The biggest pop star on the planet has found her “End Game”: Taylor Swift is getting married.
On Tuesday afternoon, Swift announced her engagement to NFL player Travis Kelce via Instagram, captioning a carousel that seems to show the Kansas Chiefs tight end proposing, “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married 🧨.”
Within 45 minutes of going live, the post had been re-shared almost 100,000 times. Even U.S. President Donald Trump, whose recent Swift commentary includes “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT” on Truth Social, said in a cabinet meeting Q&A, “I think she’s a terrific person, so I wish them a lot of luck.”
There’s no location tag on the post, but it’s set to Swift’s song, “So High School,” long thought to be about her relationship with Kelce, and which contains the line, “He knows how to ball / I know Aristotle,” a nod to this opposites-attract match between a professional athlete known for his on-field athleticism and a singer-songwriter who often nods to Greek mythology in her lyrics.
Surrounded by bouquets of pink roses, the carousel shows Swift and Kelce, both 35, embracing before there’s a close-up of the engagement ring. According to People, an outlet long favoured by Swift and her team, Kelce designed the ring with jeweller Kindred Lubeck of New York-based Artifex Fine Jewellery. It’s a large emerald-ish Old Mine Cut diamond, set in a band that seems to have smaller diamonds inset into the sides.
According to Kelce’s dad, Ed Kelce, in an interview with News 5 Cleveland on Tuesday, the couple got engaged “maybe two weeks, not quite two weeks ago.” The elder Kelce went on to say his son was waffling over the timing for the proposal, possibly planning a grand scenario, but ended up popping the question in the garden at his home, just before heading out to dinner together.
It’s almost exactly two years since Kelce famously decided to “shoot his shot” and ask the musician, then recently split from her previous partner, the actor Joe Alwyn, out on a date after he didn’t get the chance to meet her at one of her Eras tour stops as he’d hoped.
This news comes as fans wait for Swift’s 12th album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” to be released on Oct. 3. She chose Kelce’s podcast, New Heights, as the place to announce the forthcoming release — a sign, in retrospect, of just how serious this relationship was.
In the two-hour-plus conversation, we not only learned about the new album but also got more intel on their relationship: The two seemed to suggest they lived together in Kansas City, while both sang each others’ praises. “He’s a human exclamation mark,” said Swift of Kelce, while he raved about the athleticism she showed performing for over three hours straight on the Eras tour.
Just catching up with this “Love Story?” Here’s a brief timeline of Swift and Kelce’s relationship.
July 2023: Kelce sees Swift in concert
They didn’t meet the night Kelce saw her perform at Arrowhead Stadium — something he joked he was “butt-hurt” about later — but it set off a chain of events that would eventually lead him to ask the singer out on a date via a mutual acquaintance who turned out to be his head coach, Andy Reid, an old friend of Swift’s father.
After a few weeks of dating rumours, Swift nearly broke the internet when she seemed to confirm them by showing up to watch Kelce play football at the same stadium where he’d seen her perform. Shortly afterward, People had a source who said the pair were, indeed, “hanging out.”
October 2023: Some NFL fans complain about coverage of Swift at games
In what would become a recurring cloud over their relationship, Swift’s presence at NFL games — and the accompanying pop culture furor they caused — was criticized by some corners of the football fandom, some of whom felt that the broadcast included too many shots of Swift cheering Kelce on during the game.
A few days later, the couple were spotted holding hands in public for the first time when they both popped up at “Saturday Night Live,” Swift introducing the musical guest and Kelce appearing in a skit that tackled that controversial NFL coverage.
November 2023: Kelce is spotted at the Eras tour as their relationship “turns more serious”
At this stage, developments came thick and fast: There was an Instagram photo of Swift kissing Kelce on the cheek, followed by a source telling People that things were getting serious between the pair. He later turned up at her Eras tour show in Buenos Aires, singing alongside her dad in the VIP tent.
December 2023: Swift talks publicly about Kelce for the first time
Not long after she was seen at the Chiefs’ holiday party, Swift spoke publicly about Kelce for the first time in the article that accompanied her winning Time’s Person of the Year. Saying it was “metal as hell” that Kelce went public about wanting to date her on his podcast; she also clarified that they had already been a couple by the time she went to that first game at Arrowhead.
Later that month, Swift and her family reportedly spent Christmas Day watching Kelce play football; they were seen kissing at a New Year’s party a week later.
February 2024: Kelce and Swift kiss on centre field at Super Bowl
In an image that ricocheted around the internet, Swift and Kelce were snapped kissing in the middle of the field after the Chiefs won the Super Bowl.
That same month, the pair were seen sightseeing in Sydney as Swift took her Eras tour down under.
April 2024: Kelce gets his first Taylor Swift song written about him
While “The Tortured Poets Department,” Swift’s 11th album, seems to be mostly about two relationships that had happened before their meeting, Kelce did get his very first song written about him in the form of “So High School,” a track that recalled the dizzying, giddy crush of new love.
June 2024: They go Instagram official
There were two headlines when Swift posted on Instagram about her London Eras tour shows: The first being that it was a selfie with Prince William and two of his children, while the other was that Kelce was included in the snap, making his official debut on her social media.
A few days later, he’d get an even bigger role, taking to the stage with Swift for a short portion of her Eras tour show at Wembley Stadium.
September 2024: Swift calls Kelce her “boyfriend” publicly
As she accepted an MTV Music Video Award for her “Fortnight” music video, Swift took a moment to specifically shout out Kelce, calling him her boyfriend, and saying, “Everything this man touches turns to happiness and magic.”
Early 2025: Swift and Kelce spend time in Florida
As we learned on their joint podcast appearance, Swift and Kelce spent their respective professional off-time together in Florida: She was there helping her father recuperate from heart surgery and perfecting her sourdough recipes, while he was training for the upcoming football season.
August 2025: Kelce and Swift are engaged
After two years of dating, the pair announced their engagement via a joint Instagram post. No word on a wedding date yet.
