In case you were wondering, that football game in September was not Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s first date—not that they’re afraid of a little publicity. “We would never be psychotic enough to hard launch a first date,” Swift said in her Time Person of the Year interview.
Swift told the magazine that the relationship began when, “Travis very adorably put me on blast on his podcast, which I thought was metal as hell.”
She said the two began hanging out shortly after that, giving them “a significant amount of time” together without anyone in the public knowing. “By the time I went to that first game, we were a couple,” she said.
That “metal as hell” shoutout Swift refers to happened during Kelce’s July 26 New Heights episode, in which he recounts trying (and failing) to meet Swift after her Eras Tour stop in Kansas City. “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,” he said. “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.”
Based on Swift’s 2023 tour dates, and assuming she’s not going on hot dates with football stars on days when she’s performing, we can guess that she and Kelce first went out sometime in early August.
As for all the attention her new relationship is getting, Taylor Swift isn’t that bothered. “When you say a relationship is public, that means I’m going to see him do what he loves, we’re showing up for each other, other people are there and we don’t care,” she said to Time. “The opposite of that is you have to go to an extreme amount of effort to make sure no one knows that you’re seeing someone. And we’re just proud of each other.”
Awwwwwww.