The Kansas City Chiefs player worked hard behind the scenes to get her attention—and ended up winning her heart.
THE RUNDOWN
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are celebrating two years of dating this summer after Kelce went out of his way to give Swift his number in July 2023.
Kelce had some help after he attended Swift’s Eras Tour in Kansas City, Missouri, and was unable to meet the singer.
Swift and Kelce both spoke about the secret first date they had in New York City and their early days dating out of the spotlight.
In a few days, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce will celebrate the two-year anniversary of their first date, which secretly took place in New York City months before they went public with their relationship at Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs game on Sept. 24, 2023:
Kelce went to great lengths to shoot his shot with Swift. Both he and the singer have spoken about how he convinced her to say yes to the date that changed their lives.
Here, the remarkable backstory behind the private start of their romance.
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Swift was freshly single when Kelce made his move.
In July 2023, Swift was on her Eras Tour and newly single, having just ended her brief fling with The 1975’s Matty Healy the month before.
Days before Kelce began his efforts to get a date with Swift, a source close to the musician shut down rumors that she and Healy were rekindling their relationship. The insider told People on July 5, “They are absolutely not together and aren’t even in contact anymore. She is enjoying being single and has been spending time in the studio and hanging out with friends in New York City. This is all B.S.”
Swift confirmed she was single on July 7, hours before she played Arrowhead Stadium—and one day before Kelce went to see her.
On July 7, Swift made her relationship status public, writing on Instagram, “Happy belated Independence Day from your local neighborhood independent girlies 😎 See you tonight Kansas Cityyy.”
Swift’s year had begun with heartbreak: The singer and her ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn broke up after six years of dating that spring, with news breaking of the split on April 8. The Instagram marked Swift’s first social media acknowledgement of her love life since.
Kelce attended Swift’s Eras Tour show on July 8 and tried to meet her backstage—then talked about his failed attempt on his podcast.
Kelce went to Swift’s second show at Arrowhead Stadium on July 8, 2023. Footage emerged on social media of him in the crowd.
He came prepared with a friendship bracelet to give her that had his number on it. But he wasn’t able to hand it to the singer.
On the July 26 episode of his podcast, New Heights, he spoke about his failed attempt to meet her. The clip ended up going viral and making headlines.
“I was disappointed that she doesn’t talk before or after her shows because she has to save her voice for the 44 songs that she sings,” Kelce said. “So I was a little butthurt I didn’t get to hand her one of the bracelets I made for her. If you’re up on Taylor Swift concerts, there are friendship bracelets, and I received a bunch of them being there, but I wanted to give Taylor Swift one with my number on it.”
Anyone know how to get a bracelet to Taylor Swift? … asking for a friend 😅
His brother and co-host, Jason Kelce, asked whether he was referring to his phone or jersey number.
“You know which one,” Kelce answered. “She doesn’t meet anybody or at least she didn’t want to meet me so I, um, I took it personal.”
Swift heard about the episode, and that’s when things changed.
During her Time interview in December 2023, Swift credited Kelce’s podcast comments for getting him on her radar.
Her romance with him “all started when Travis very adorably put me on blast on his podcast, which I thought was metal as hell,” Swift recalled. “We started hanging out right after that. So we actually had a significant amount of time that no one knew, which I’m grateful for, because we got to get to know each other. By the time I went to that first game [in September], we were a couple. I think some people think that they saw our first date at that game? We would never be psychotic enough to hard launch a first date.”
Swift didn’t specify when the first date happened, but there’s some hints in her tour schedule.
The podcast aired on July 26. Swift had Eras Tour shows on July 28 and 29 in Santa Clara, California, then had a few days off until her Los Angeles shows on August 3. After she wrapped her concerts there on August 9, she was off until October 18.
Kelce revealed more about how he worked behind the scenes to get a date with Swift.
In his November 2023 WSJ magazine profile, Kelce gave details on how he got Swift’s attention—and charmed her enough to get a date.
He had some help the night he attended her Kansas City concert.
“There were definitely people she knew that knew who I was, in her corner [who said]: ‘Yo! Did you know he was coming?’ I had somebody playing Cupid,” he said, choosing not to reveal the person’s identity.
Thanks to the assist, Swift ended up getting Kelce’s number and contacting him: “She told me exactly what was going on and how I got lucky enough to get her to reach out.”
Kelce revealed “some of his early helpers” were part of Swift’s family: “She’ll probably hate me for saying this, but…when she came to Arrowhead, they gave her the big locker room as a dressing room, and her little cousins were taking pictures…in front of my locker.”
Kelce and Swift had their first date secretly in New York City.
Kelce didn’t disclose when or where he took her out, but he made a secret trip to New York to meet the singer.
Swift was on tour throughout that summer and able to stay under the radar during her days off. During the weeks after Kelce’s podcast aired, the only time she was photographed in New York was on August 17 when she left Zero Bond after dinner with Ed Sheeran.
“When I met her in New York, we had already kind of been talking, so I knew we could have a nice dinner and, like, a conversation, and what goes from there will go from there,” Kelce told WSJ magazine in November 2023. His loved ones were more nervous than he was: “Everybody around me telling me: ‘Don’t fuck this up!’ And me sitting here saying: ‘Yeah—got it.’”
During those first months dating, Kelce was really hesitant to say anything about his partner. “That was the biggest thing to me: make sure I don’t say anything that would push Taylor away,” he recalled.
But two years later, the couple is more serious (and likely engagement-bound) than ever—all because Kelce took a chance that night in July and pursued the pop star.
On the Sept. 27, 2023, episode of New Heights, Kelce said he had no regrets starting the whirlwind romance: “You miss 100 percent of [the shots] you don’t take, baby, so yeah.”
