You belong with me! Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce – a love story in 11 pictures | Taylor Swift

It’s a love story; she mentioned sure. Taylor Swift, not way back hailed because the world’s most well-known “childless cat woman”, is tying the knot. She introduced her engagement to footballer Travis Kelce, her accomplice of two years, on Instagram on Tuesday. The publish was appreciated greater than 14.5m occasions in simply two hours, and reportedly crashed the platform for a lot of customers.Swift cheering Kelce on through the 2023 sport after they went public as a pair. {Photograph}: Jason Hanna/Getty ImagesKelce is a good finish for the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs. He and Swift publicly debuted their relationship in September 2023, when she attended the Chiefs’ sport towards the Chicago Bears in Kansas Metropolis, Missouri. (The Chiefs gained.) The very fact she popped up in Kelce’s personal suite alongside his mom, Donna, and different family and friends, and left with him for a personal afterparty, led followers to invest that this wasn’t their first date.Kelce tried to get backstage to fulfill Swift when her Eras tour got here to Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas Metropolis. {Photograph}: Fernando Leon/TAS23/Getty Pictures for TAS Rights ManagementSwift and Kelce had the truth is been publicly linked for the reason that summer season of 2023, however this was no tabloid gossip-mongering – the supply of the hypothesis started with Kelce himself. Attending her Eras live performance at Arrowhead Stadium in July 2023, Kelce tried to get backstage to fulfill Swift and provides her a friendship bracelet together with his cellphone quantity on it. He later informed the story on New Heights, the podcast he hosts together with his brother Jason, saying he was “disillusioned” and “a little bit butt-hurt” to overlook out on the introduction.Kelce’s name-drop on his podcast was fast to achieve Group Swift – and clearly piqued her curiosity. Weeks later, information shops reported that the pair had been “hanging out”. He finally responded to the rumours in mid-September. “I threw the ball in her court docket, and I informed her, ‘I’ve seen you rock the stage at Arrowhead. You may need to come back see me rock the stage at Arrowhead’,” he mentioned on The Pat McAfee Present. Swift popped up in his household field days later.A part of followers’ pleasure concerning the emergent “Tayvis” pairing derived from the truth that Kelce was seen as such a big departure from Swift’s earlier companions. Up to now, she has been linked to fellow musicians (together with John Mayer, Joe Jonas, Harry Types, DJ Calvin Harris and the 1975 singer Matty Healy) and actors (Jake Gyllenhaal, Tom Hiddleston and, most just lately, Joe Alwyn). Kelce not solely bucked the sample of fellow entertainers, but additionally captured Swifties’ creativeness as being a stand-in for the favored jock Swift usually pined for within the songs she wrote as a teen.The frenzy over Tayvis peaked when Swift confirmed up at MetLife Stadium, New Jersey. {Photograph}: Elsa/Getty ImagesThe frenzy over Swift and Kelce’s relationship peaked on 1 October 2023, when Swift confirmed up at MetLife Stadium to look at the Chiefs play the New York Jets with a star entourage, together with Blake Energetic and Ryan Reynolds, Sophie Turner, Sabrina Carpenter, Queer Eye chef Antoni Porowski and Hugh Jackman. The viewers for that sport peaked at greater than 29 million viewers, making it the best-watched sport for the reason that February Tremendous Bowl (largely resulting from extra feminine viewers) – largely due to Swift’s star energy.Swift and Alwyn saved a low profile. {Photograph}: Christopher Polk/NBC/NBCU Picture BankSwift and Kelce’s extremely public appearances collectively, months after assembly, contrasted considerably along with her earlier relationship with British actor Joe Alwyn. They saved a low profile over the six years they had been collectively, primarily based in London. Information of their breakup unfold in early April 2023, weeks after the beginning of Swift’s globe-trotting Eras tour. “Tayvis” was born 5 months later.Tayvis arriving on the SNL afterparty after their ‘PDA second’ backstage. {Photograph}: Gotham/GC ImagesThey weren’t simply fast to go public with their relationship, however fast to progress. In October, Swift and Kelce had been photographed having “a PDA second” (public show of affection) backstage at Saturday Evening Reside in New York, having each made shock appearances on the present. The identical month, Kelce was reported to have purchased a brand new dwelling, value $6m, providing extra privateness for his relationship. He later spoke admiringly of Swift’s dealing with of the eye on her: “The scrutiny she will get, how a lot she has a magnifying glass on her, each single day, paparazzi exterior her home, exterior each restaurant she goes to, after each flight she will get off – and he or she’s simply residing, having fun with life.”In November, Kelce was photographed within the viewers of Swift’s Eras Tour present in Argentina. She then amended the lyrics of her tune Karma to check with “the man on the Chiefs, coming straight dwelling to me”, and was later filmed working off the stage and into his arms, sending followers into one other frenzy.Kelce, for his half, joked that Swift is his “good luck allure” on the sector. Her frequent look at video games has actually been useful for the NFL, resulting in vital spikes in viewership figures of girls and ladies. In January 2024, an eight-year-old Swiftie attended the Chiefs’ sport towards the Buffalo Payments in New York with the only real intention of assembly her idol – and was plucked from the group by Jason Kelce.Kelce jokes Swift is his ‘good luck allure’ on the sector. {Photograph}: Julio Cortez/APAfter her shout-out in Argentina, Kelce delighted followers by becoming a member of Swift on stage at Wembley for her reworked Eras Tour present, with a revised setlist to incorporate songs from her new album The Tortured Poets Division. He carried her in his arms, fanned her and dusted her face with a make-up brush earlier than she launched into I Can Do It With a Damaged Coronary heart. Two songs from that album, The Alchemy and So Excessive Faculty, had been each understood by followers to check with her relationship with Kelce.Assembly the royals and making their relationship ‘Instagram official’. {Photograph}: FacebookSwift and Kelce’s relationship has usually been described as a union of leisure and sporting royalty; within the UK for the Eras Tour in June 2024, they met precise royalty. Swift’s selfie of the pair with Prince William, Prince George and Princess Charlotte additionally marked her making their relationship “Instagram official”.In a barnstorming yr for Swift, she broke one more file on the MTV video music awards in September, the place she turned the most-awarded artist within the occasion’s historical past along with her win for video of the yr for Fortnite. She thanked Kelce in her acceptance speech: “All the things this man touches turns to happiness and enjoyable and magic, so I need to thank him for including that to our shoot.”In September, weeks earlier than the US presidential election, Swift endorsed Kamala Harris in an Instagram publish she signed “childless cat woman” – a reference to Trump working mate JD Vance’s disparaging description of Democrat voters. The endorsement was obtained with reduction by many Swift followers, not least given the assist for Trump reported inside Kelce’s wider household, however it was not sufficient to safe a victory for Harris. Swift’s Eras Tour lastly concluded on 7 December after 149 reveals, breaking quite a few information, together with for the biggest-selling tour in historical past.Swift sporting a ‘T’ chain on the Grammys. {Photograph}: Neilson Barnard/Getty Pictures for The Recording AcademyAttending the Grammys in February this yr, Swift integrated a refined shout-out to her accomplice, accessorising her Vivienne Westwood mini-dress with a physique chain bearing his preliminary “T”.Although often called Kelce’s “good luck allure”, Swift’s look on this yr’s Tremendous Bowl crowd was no match for the Philadelphia Eagles (her dwelling city group), who defeated the Chiefs 40-22. She was reportedly given a frosty reception, and was booed by hundreds within the crowd. With Trump simply returned to the White Home for a second time period, commentators chalked up the heckling to Swift’s endorsement of Harris.Tayvis on the New Heights podcast. {Photograph}: Youtube/New HeightsAfter the tip of their respective “eras” – Swift’s live performance tour and Kelce’s NFL season – the couple retreated from the general public eye to benefit from the first quiet patch of their relationship – although not for lengthy. In August, Swift introduced a brand new album: The Lifetime of a Showgirl, penned through the European leg of her Eras tour. She appeared on the Kelces’ podcast New Heights to dish the small print, talking for greater than two hours – and affording followers an unprecedented degree of entry into her personal life. She acknowledged the podcast’s half within the begin of their relationship, saying of Kelce’s extremely public wooing of her: “That is form of what I’ve been writing songs about eager to occur to me since I used to be a teen.”Kelce, for his half, spoke admiringly of his accomplice’s athleticism, intelligence and vocabulary. In a profile interview for GQ’s September concern, he swooned over Swift and their relationship: “Every time I’m along with her, it looks like we’re simply common folks.”‘Your English instructor and your health club instructor are getting married.’ {Photograph}: Taylor Swift/Instagram/ReutersThe couple’s engagement announcement on Tuesday took some punters abruptly: after the New Heights episode, bets had been positioned for Swift to be the performer at subsequent yr’s Tremendous Bowl and/or for Kelce to suggest on the pitch. In actual fact, the couple obtained engaged virtually two weeks in the past, Kelce’s father confirmed to the press.Swift’s engagement ring. {Photograph}: Taylor Swift and Travis KelceOne of the 5 photographs posted to Instagram on Tuesday was a closeup of Swift’s ring: a big diamond set in a yellow gold band. Tree Paine, Swift’s notorious publicist, confirmed solely that the ring was designed by Kindred Lubeck and the diamond is an “outdated mine sensible minimize”.Swift captioned the pictures with “Your English instructor and your health club instructor are getting married”, a quote from her tune So Excessive Faculty. For followers, in addition to maybe Swift herself, it’s nothing wanting a fairytale romance – a nerd, pining from the bleachers, discovering completely satisfied ever after with the homecoming king.