Like it or not, you may know exactly how Taylor Swift supported rumored beau Travis Kelce on Sunday at last weekend’s Kanas City Chiefs game.
With countless TikTok analysis videos and YouTube comments covering this moment in our cultural zeitgeist, Tayvis (or Traylor?) was hard to miss. At this point, you may even have blown-up images of the superstar — sporting a classic red lip, white tank top, and Chiefs jacket — burned into your memory.
Did she really dip her chicken nuggets in “apparently” ranch and ketchup? What did she and Mama Kelce talk about? Wait, is she sitting on Kelce’s lap in these afterparty photos? Will she be at the Chiefs game against the New York Jets this weekend? (The signs point to yes, and fans are eager to share the same atmosphere as them at MetLife Stadium.)
Why do I even know all this, you may ask?
Not a fan of Taylor Swift or the NFL? You may now know more than you ever wanted
Do not worry; It’s not just you.
Although she doesn’t usually follow celebrity gossip, Gayle Stever – a psychology professor at Empire State University in New York – couldn’t escape the turmoil between Taylor and Travis. Even her physical therapist, who claimed he “didn’t know that much” when she broached the subject, had more information about this romance than she did.
“Nine out of 10 people call me from the media about things like this, and I don’t know what they’re talking about,” Stever told USA TODAY. “And I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I’ve actually heard of that!'”
Meanwhile, Leslie Rasmussen, an associate professor of communications at Xavier University and a Swiftie, like many others, has “lost her mind” over Tayvis.
“It’s so interesting the joy that is shared online about a couple we honestly don’t know,” says Rasmussen.
It’s clear: this is a (maybe) love story, and people say yes.
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Taylor Swift just has “that Midas touch”
On TikTok, videos examining Taylor’s possible smeared lipstick, the angle of her leg under a bar stool and whether she was in a Topsys popcorn cart have received millions of views.
The hype goes beyond social media and has led to a massive increase in Kelce jersey sales. Heinz created a limited edition product inspired by Taylor’s choice of game day condiments. The Empire State Building was lit in honor of the aforementioned ketchup and (perhaps) the ranch.
That’s just “the power of Taylor Swift right now,” says Rasmussen, who has a doctorate in mass communications. And that shows, as she calls it, that Taylor has “that Midas touch.”
“Everything she touched must immediately turn to gold,” says Rasmussen.
Clearly. Ticket sales for the upcoming “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour Concert Film” (October 13) recently broke records. As of this summer, Taylor has more No. 1 albums than any other woman in history. Their Eras Tour shows in Los Angeles sold out SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, which has a capacity of more than 70,000, six times.
Even Dallas Cowboys fan (and non-Swiftie) Danie Gantt, a consumer services representative in Phoenix, has to admit the chaos has more to do with Taylor than the All-Pro tight end.
“Taylor Swift has such a huge fan base that they go crazy about everything she does, even though he’s considered one of the best tight ends in the league,” Gantt said. “I feel like it definitely has little to do with Travis Kelce and more to do with Taylor.”
She adds: “I think this is really exciting news for fans on both sides!”
Even Tracy Gleason, psychology professor and department chair at Wellesley College (who, while no Swiftie, has a doctorate in child psychology with a minor in human relationships), can’t help but call Taylor “nothing less than a phenomenon.”
“She seems so normal; That’s a very appealing personality to a lot of people,” Gleason says. “She is neither distant nor incomprehensible. She’s very likeable – you could imagine spending time with her.”
By seemingly doing something like cleaning up in the Arrowhead Stadium suite after the game, Taylor projects an image of “normalcy,” which Rasmussen says is “kind of incredible to say about the biggest pop star in the world.”
“Those little actions lead to that likeability and belonging and just build that investment in that relationship,” she says. And “people want to see them happy.”
So really, why do we care?
There’s more than one reason why we’re so concerned with the question of whether or not Taylor and Travis are them. Part of it has to do with how naturally social we are.
“We live in a media-saturated society, and the resting brain – we know this from research – is a social brain,” says Stever, who has a doctorate in the psychology of lifespan development. “So when we’re doing nothing else, we’re reaching out to other people in a social way.”
Often, “the interaction we end up having is parasocial because we interact with so many people through media that we will never meet.” And there is a part of your brain that doesn’t know that you aren’t meeting those people will,” she says.
Stever has studied fan-celebrity relationships for more than 30 years and is well-versed in parasocial relationships. “We process these people as if they were part of our real lives because the brain is metaphorically programmed to do so,” she explains.
We’ve “always had parasocial relationships,” Gleason notes, pointing to decades of research examining viewers’ relationships with newscasters.
But in the age of the Internet, “we can feel like we have access to (celebrities) that was unthinkable a few decades ago.” She sees the Taylor and Travis phenomenon as the result of a combination of our social interest in others people, Taylor’s “incredibly engaging personality,” and our sense of access and connection to her.
What can be so attractive to us, says Gleason, is the idea of ”what it would be like to be friends with someone so wonderful.”
Also known as Taylor.
We just want to see a “fairy tale”.
Aubrey Muhle, a 29-year-old “big Swiftie” who works in digital marketing in Phoenix, posits that “Travis took his shot so publicly that people were curious to see how Taylor would react.”
“When she came to his game, I think people were really happy to see that she gave him a chance to see where it could go,” Muhle says. “And sit on top with Mama Kelce? How can it be healthier?”
Although rumors about the two had been circulating for weeks, the Sept. 24 game seemed to be a turning point for Swifties like Muhle and Clyde de Pili, who has been a fan since the “Speak Now” era in 2011. The TikToker, whose videos about Taylor and Travis have racked up millions of views in just a few days, “knew it was real” when Taylor showed up to the Chiefs game, he says.
“At first it just felt like another man expressing interest in Taylor Swift, but this is the first time Taylor has really reciprocated,” says de Pili. “It’s nice to see Taylor finally happy with dating after years of battling misogyny about how many people a woman in her 20s should date.”
Stever learned from her physical therapist – yes, the same one who claimed he wasn’t too familiar with the Tay verse – that Travis had tried to give Taylor his phone number via a friendship bracelet at one of her Eras tour shows Summer. And she agrees that the story of a fan becoming a lover is fascinating.
“We like a good story. We like a good little fairy tale,” she says.
What does that say about us?
The thing about these parasocial relationships is that “nothing negative will ever come of it,” says Gleason, “because it’s not real.”
“There’s an important feature of parasocial relationships, which is that that person will never reject you,” she says. “This person will never be angry with you. They’ll never be mad at you.”
So maybe this is a safe place for fans.
“So many bad things happen. And I personally care deeply about politics at the local and national levels. And it’s exhausting,” says Rasmussen. “So in a lot of ways I feel like this is maybe just a reprieve from the intense dumpster fire that we’ve been experiencing.”
She adds: “The humor and joy and lightness of it is probably something we really need right now, given what’s going on in our culture more broadly in terms of government, politics and everything else.”
“So I think it’s kind of the right moment, the right time.”
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Is it okay that we care so much?
The majority of the thousands of fans Stever has interviewed over 35 years are hobbyists, meaning they’re here just having fun. After all, “these people are entertainers,” Stever says.
“They’re entertaining,” she says of Taylor and Travis. “And if this is an extension of entertainment and people are having fun with it, then what’s the harm?”
Fandom is “a way to relieve stress,” she says. “It’s a way to distract yourself from your worries.” But “we don’t want to get so distracted by the conversation that we don’t think about serious issues that are real problems,” she notes.
It’s beneficial for people to have social experiences around their fandom, says Gleason.
“It may not only make you feel like you have a connection with that celebrity, but it may also connect you with other real people because you share that interest,” she says. “If anything, we need to make more connections. And you know, if Taylor Swift is a way that we all connect with, then that’s fine.”
Contributor: Cydney Henderson, USA TODAY
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