Ross and Rachel for the TikTok age: how Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s romance captured the world
She’s just won best album at the Grammys; he may well win the Super Bowl. Is their romance a political conspiracy, money-making enterprise or just as simple as true love?
Even among modern pop armies, Taylor Swift fans stand out for their devotion to their idol. But in the past year they’ve surpassed themselves, flocking to stadiums for the Eras tour, to cinemas for the concert movie, and often both, multiple times. Now the Swifties are tuning in to the NFL, getting behind her new boyfriend Travis Kelce, the tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Since their romance last summer, Swift has become a fixture of the Chiefs’ games this season, often spotted in the box with Kelce’s family, and drawing fans to the field in their droves. Now speculation over their relationship is at such fever pitch, there’s been talk of a proposal at the Super Bowl on Sunday, when the Chiefs play the San Francisco 49ers. Swift is expected to fly from Tokyo to attend.
While her previous relationship with British actor Joe Alwyn was remarkable for its privacy, Swift and Kelce’s relationship has played out in public. Attending Swift’s Kansas City show in July, Kelce tried and failed to pass his number to her backstage, joking on his podcast that he was “throwing the ball in her court”. Swift duly caught wind of it. In October, weeks after Swift’s first appearance at a Chiefs game, Kelce bought a $6m mansion in a gated community in Missouri, reportedly to give them greater privacy. A month later, he went to see Swift perform in Buenos Aires – and she amended the lyrics to Karma to shout out her “guy on the Chiefs”. She was filmed later running off the stage and into his arms.
We have seen more of Swift in the past six months with Kelce than we did in her six years with Alwyn – and she and Kelce have become one of the most famous couples in the US, if not the world.
The attention on them stretches far beyond their respective fandoms, highlighting our enduring obsession with romance and celebrity couples to pin it to. But in this age of 24/7 social-media surveillance, many have either lost their sheen or taken cover. It’s telling that companies have had to lean on past loves for their much-hyped Super Bowl commercials, with Uber reuniting Ross and Rachel from Friends.
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