Why Are We So Personally Invested in Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s Engagement? | Vogue

Oh my god, guys, you got ENGAGED? I’m so happy for you! Made my day, honestly. Thanks so much for letting me know. Well, me and your 281 million other followers on Instagram…
Is it just me or is there something about Taylor Swift’s betrothal to NFL star Travis Kelce that feels a lot more personal than any other ‘extremely famous celebrity engaged to a less famous celebrity’? The culmination of their two-year relationship is something many of us are strangely invested in, even if we’re only mild Swifties. Even pals who have never shown any interest in the singer prior to this have piped up to say that this was the heartwarming slash distracting news they needed. Truth be told, there have been friends’ engagements that I was less emotionally invested in than this one. That’s normal, right?
Maybe it’s because the narrative arc that Swift has taken us on over her 11 albums so far (the 12th, The Life of a Showgirl, arriving imminently) is so familiar and relatable that it feels personal: first love, unrequited love, on-and-off-then-on-again love. Love that is cruel, manipulative, hopeful, comfortable, addictive, frustrating, depressing and a giant red flag. Doesn’t that describe our twenties and thirties, too? She’s not our best friend but she’s occasionally felt like one—or, at least, someone going through the same old crap that we all have. (Admittedly while turning her heartbreak into a billion dollar music empire).
Perhaps it’s because she and Kelce, on a recent episode of his New Heights podcast, came across as genuinely happy and in love, which feels at odds with the cynical view of relationships we hold more widely. He seems comfortable in championing her success loudly and proudly; she spoke of the sort of happy-ever-after love story she’d wanted since her teen years and which he’d offered on a plate. Not that most women—no doubt Swift included—crave that above all else, but it’s nice to see that the modern fairy tale can be compatible with equality. Their relationship shows that powerful women can be adored for their ambition, rather than pulled downwards in order to satisfy someone else’s ego. It’s why the internet is already calling Kelce ‘Travis Swift.’
It was also just quite sweet? There was the photoshoot in a wild rose garden, which—setting aside the fact that my own immediate post-engagement pictures were taken in a Zipcar—reminded me of that time, with their mussed-up hair, noses pressed together and tightly clasped hands. Yeah, it was cheesy, but so is any deep in-the-moment affection made public. And then there was Swift’s caption: “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married”—in other words, theirs is head-over-heels high school sort of love, but it’s also now grown up.
I might be getting carried away, but at least I’m not alone. The Swiftie internet is one giant parasocial relationship at present—we feel as though we do actually know her, even though we don’t—one that the singer has spent years meticulously cultivating by letting us into her relationships and break-ups just enough, but not completely. It means that my Instagram feed is an endless stream of millennial women jumping for joy at the engagement of a woman they have never met and never will. One friend wrote that there was a very real chance her toddler’s first memory would be, “me bursting into tears because a woman we don’t know is marrying a man we don’t know.”
What’s going on? Let’s face it, maybe we’re all craving a bit of hot-blooded romance right now. A passionate love story to actually believe in versus the sea of nonchalant guys off Hinge ghosting after three dates? Not much competition, is there?
We needed this. The only question now is whether Swift will invite us—and by us, I mean the millions who follow her, the number of which equates to three times the UK population—to the wedding. Baby, just say yes.
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