‘A modern relationship worth striving for’ Women tell us why they can’t get enough of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce

Chiefs’ Travis Kelce says he is ready for the Super Bowl circus to begin next weekTaylor Swift kisses Kansas City
If there’s one moment that encapsulates both the spectacle and the sentimentality of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s very public relationship, it’s when she rushed onto the field to be with him after the Chiefs secured their spot in the Super Bowl.

In the midst of the congratulatory melee — cameras, teammates, people asking for selfies — they find each other. Swift throws her arms around Kelce’s neck and they kiss, the moment captured by ESPN’s cameras like an outtake from a Nicholas Sparks adaptation, down to her scarlet sweater and immaculate red lip. (Pat McGrath LiquiLUST in Elson 4; sold out everywhere.) He calls her “sweetie,” she maybe says, “I love you,” the internet loses its mind.

And while this pairing has its detractors — the “Dads, Brads and Chads” Swift called out, who complain about the attention she gets while supporting Kelce at his games; those who claim the entire thing is a publicity stunt — there is a groundswell of emotion around this particular celebrity love story that, well, hits different.

2024-02-kelceswift_feb42024Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift’s relationship has dominated headlines. Julio Cortez/AP▲
It’s one part hopeful excitement, like the kind that sprang up around Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s wedding, mixed with the dazzling music-meets-sports star power of Posh and Becks circa 1998, plus the nostalgic heft of the Bennifer reunion. It’s spritzed with slightly sickly Wonderstruck perfume and seasoned with a soupcon of absurdity, given the combination of a songwriter who riffs on Wordsworth and Emily Dickinson and a dude known for his rallying cry of “You gotta fight for your right to party!”

People care about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce with the kind of sincere investment that you don’t often see in the era of gossip blind item TikTok accounts. From celebrities like Luke Bryan and Katy Perry declaring they ‘ship the couple to the reporter who asked Kelce if he plans to propose at the Super Bowl to group chats everywhere exchanging heart eye emojis over them, Tayvis is a rare monocultural moment. Just ask the women who’ve bought a “Go Taylor’s Boyfriend” sweatshirt to wear while watching the Super Bowl.

So why can’t folks get enough of these two in the social-media-hardened year of our Lord 2024? To find out, we polled people who’ve found themselves abnormally invested in the love life of two strangers who combined net worth is, conservatively, around a billion dollars.

Nina Cammalleri, an alumni relations professional from Oakville, Ont., says she is “almost embarrassed” by how she feels about Taylor and Travis. She admits her Apple Watch background is that picture of them hugging on the field.

The attraction is twofold: For starters, it’s just really fun to talk about them. “Having Taylor and Travis around is like a global book club. There are so many angles and opinions and possibilities and theories to discuss and dissect,” she says. “It’s hard not to get involved, made all the more possible by the worlds this relationship brought together.”

Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift leave Arrowhead stadium on Oct. 22, 2023. Charlie Riedel / AP▲
On a deeper level, she says, it speaks to one of her greatest fears, which is that she’s too focused on her own goals and achievements to find a partner. “I fear that this is a detriment to being attractive to men. I am busy, I have my own life, I don’t need saving or healing or finding, in the damsel in distress way we can see in multiple media examples,” Cammalleri explains.

It’s “comforting” that Swift met Kelce at the height of her fame and during a period of intense creative productivity. “Travis wasn’t afraid of her success. He was attracted to it. There seems to be no competition between the two of them, no jealousy. There is mutual respect for each other’s drive and achievements,” she says. “Taylor also didn’t need Travis, and Travis doesn’t need Taylor. They both have seemingly found fulfilment in other aspects of their lives, whether it be as a cat mom or an uncle, by having hearty friend groups and career aspirations.”

This is the goal for her. “I dream of a relationship where there are no unwanted sacrifices. To see an example of someone focusing on herself exclusively and still be sought after and respected, to be met where she is at, is a modern relationship worth striving for.”

The lore around the beginning of their relationship is especially “endearing,” says Samantha Jen, a 27-year-old account manager from Toronto and self-described Swiftie. Take Kelce’s initially thwarted attempt to give Swift a friendship bracelet with his number on it, the fact that he went to her Eras tour concert and invited her to watch his game — and talked about it all on his podcast. “Travis has proved to the world the reward that comes with shooting your shot,” Jen says. “And instead of asking yourself, ‘What if it doesn’t work out?’, asking ‘What if it does?’”

Taylor Swift, centre, reacts during the AFC Championship NFL football game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Kansas City Chiefs, Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024, in Baltimore. AP Photo/Nick Wass▲
Swift cheers with abandon at Kelce’s games and he sings her praises in interviews; their dynamic feels life affirming for Jen. “As two successful people living in very different worlds, I find it incredibly heartwarming to see them support each other with zero gain,” she says. “It makes me want to root for TNT even more.” (A reference to the diamond bracelets with their intertwined initials Kelce supposedly had made.)

“It’s a sweet, high school kind of love,” she continues. “I believe it’s what Taylor imagined when she wrote ‘You Belong With Me.’” That’s Swift’s tale of a nerdy girl in love with a popular jock (“She’s cheer captain and I’m on the bleachers, dreaming about the day when you’ll wake up and find that what you’re looking for has been here the whole time”) from her 2008 album, Fearless. “I’ve seen Tayvis compared to the romances in A Cinderella Story and High School Musical,” Jen says. “That’s a wave of nostalgia that hits me straight in the feels.”

This cinematic quality is also what has captured Jill Dunn, co-host of the Breaking Beauty podcast and freelance beauty editor. “I feel like I’m watching my favourite show,” she says. “I think back to them driving away from the stadium on that first night, and she’s in the convertible with him. It’s literally out of a John Hughes movie.”

Whether stage-managed or organic, the level of access both Swift and Kelce seem comfortable with allowing in this relationship (“I can’t believe how much they’re giving us,” says Dunn) makes it feel less prurient, more wholesome than other celebrity romances.

“We’ve seen Bennifer making out on a yacht before, but it was paparazzi pictures through a long lens,” she says. “The magic of this is that we’re seeing her behind-the-scenes at the stadium, or after the Eras show in Argentina running up to him.”

“The fact that his hand is literally three times the size of hers, that’s what’s in our group chat,” one woman says. “Every time he holds her hand, we have to screen grab it and send it to each other.” PATRICK SMITH/GETTY IMAGES▲
You also have to factor in the Travis Kelce of it all, says Dunn. “He’s so lovable and positive. He’s assured in his own self, he’s self-deprecating,” she says. “No one would blame him if he had more attitude about bagging the most popular girl in the universe, winning Superbowls, hosting SNL, getting all these brand deals, but he’s humble.”

Not to mention his physical attributes. “The fact that his hand is literally three times the size of hers, that’s what’s in our group chat,” Dunn says. “Every time he holds her hand, we have to screen grab it and send it to each other.”

Kelce is also a marked contrast to Swift’s previous partners, most of whom could be the muse of her upcoming album, “The Tortured Poets Department.” There’s a pervasive sense that Swift is due a break in her love life.

“In her roster of boyfriends, you could see them all being kind of jerks, so that’s part of the excitement too,” she says. Dunn was at Swift’s Tampa show, the first one after news broke that she’d broken up with Joe Alwyn, the British actor she’d dated quietly for six years. Waiting for her flight to Tampa from Toronto, Dunn remembers being surrounded by Swifties who had dropped everything to be there for the pop star.

“They were like, ‘We feel like Taylor needs us,’” says Dunn, a moderate-level fan herself. “That’s the feeling she cultivates in people, that she’s a friend you’re going to be there to support while they’re going through a breakup. It’s wild.”

It’s also a welcome distraction. “The world is upside down right now, a very scary place with very intense things going on,” Dunn says. “If I can go on TikTok and just scroll endless videos of this couple, it’s a happy place.”

Sarah Laing is a Toronto-based freelance contributor for The Kit, writing about celebrity and culture. Follow her on Twitter: @sarahjanelaing.