How Travis Kelce Went from a Taylor Swift Fan to Singing Along to Songs About Him at the Eras Tour

It all started with a friendship bracelet for Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift.

Before the 34-year-old NFL star was jamming out to songs written about him at the Eras Tour, Kelce started as just a fan of the superstar songstress.

Their love story began in July 2023 when Kelce attended Swift’s tour at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, which is also the venue where the Chiefs play.

On an episode of his New Heights podcast with his brother Jason, the tight end revealed that he made a friendship bracelet — a tradition for Eras Tour concert-goers — with his phone number on it to give to her. “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 on the show, playfully adding that he “took it personal” when he couldn’t meet her backstage.

Little did he know, just a few months later he’d be the person greeting Swift as soon as she walked offstage on that very same tour, and that several moments from their headline-grabbing relationship would be referenced in lyrics for her new album, The Tortured Poets Department.

In her TIME Person of the Year interview five months after that Kansas City concert, Swift revealed that she found it “metal as hell” when Kelce “adorably put me on blast on his podcast.”