Taylor Swift wanted someone to be fearless in their grand romantic gestures — and then she met Travis Kelce.
“Nobody does anything crazy to get my attention as far as guys. Like, I can’t remember so I guess there hasn’t been anything,” Swift, 33, said in a resurfaced 2012 interview with Extra posted via TikTok. “Which is good, so it’s, like, easier, the bar is set really low for anyone I date in the future to come in and be, like, a great guy. I’ll be like, ‘Oh, you exist? This is so crazy!’”
While Swift has kept a majority of her romances out of the spotlight in the past, she seemingly didn’t mind Kelce’s more public approach to wooing her. After taking a cue from Swifties in August and creating a DIY friendship bracelet with his phone number on it, he attended the Eras Tour in hopes of meeting Swift face to face.
“I wanted to give Taylor Swift [a bracelet] with my number on it,” the Kansas City Chiefs tight end, 33, said on an episode of his “New Heights” podcast at the time. “I was disappointed that she doesn’t talk before or after her shows because she has to save her voice for the 44 songs that she sings so I was a little butt-hurt I didn’t get to hand her one of the bracelets I made for her.”
After the failed attempt made headlines, Kelce confirmed that he followed up with Swift by inviting her to one of his football games. “I told her, ‘You know, I’ve seen you rock the stage in Arrowhead [Stadium], you might have to come see me rock the stage in Arrowhead and see which one’s a little more lit. So, we’ll see what happens in the near future,” he said during an episode of “The Pat McAfee” podcast earlier this month, adding that he “threw the ball in her court.”
Swift didn’t waste any time taking Kelce up on his offer and attended his home game against the Chicago Bears on Sunday, September 24, sitting in a box cheering with the athlete’s mother, Donna Kelce. The singer even sported a Chiefs windbreaker for the event and could be seen chest-bumping her pals after Travis scored a touchdown.
The pair were later seen leaving the stadium together, where Travis even rocked a matching white and blue jacket and pants, perfectly matching the color scheme of Swift’s upcoming 1989 (Taylor’s Version). They then jetted away in a purple convertible before reportedly heading out to celebrate the Chiefs’ win at a restaurant with fellow teammates.
Prior to her potential romance with Travis, Swift dated Joe Alwyn for nearly six years before calling it quits in April. At the time, a source exclusively told Us Weekly that Swift’s celebrity status contributed to their breakup.
“Fame factored into their split. Joe is very shy and never liked all of the attention that came with dating one of the most popular singers in the world,” the insider explained, adding, “He just didn’t like having to be on all of the time.”
During her 2020 documentary Ms. Americana, Swift opened up about how she and Alwyn, 32, made a conscious effort at the time to keep their romance under wraps for as long as possible.
“We decided together we wanted our relationship to be private,” she said. “I was happy. But I wasn’t happy in the way I was trained to be happy. It was happiness without anyone else’s input. We were just … happy.”
While the two have often communicated about their love through song — they collaborated on various tracks of Swift’s like “Sweet Nothing” and “Champagne Problems” — speaking publicly about their relationship has been something they both have avoided, particularly Alwyn.
“I’m aware people want to know about that side of things. I think we have been successfully very private and that has now sunk in for people,” Alwyn said in the October 2018 issue of British Vogue. “But I really prefer to talk about work.”
In April 2022, he further opened up to Elle about his reasoning for being so “guided and private” when it comes to his life with Swift.
“It’s more a response to something else,” he said. “We live in a culture that is so increasingly intrusive. The more you give and frankly, even if you don’t give it, something will be taken.”
Kelce, for his part, had a different approach to the media attention surrounding his relationship with Swift. “It’s life, baby,” he smirked on “The Pat McAfee” podcast earlier this month.
