Taylor Swift revealed why she carries baby kitty Olivia Benson around NYC -- as if we need an explanation for Twerkin' Tay Tay doing her thing.

"The kitten freaks out about being put in the cat carrier," Swift told Access Hollywood. "So I was just like, 'OK, all right, we're gonna just do this!'"

As Swift stepped out of her apartment, photographers caught Olivia's cute mug, and Tay couldn't believe how cool her kitty was with the paparazzi.

"What I thought was funny about those pictures is that, like, the cat is looking straight at the cameras," she said.

That cat is a star, I'm tellin' ya right now.