Taylor Swift’s romance with Travis Kelce may not have started when fans think it did.
The pop star opened up about the media frenzy surrounding her relationship with the Kansas City Chiefs tight end in an interview with Time magazine published Wednesday.
Swift, whom Time has named its 2023 Person of the Year, said she was already dating Kelce for some time before she was spotted at a Chiefs game in September ― despite what some people might think.
“This all started when Travis very adorably put me on blast on his podcast, which I thought was metal as hell,” she said. “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, we were a couple,” she continued. “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.”
The “Bad Blood” singer was referring to Kelce’s very public attempt to shoot his shot during a July episode of a podcast he hosts with his brother, Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce.
Travis said during the “New Heights” podcast that he’d tried to connect with Swift when he attended one of her concerts for her Eras Tour that month.
He said he had joined in on the friendship bracelet trend among Swift’s fans and made her a bracelet with his number on it, but that he didn’t actually get to meet her that night.
“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. “So I was a little butthurt I didn’t get to hand her one of the bracelets I made for her.”
Things, of course, turned out well for Kelce in the end.
Swift and Kelce sparked a media circus after the singer was photographed wearing a Chiefs jacket and cheering next to Kelce’s mother at a game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City two months later.
The singer told Time that she’s not aware of when she’s being filmed — or for how long — when she’s at Chiefs games.
“I’m just there to support Travis,” she said. “I have no awareness of if I’m being shown too much and pissing off a few dads, Brads, and Chads.”
Some NFL fans have expressed frustration over the ongoing Kelce-Swift references during football broadcasts. Kelce said in October that he thought the NFL was “overdoing it” with its coverage, and the league itself acknowledged that it’s “leaned into” the topic.
But Kelce has immersed himself in Swift’s world too.
He has been filmed dancing in public to Swift’s music, and dancing in a VIP tent with the singer’s dad at one of her Argentina shows on the Eras Tour last month.