ellen's hands. "Thank you!" she said, her voice soft with excitement. She gave a quick glance at the cover before adding with a bashful laugh, "Yeah, it's my first official tour. Big crowds, you know…"
Ellen raised her brows playfully and turned to the audience, "Sure it is, huh, Big Crowds!" The room burst into applause and giggles, the laughter rolling in waves. Everyone knew Ellen wasn't just talking about Taylor's tour in Texas but there had been plenty of headlines about her surprise duet with Georgie there.
Taylor understood the subtext too, though she chose to steer away with practiced ease. "I've been waiting two years for this CD to finally come out," she said brightly, cutting in with exaggerated enthusiasm. "So, yeah, I'm really, really excited it's finally out!" She shot Ellen a playful glare, as if daring her to bite down on the diversion.
"Alright then," Ellen replied, smirking at the audience while rolling her eyes before turning the album over in her hands. "Let's talk about your CD here." She scanned the tracklist, reading aloud. "So… some of the songs or maybe all of them are about boys and love?"
The camera caught Taylor's easy smile as she nodded, "Yes, mostly about boys and love," she admitted, "but I also wrote one for my mom, and for my family." She leaned forward, pointing at one of the titles on the back cover.
"Oh yeah? Nice one." Ellen tilted her head, feigning innocence before her grin widened. "But I want to ask you about a song… maybe about a certain guy?"
The audience stirred, a ripple of anticipation moving through the studio as the big screen behind them flickered on. There it was—an image of Taylor and Joe sitting together, smiling in a way that only fueled the rumor mill. "Maybe for this guy ? Is there any ?"
Taylor's breath caught, her fingers instinctively clutching at the hem of her dress. She bowed her head, her smile faltering as though she might run straight off the stage. To the audience, it looked like raw, unfiltered heartbreak.
But backstage, both she and Ellen already knew the game being played.
"Yeah… there is one," Taylor admitted softly, her eyes fixed not on Ellen or the audience but on the hem of her dress, her fingernails suddenly fascinating. "But that guy isn't in my life anymore."
Ellen caught the cue instantly, her expression softening. "Oh… wow, I'm sorry to hear that.." she said, stumbling just a little.
"Yeah… that's an ouch.." Taylor added, finally glancing at Ellen with a hurt look in her eyes.
"That's an ouch," Ellen repeated, then tilted her head with a sudden deadpan. "Though I do know a little something about you, because you told me. You drive past their houses a lot." Her delivery was flat and comedic, and the crowd roared with laughter. "You said you used to do that with ex-boyfriends. Is that gonna happen this time?" Ellen added, laying it on thick and earning even more laughter.
Taylor glanced at the audience with innocent eyes. "He has a lot of security guards…" She raised her hand to emphasize her point. "…They're big. So… probably not."
The crowd exploded with laughter. It was showbiz, after all, and Ellen knew exactly how to keep both the studio and the viewers at home hooked.
Ellen grinned, pleased, and circled back to the music. "But you did write a song about him, right? Which one is it?" She glanced down at the back of the CD.
Taylor leaned in, pointing to the tracklist. "Yeah. It's called 'Forever and Always.'... Right there."
"…That's sarcasm, right?" Ellen asked, twitching her mouth as she looked back at Taylor, who responded with a sweet smile.
"Definitely," Taylor said, her energy sparking again. "I got a last-minute recording session, you know. My label let me record that song right before the album had to be finished."
Ellen tilted her head. "That must be hard, though. Instead of avoiding him, you can't—because he's everywhere." Her words carried the weight of ratings, while Taylor's honesty promised record sales.
Taylor's smile turned sly. "Yeah… definitely sharpeners and t-shirts," she quipped, then narrowed her eyes mischievously. "…There's even a doll."
Ellen widened her eyes, playing along. "Oh, a doll? There must be pins or something in it, right?" she asked innocently, earning another round of laughter from the audience. Taylor joined in, shaking her head as she caught the voodoo-doll joke.
Ellen chuckled, but then glanced briefly at the prompter before softening again. "Now, seriously—that must've been really hard. Are you two still friends? Is everything okay?"
Taylor steadied herself, her teen-girl composure returning. "We haven't talked since, actually," she admitted. "But you know what? Someday, I'm going to find somebody really great, someone who's right for me."
The crowd erupted in cheers, clapping for her optimism.
Ellen seized the moment, grinning. "Yeah, you're right. You just turned eighteen, right? You'll find someone." Ellen said, looking at the right moment to deliver another punchline, "Probably Nick…you've got two more brothers to go through!"
The audience howled with laughter, Taylor covering her face as she chuckled, "Oh my gosh…"
"You're thinking about it, I can see it on your face," Ellen teased, landing the punchline again to another burst of laughter. Taylor snorted, unable to hold it back.
"But seriously," Ellen said, her tone shifting to gentle sincerity. "You will find somebody. You're adorable, you're fantastic, you're talented."
"Thank you," Taylor replied, soaking in the compliment with a grateful smile.
"And I know it still hurts, no matter what. I'm sorry to hear that. I really thought you two were still together." Ellen added, her smile soft.
"It's okay, I'm cool." Taylor shrugged, her confidence returning. "You know what—when I find the right person, he'll be wonderful." She paused, drawing a steady breath, before dropping the truth that shook the room. "And when I look at that person, I won't even be able to remember the boy who broke up with me over the phone… in twenty-five seconds, when I was eighteen."
The audience gasped, then erupted—cheering, clapping, their sympathy and admiration rolling like thunder across the studio.
Ellen's eyes went wide, feigning shock though she had known the story backstage. On camera, she wore the perfect mask of surprise, as if hearing it for the very first time.
"No, you did not!" Ellen exclaimed, throwing her hands up toward the audience, her voice exaggerated for maximum effect.
Taylor nodded with a wry smile. "Yeah. I checked the call log, it was like twenty-seven seconds or something. That's a record, right?" She added her own exaggerated tone, feeding Ellen's energy.
Ellen blinked, speechless for a beat. "Oh boy… I'm sorry for that. And so are the millions of people who just heard you say it." Her small laugh broke the tension, and the audience chuckled along, though beneath the humor everyone knew, it would be tomorrow's headline.
Taylor covered her mouth, her smile peeking through her fingers. For the first time, she looked a little lighter, as though sharing the painful breakup so bluntly had loosened its grip on her chest.
Ellen added with a knowing smirk, "Everyone is going to be so mad at him right now."
The crowd clapped and cheered, some even booing Joe's name. Ellen let the reaction ride before flashing her signature grin. "Alright, we're gonna take a break, but we'll be back in a moment." She signed off smoothly, waving as the camera cut.
As the red light above the lens went dark, Ellen leaned closer to Taylor, lowering her voice. "Hey, I've got a surprise for you."
Taylor's eyes narrowed, "What? Another surprise?"
With the cameras off, their words became private, shielded from the audience at home later. "Don't tell me you invited Joe here?" she asked with mock horror.
"No, of course not," Ellen laughed, waving the idea away. "It's an old video. My producer says you've never seen it."
"An old video?" Taylor tilted her head, half-nervous, half-curious. "Am I supposed to… react to it live or something?"
"Probably," Ellen said slyly, her grin sharp enough to make Taylor squirm. "It'll be natural. Trust me."
Taylor groaned, clutching her water bottle as a crew member passed a Laptop to Ellen. "Don't tell me it's something embarrassing…"
"Of course not," Ellen said, signaling the crew to bring over a laptop to show the video. "It's you at two years old, right?"
"Yeah… you're going to air that in the next segment, aren't you?" Taylor asked, glancing toward the crew as they pulled up the clip. She already knew about that video—it wasn't really a surprise for her, since she had agreed to it beforehand.
"Yes, that's not the surprise Ellen was talking about," one of the crew members confirmed, though he carefully avoided revealing the real surprise waiting for Taylor.
"Alright, we'll be back in five!" another crew member shouted toward the audience. Some fans stayed in their seats while others hurried back from the restroom.
Taylor kept her eyes on Ellen, who was smiling at her, while she sipped water to ease her throat. "Don't worry," Ellen said reassuringly, handing the glass back to a crew member. "It's nothing embarrassing. In fact, I think you'll even like this video."
The crew shuffled back into position. This was a taped episode, after all—it would be edited before airing in a few days or weeks.
"Alright…" Taylor murmured, resigning herself with a small sigh as Ellen chuckled at her reaction. She tried to catch a clue from her manager and team, hoping for even the slightest hint of what was coming. But they stayed completely silent, which made Taylor pout and mutter under her breath, "Traitors."
"Alright, we're back in five… four… three…" a crew member counted down. The studio lights flared, the applause sign lit, and the cameras rolled again.
Ellen didn't speak right away. Instead, both she and Taylor turned to the giant screen as grainy home footage filled it.
On the screen, a curly-haired toddler in an oversized T-shirt swayed clumsily with a plastic microphone. A tiny voice piped out, half-mumbled, half-sung:
"No rush… I need your… touch… I won't rush… your heart, girl…"
The audience melted, gasps turning into laughter as the little girl stumbled over the words. "I feel… those crayon… in your soul…"
Taylor burst into laughter, her face crimson, while Ellen doubled over in her chair. The clip ended with baby Taylor looking straight into the camera, grinning wide toward the person filming.
"Wow!" Ellen clapped her hands together. "That's you at two years old? Absolutely adorable. Especially the part about crayons stuck in your soul."
The audience roared, and Taylor hid her face in her hands. "Oh my god! I don't even remember that video!"
Ellen grinned, "I bet your parents played that song over and over until it was burned into your brain. That's why you were singing it, right?" She glanced at the audience, then back to Taylor, her tone shifting knowingly. "That was a Georgie song by the way, and I'm sure everybody here knows who Georgie is right?"
The crowd erupted into cheers, mostly women in their thirties and forties who remembered Georgie's rise.
Taylor lifted her head, still blushing, but her voice steady now. "Yeah, probably like that. My dad plays his records on repeat, sometimes he'd even sing them to my mom, even until now. And maybe I was just this curious kid, watching them dance in the living room, you know… romantic and all that."
Her smile softened, the pain of the earlier segment seemed to fade into something warmer on her face. For a moment, it wasn't about heartbreak or headlines. It was about music, family, and the way songs carried memories across generations.
"Yeah, I'm sure about that," Ellen said with a grin before leaning closer. "Speaking of Georgie…"
Taylor let out an exaggerated groan, tilting her head back, which only made the audience laugh harder. They knew Ellen wouldn't resist bringing him up again.
"Why was he in Texas?" Ellen pressed, raising a brow. "Did he say anything to you? I mean, he's your boss, right? But I saw the video of your face when you spotted him…"
Taylor sighed, glaring at Ellen for a beat before turning to the eager audience. "Of course I didn't know! I begged him to come watch me, you know—but he said he was busy with… stuff!" Her rant spilled out like two girlfriends gossiping, not a polished talk-show answer. "I got so mad I stomped out of his office before flying to Texas."
The crowd roared with laughter and the cameras caught Taylor pouting, her lips pressed in a mock sulk like a teenager in a fight with her boyfriend.
"Seems like you've already found your 'somebody'." Ellen teased, circling back to their earlier conversation.
Taylor only snorted, snapping her gaze to the camera. "As if!" she shot back, firm and playful, as though daring Georgie himself to hear it. The audience clapped and laughed, delighted by her sass.
Ellen glanced quickly at the prompter, then back at Taylor with a sly shrug. "Alright, that's your choice. But I do have some old video and I think you'll like it."
Taylor's eyes widened like it's the first time she heard it, "...What video?" Her voice wavered, and the mic picked it up clear as day.
Offstage, her manager chuckled under her breath. She already knew what was coming and gave that information to the Man himself who gave them a green card to play it.
"This," Ellen said, turning dramatically to the audience, "is Georgie's very first appearance on national television."
The screen behind them flickered to life, and the crowd gasped and Taylor's jaw dropped.
"Hee Haw," Ellen added with a wink. "You know that show, right?"
The audience erupted, and Taylor pressed her hands together, leaning toward Ellen with shining eyes. "...Play it, please," she whispered, then smirked under her breath—still caught by the mic. "Oh, I'm gonna rub this in his face later."
Ellen burst out laughing, and the audience followed. "I'm sure you will," she said, signaling to the crew. "Alright, let's play it!"
Taylor grinned madly at her and eagerly watched the screen without blinking like everybody else in the room.