How did Taylor Swift actually meet Travis Kelce? She tells the real story (and much more) on ‘New Heights’

Taylor Swift is entering her new era of orange with her new album, “The Life of a Showgirl.” For the big album release announcement, which comes out Oct. 3, she became a guest on her “favorite podcast,” which, of course, is Travis and Jason Kelce’s New Heights.

“This podcast got me a boyfriend, since Travis decided to use it as his personal dating app two years ago,” Swift said jokingly on Wednesday night’s special episode.

Over 1.3 million people tuned in live to watch Swift’s two-hour interview on the show, which marked her first-ever podcast appearance.

Travis Kelce and Swift originally met because Travis, after attending the Eras Tour, made a video disappointed that she didn’t meet people before or after the show, so he didn’t get to meet her afterward.

But that didn’t quite match the smell test, considering that Aaron Rodgers found a way to meet her at MetLife Stadium after her concert a few weeks prior.

» READ MORE: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce share a deeper connection than you might think. I hope ‘New Heights’ explores it.

It turns out that he never actually reached out to Swift’s manager to try to get backstage.

“When this podcast came out, I was like, ‘Did he ever reach out to be in the tents, or did we know he was in the building?’” Swift said. “He came with Pat [Mahomes], and he thought that because he knew the elevator lady that he could just come down to my dressing room.”

But had Travis made it backstage, and thus not declared to the public on the show that he was interested in her, Swift may never have considered dating him.

“This kind of felt more like I was in an ’80s John Hughes movie and he was just like standing outside of my window with a boom box just being like, ‘I want to date you! Do you want to go on a date with me? I made you a friendship bracelet. Do you want to date me?’” Swift said. “I was like, ‘If this guy isn’t crazy, which is a big if, this is sort of what I’ve been writing songs about wanting to happen to me since I was a teenager.’”

Chiefs coach Andy Reid has taken a lot of credit for setting up Swift and Kelce, but how involved was he really?

“Whatever Andy Reid says, we’re going to stand by,” Swift said. “He said it; that’s what happened.”

Added Travis: “‘Cupid,’ ‘Big Red.’ It’s all the same.”

After Travis put Swift on blast on New Heights, everyone started reaching out to Swift to convince her to give him a shot — including Reid.

“When you guys did the full-send on the podcast and he was like, ‘Do you want to date me?’ And everybody heard it. It was the shooting-your-shot-heard ’round the world,” Swift said. “Basically, everyone who likes you — which is a lot of people — started reaching out to everyone who knows me. I think it was like, Andy was vouching for you. I think it was my relatives, my cousins were like, ‘Please, please, please. He’s amazing.’ There were friends that were like, ‘He’s actually an amazing guy. Like, he’s so great.’”

Eagles fans may have been holding out hope that Swift was a lost Eagles fan in hiding, but the podcast refuted that narrative. Swift’s dad, Scott, was a big Eagles fan, but Swift said that while her dad watched Eagles games, she’d be upstairs in her room learning instruments and working on her music.

On her first date with Travis, she recalled asking him what it was like to play in the Super Bowl and see Jason line up across from him. That, of course, did not happen.

» READ MORE: Why did Taylor Swift decide to announce her 12th album on ‘New Heights’? Love, say Philly-area Swifties

“He didn’t even look at me,” Swift said. “I know now what an insane question that was. I thought everyone was on the field at the same time.”

Despite her lack of knowledge, Jason said Swift has been a quick study and asks “the best questions” when they watch games together. Since starting to date Travis, she has locked in on the Chiefs. Swift was the first person to tell Travis that the Chiefs drafted receiver Xavier Worthy in the first round last year.

“I fell in love with it. I became obsessed with it,” Swift said. “I became a person who was running through the halls of my house screaming, ‘We drafted Xavier Worthy!’ And my friends were like, ‘Who bodysnatched you? What do you mean we drafted Xavier Worthy?’”

When Kylie and Jason Kelce were first set to meet Swift at the Bills-Chiefs playoff game in January 2024, Kylie told Jason to be on his best behavior.

Swift said that she remembered Jason trying to get Kylie to let him jump through a burning table.

“‘I was just shotgunning beer with the Bills mafia, and I really want to go through one of the fire tables. I want to jump through it and onto the flaming table,’” Swift recalled Jason saying. “And she goes, ‘OK, can we not do that right now?’ And since then, I’ve heard her say that exact thing to your 4-year-old.”

But Swift immediately loved Jason and Kylie, particularly after Jason went into the crowd and started picking up little girls to wave hello to her through the window.

“I meet you, and you’re exactly like I thought you would be,” Swift said. “Kylie is exactly how I thought she would be, just the realest, smartest, coolest. You’re fantastic, obviously, you know that, and then I swear to God, Jason, you flew through the window. I’ve never seen someone so big move so fast.”

Swift would never call herself an athlete, but after watching her take on the daunting challenge of her three-hour Eras Tour set, Travis certainly would. The two bonded over their shared physical therapy sessions, and he said seeing her intensity on stage and in creating her music helped grow his admiration for her.

“In the Eras Tour and seeing the power skip, I knew you were an athlete,” Travis said. “Not everybody can power skip in heels.”

So of course, he needed to come join her on the tour. With Jason and Kylie in the crowd at Wembley Stadium, Swift brought Travis on stage with her during the song “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart” in London.

“We were talking about it, we were joking, and I saw that little twinkle in your eye like, ‘Oh, he wants to do it,’” Swift said. “… It was one of the loudest, if not the loudest screams I heard on the tour.”

» READ MORE: Jason Kelce discusses brunch with Taylor Swift at Talula’s Garden on Mother’s Day — and what he got for Mama Kelce

But that stop of the tour also was notable because it led to Jason and Kylie Kelce meeting a few members of the British Royal Family. Swift recalled watching Jason debate whether it was acceptable to hold a beer in front of the royal family.

“I watched him have this moment with his beer where he was like, ‘But I want to take it, but I know that I probably should not take it,’” Swift said, miming Jason holding up his beer can. “I watched this happen, and it kind of was the most amazing …”

Jason cut in: “I like that you picked up on it because that was exactly what was going through my head.”

“Like, ‘If I don’t have my beer, what do I do with my hand now?’” Swift said.

“Is it disrespectful to have a beer when you meet royalty?” Jason said.

Swift continued: “Yeah, or is it authentic by having the beer? I would normally have the beer; wouldn’t they want me to be myself? I’m watching you say that in your head.”