Recently, football fans and pop music stans alike have come together over one common denominator: Taylor Swift.
Following the success of her ‘Eras’ tour and the upcoming re-release of her hit album 1989 (Taylor’s Version), there’s no doubt Taylor Swift is known to be the topic of conversation. However, as fate would have it, the world is once again talking about her love life. This time involving the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
After 8 years together it was announced that Swift and former boyfriend Joe Alwyn had broken up during the midst of her ‘Eras’ tour. Shortly after, it was revealed Kelce attended Swift’s show in Kansas City and reportedly tried to give her a friendship bracelet (a Swiftie project stemming from the line in Swift’s song “You’re On Your Own, Kid” where she sings: “Make the friendship bracelets / Take the moment and taste it.”) with his number on it but they never crossed paths.
With a brief intermission from Matty Healy, Swift seemed happily single! Then, on September 24th, Swift was spotted at a Kansas City Chiefs game with Kelce’s mom. The pair cheered Kelce on the whole game and the final score turned heads, with the Chiefs winning 41 to 10 against the Chicago Bears.
Of course, this gave rise to a whole new wave of Taylor Swift news cycles and Twitter think pieces, deciphering whether or not the two were a happy couple or simply a PR stunt for the NFL to obtain a whole new audience and for Swift to promote her album coming October 27th.
As a Swiftie and a NFL fan (go Ravens!) I have some thoughts myself. But the biggest issue I have with the whole situation has nothing to do with Swift or Kelce. In fact, I think they make a very cute couple. Both are incredibly talented in their fields and Kelce seems pretty interested in keeping the relationship out of focus and the press, despite the inevitability of that happening. He said on “New Heights”, a podcast he hosts with his brother Jason Kelce, center for the Philadelphia Eagles, he thinks the NFL is “overdoing it a little bit for sure, especially my situation.” Swift seems happy at the games, previously being spotted with friends Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and Hugh Jackman.
My problem with the couple lies with everyone else. Taylor Swift is a superstar with the talent to back it up. For decades, the media and society were concerned with her love life. She received so much backlash and slut-shaming simply for dating people. When she was with Joe Alywn, the media got tired of talking about it because there was nothing to talk about. They were together for eight years and were a relatively private couple. But now, Taylor Swift wants to publicly support her potential football-playing boyfriend and it is all everyone is talking about.
Not to get into a parasocial relationship but in the interest of empathy, I would be exhausted if every time I tried to spend time with my boyfriend, it was all over the news. Most coverage seems relatively positive – even Philadelphia Eagles player Darius Slay made a joke on his podcast “Big Play Slay” that every time Swift cheers on Kelce she “brings the energy of winning.” However, it still has to get annoying for both parties.
Obviously, Taylor Swift is a global superstar and has been for years. She’s used to this. And Kelce is no stranger to the media, having been in the NFL since 2013. As a fan, the only thing I can ever hope for is that she is happy. And hopefully the media coverage dies down once people are bored of the relationship.