How Travis Kelce isn’t just winning Taylor Swift’s heart

Opinion

Travis Kelce is one of the most successful football players in the NFL. A superstar in his profession. And yet the athlete who holds the position of tight end is rarely asked about his profession. Instead, it’s about Taylor Swift, his new partner.

Travis Kelce raves about Taylor Swift

But while some football fans are annoyed by the attention that Swift, of all people, is complaining about from the NFL, Kelce is neither jealous nor bitter. On the contrary. In a conversation with the Wall Street Journal, he repeatedly brings up Swift.

“Being around her and seeing how smart Taylor is was fucking overwhelming. I’m learning every day,” he says proudly. This also includes dealing with public interest. As one of the most successful football stars in the USA, Kelce is used to attention, but not on this level. “Obviously I’ve never dated someone who has that kind of aura about them,” he explains. “But at the same time, I’m not running away from anything. There are paparazzi outside her house every day, every restaurant she goes to, after every flight she gets off, and she just lives and enjoys her life.”

You can read pride in every sentence. On the woman he is with and her achievements. He admires his girlfriend and does it publicly. Kelce doesn’t seem to need to use the attention she’s garnered to show off or highlight his talent. On the contrary, he seems humble when he talks about himself. He himself is “not a man of many words,” he says, referring to Swift’s clever song lines, which he admired even before the relationship.

The modern man

Kelce and Swift are a modern couple. Both are successful, but at an international level. She is also in a better financial position than him. And him? I think that’s completely fine. He doesn’t seem to have the slightest problem standing in her shadow and finding a place there in the future. Sounds obvious? But that won’t be the case even in 2023. Studies () repeatedly show that around half of men prefer their wife to earn less than they do. Outdated role models are still anchored in society today.

The case of Kelce and Swift is also so interesting because Kelce is part of an extremely male-dominated industry. NFL fans are considered conservative, and there are almost no women on coaching teams or among the referees. The women’s league also doesn’t get much attention.

Kelce comes from this world and uses a big portrait of himself to rave about his girlfriend, whose songs often contain feminist tones. Kelce not only wins Swift’s heart, but also those of women all over the world. Almost overnight he became a symbol of the modern man – without ever having to throw the football.

source: