Are These Taylor Swift Lyrics About Jason Kelce?
Sure, she drops some obvious references to boyfriend Travis, but the elder Kelce also makes a few appearances in the lyrics to The Tortured Poets Department.
Jason Kelce and Taylor Swift during Super Bowl LVIII on February 11, 2024. / Photograph by Harry How/Getty Images
This past Friday night I got into an Uber to meet my friends for dinner, and Taylor Swift’s “The Alchemy” was playing. It’s the 15th track on The Tortured Poets Department, so I hadn’t gotten to it yet in my listening of the just-released album. Slowly it began to dawn on me: “Oh my God, this song is about Travis Kelce!” I exclaimed to the driver who did not respond. As the song ended I realized he was just playing pop station 96.5 — renamed “Ninety Swift Five” for the day and playing a new Taylor Swift song every 13 minutes — which is maybe just the station he plays when his passenger is a white millennial woman.
We’ll all remember where we were when we realized The Alchemy was about Travis Kelce.
— Alex Goldschmidt (@alexandergold) April 19, 2024
So, okay, it wasn’t gonna be a five-star Swiftie friendship formed in the RAV4 that night. But I was right about my lyrical interpretation. The song isn’t subtle. “So when I touch down, call the amateurs and cut ’em from the team,” Swift sings, employing some private-jet/football wordplay. “These blokes warm the benches. We been on a winning streak.” Call an ambulance for Joe Alwyn, Matty Healy, and all her British exes.
I could do this all day. Taylor Swift plants Easter eggs for her fans, and decoding them is half the fun. What might seem far-fetched or coincidental with normal pop songwriters is often rewarded in the Swiftie fandom. She is a “Mastermind,” after all. But when all that tea-leaf reading also involves one of my — nay, Philadelphia’s — favorite people, I’m all in.
Anyone can analyze The Tortured Poets Department’s lyrics to figure out which songs reference Swift’s boyfriend Travis Kelce. (“The Alchemy” and “So High School,” if you’re keeping track.) But I’m skipping right to Jason Kelce.
“Shirts off”
Jason Kelce celebrates with his shirt off after the Kansas City Chiefs score a touchdown during the playoffs. And Taylor Swift was right there in the box with him. / Photograph by Kathryn Riley/Getty Images
The bridge in “The Alchemy” talks of winning and a trophy and Travis running over to Taylor. Of course, our mind instantly goes to their iconic post-Super Bowl embrace. But wait …
Shirts off, and your friends lift you up over their heads
Beer sticking to the floor
Cheers chanted, ‘cause they said
There was no chance, trying to be
The greatest in the league
I’m sorry, but who took their shirt off to celebrate a championship touchdown? That’s right, the love of our lives, Mr. Jason Kelce. Right next to Taylor in the box, and undoubtedly spilling some beer on the floor. Iconic.
“I circled you on a map.”
Jason Kelce and Taylor Swift react during the playoff game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills. / Photograph by Kathryn Riley/Getty Images
Also in “The Alchemy,” Taylor sings that she “circled [Travis Kelce] on a map.” Understanding this line requires knowledge of the backstory, not just of Taylor Swift, but also of the Kelces’ New Heights podcast.
Having already won two Super Bowls (including the Kelce Bowl against us, but let’s move past it) and being arguably the best tight end in the NFL, Travis Kelce was already one of the most famous football players before he started dating Taylor Swift.
But being merely football-famous means that some in Taylor’s fanbase who don’t follow the NFL (or watch TV commercials, apparently?) didn’t know that Travis Kelce was a superstar in his own right. This led to some saying — and more joking — that Taylor put him “on the map.”
It became a running joke, and of course made its way into New Heights.
When they were reviewing fan costumes, singer Jax’s TikTok-famous Halloween costume was included.
The next month, the brothers were reviewing fan art on New Heights. Eagle-eye fans (and Travis) would notice that a fan’s cartoon drawing included Travis wearing a shirt that said “On the Map” with his face atop the U.S. map. “Shout out to Taylor,” Travis Kelce commented.
Travis Kelce reacts to fan art of himself and Jason Kelce with an Easter egg Taylor Swift reference
Is it too much of a stretch to think Taylor Swift listens to New Heights? Her Coachella wardrobe would suggest it is not.
Taylor Swift (wearing a New Heights cap!) and Travis Kelce at Coachella / Photograph by Gilbert Flores/WWD via Getty Images
P.S. After she wore that hat, it sold out. Because of course it did.
“That impression you did of your dad.”
In The Tortured Poets Department bonus track, “So High School,” Swift sings “I feel like laughing in the middle of practice, to that impression you did of your dad again.”
Again, we’ve got New Heights to thank for our insight into this reference. During the podcast both Travis and Jason Kelce frequently mimic their dad, Ed Kelce.
Those Papa Kelce impressions are just too good pic.twitter.com/up7hZu8KFu
— New Heights (@newheightshow) April 19, 2024
So, the required reading list has expanded: The Taylor Swift cinematic universe now includes the Kelces’ output into the world. And really, it’s fitting that the New Heights podcast would play such a prominent role here, as it’s also where the world first learned of Travis’s love for Taylor, as he recounted his attempt to court her via friendship bracelet at her concert.
Which brings us to our final lyrical reference, also from “So High School.” “You knew what you wanted, and boy, you got her.”
