Taylor Swift shocked her longtime fans when she performed her hit Shake It Off on Tuesday night – but it wasn’t at a sold-out stadium full of thousands of screaming fans. 

Instead, Swift took the stage with singer Kane Brown at the much smaller Brooklyn Bowl in Nashville, returning to her country roots for the Tight Ends and Friends concert, hosted by her beau Travis Kelce.

Her surprise performance, sources say, doubled as a supportive gesture for her NFL boyfriend motivated by the ubiquitous ‘f word’… ‘fun.’

‘She thought it would be fun to perform, and it made sure eyeballs were firmly on the Tight End University that Travis holds very close to his heart,’ an insider told the Daily Mail. ‘Travis was there at so many of her shows and even took part. She is now repaying the favor.’

This year, the three-day camp, which has been run by Kelce and legendary tight ends George Kittle and Greg Olsen since 2021, comes as Swift is shaking off a reported fallout with her former pal Blake Lively.

‘She didn’t have any hidden agenda, it was all for fun, it wasn’t to have people steer away from any controversies or anything with Blake,’ the source continued, referencing the ongoing court case involving It Ends With Us co-stars Justin Baldoni and Lively. 

Taylor Swift shocked her longtime fans when she performed her hit Shake It Off on Tuesday night at Brooklyn Bowl in Nashville 

Shrugging off the ongoing legal drama of her former best pal Blake Lively, she joined singer Kane Brown at Tight Ends and Friends, a country concert hosted by her NFL beau, 35

‘She didn’t have any hidden agenda, it was all for fun, it wasn’t to have people steer away from any controversies or anything with Blake,’ an insider told the Daily Mail  

The Blank Space singer was dragged into the explosive legal feud between the actress, 37, and Baldoni, 41, after his countersuit revealed text messages from Lively referring to Swift and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, as her ‘dragons.’

Baldoni’s team also alleged in a court filing that Lively had tried to ‘coerce’ Swift to issue a public statement of support for her and urged the popstar to delete texts between them.

Swift was called as a witness, but Baldoni’s team withdrew the subpoena for the singer after her father, Scott Swift, allegedly provided documented evidence detailing how Lively’s attorneys had ‘threatened to leak’ the actress’ private exchanges with Swift. Lively’s attorney disputed the claim.

Now, Swift’s decade-long friendship with Lively appears to be over. 

‘When she has to deal with being dragged into the headlines – Kanye West, Justin Bieber, Scooter Braun and now with Blake – it is upsetting,’ the insider said. ‘But what is important to Taylor is family and a base of what she finds normal.’

Swift has since been enjoying her time in Nashville with help from Kelce and her close friends. The insider confirmed that ‘old friends, being in Nashville, performing in intimate surroundings brings her back to the reason she loves what she does,’ adding that ‘when she returns to what she has done in the past, it is not a gimmick, it is something that she wants to do and makes her feel good.’

A separate source agreed that Swift ‘isn’t worried about the current legal drama because she has people taking care of it and has nothing to hide and is not going to dwell on the past.’

Her longtime friends have also been urging her to move on and have been by her side through it all. The 14-time Grammy winner and Kansas City Chiefs star, both 35, spent time with Swift’s best friend from high school, Abigail Anderson, and her husband Charles Berard, while at Brooklyn Bowl. 

‘We planned that three minutes ago,’ she told delighted fans as she made an impromptu appearance on stage – her first since wrapping her mammoth, record-breaking Eras Tour in December.

The insider confirmed that ‘old friends, being in Nashville, performing in intimate surroundings brings her back to the reason she loves what she does’ 

A separate source agreed that Swift ‘isn’t worried about the current legal drama because she has people taking care of it and has nothing to hide and is not going to dwell on the past’ 

Her longtime friends have also been urging her to move on and have been by her side through it all, including her best friend from high school, Abigail Anderson

Swift even returned to her sartorial roots for the Music City occasion, wearing an EB Denim dress paired with knee-high Versace boots, which channeled her earlier A-line dresses and cowboy boots. 

It’s helpful that Swift can always turn to Anderson, who she met on the first day of freshman year at Hendersonville High School in Tennessee when they were 15. While Swift’s squad has gone through many major evolutions over the years, including losing Lively as a member, Anderson has been a steadfast plus one. Swift famously references Anderson in her song Fifteen on her 2008 Fearless album.

The new mom, who announced her pregnancy with lyrics from Swift’s song But Daddy I Love Him, has made cameos in the Fifteen and Picture To Burn music videos, appeared in Swift’s 2020 Miss Americana documentary, and cheered her on at the Eras Tour in Nashville, proving their friendship has withstood the test of time.

Swift has stayed out of the limelight since her record-breaking Eras Tour ended. She and Kelce retreated to his luxury rental home in Boca Raton, Florida, and have spent time at his flashy Kansas City pad. 

Now, devoted Swifties are applauding her return to Nashville, where her music career started, following the news that she bought her masters back. 

In a handwritten letter posted on her website last month, Swift, who is worth over $1 billion, revealed the money she made from her lucrative Eras tour helped bankroll the purchase of her old material and ‘her entire life’s work.’

While Swift still occasionally steps out for starry dinners in New York City, she has been keeping a much lower profile, but that doesn’t mean she has ditched her A-list girlfriends.

‘She isn’t avoiding her A-List friends, she’s just busy,’ our insider said. ‘She’ll see Selena [Gomez] and everyone else eventually. For now she’s just living life.’