On Aug. 26, pop singer Taylor Swift and American football tight end Travis Kelce announced their engagement on Instagram, two years after their relationship went public. Known as “America’s Royal Couple,” the couple’s relationship is best known as a catalyst to intertwining Swift’s fan base known as “Swifties” with American football culture.
In the Instagram post, the caption reads, “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married,” a reference to Swift’s songwriting and Kelce’s football career. The post has accumulated over 30 million likes and is the most reposted Instagram post, with more than 2.5 million reposts.
Attached to the Instagram post is Swift’s song “So High School” from her album “The Tortured Poets Department” (2024). “So High School” describes a “love at first sight” romance and is rumored to be written about Kelce.
For some background, the relationship between the two started when Kelce attended Swift’s “The Eras Tour” when she stopped in Kansas City, Kan., on July 8, 2023, giving her a friendship bracelet with his phone number on it. Swift made her first appearance at one of Kelce’s games on Sep. 24, 2023, watching the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Chicago Bears.
Since then, fans have watched the relationship grow as Swift attended his games, and Kelce regularly attending her “Eras Tour” shows, even making a guest appearance on stage in July 2024.
PHS students have conveyed a wide variety of thoughts about the engagement announcement. Swifties and listeners of Swift are ecstatic with the news, believing that Kelce was truly “the one” since the beginning.
“I’ve been rooting for it since day one since we first saw her at the Chiefs game,” junior Ella Lloyd said, a casual listener of Swift’s music.
Even people who don’t listen to Swift’s music or follow her still show their support for the engagement.
“I don’t really care about Taylor Swift, but I’m happy for her,” senior Eliza Bradshaw said.
In contrast, some people, like junior Jalynn Martinez, believe that the engagement is a PR stunt simply to improve the public image of both celebrities.
“I think that their engagement is a placeholder for marketing towards women’s emerging interest in sports and I think it’s appealing in men’s interest in pop culture,” Martinez said. “I don’t think their relationship is truly meaningful.”
The engagement comes 2 weeks after Swift appeared on Kelce’s joint podcast “New Heights” with his brother, retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce. She announced her new album “The Life of a Showgirl,” which will be released on Oct. 3.
