CELEBRITY
Exclusive: In “So High School,” pop sensation Taylor Swift sings about wanting to marry Travis Kelce…
Travis Kelce got his first Taylor Swift love song, “The Alchemy,” on the first part of her new album, The Tortured Poets Department. He didn’t have to wait long for his second. Swift promptly delivered “So High School” when she released her album’s extended version at 2 A.M.
In her lyrics, Swift leans into the public portrayal of the pair being the ultimate high school couple. She also made her intentions very clear: She does want to marry Kelce eventually, although she wouldn’t be surprised if he broke her heart.
As she put it in the song’s first verse, “Are you gonna marry, kiss, or kill me (Kill me) / It’s just a game, but really (Really) / I’m bettin’ on all three for us two (All three).”
There’s a lot to dissect in the lyrics, but before diving in, it’s worth noting that Kelce reacted publicly to them being called a high school power couple.
In early April, Kelce’s New Heights guest Lil Dicky said that Kelce and Swift “make everyone feel like the world is kind of like high school where your most popular pop star, beloved musician somehow met your most popular, beloved athlete, and they actually fell in love, and it’s just real. And I don’t know, anyone who hates on it is like, a bitter loser, but I think a lot of people who would expect to hate on it actually love it, and they acknowledge they love it because there’s something so American about it. There’s something just classic about it.”
Kelce replied, “I appreciate that. I don’t know how I did it because she does not—she wasn’t into sports. So I don’t know how the fuck I did it.” He then quipped, “no, I know exactly how I did it.” Swift nods to this in the song, singing, “You knew what you wanted, and, boy, you got her.”
Lest we forget, a clip of Kelce playing “Kiss, Marry, Kill” in 2016 resurfaced when he started dating Swift last year. He was asked to choose between Swift, Katy Perry, and Ariana Grande. “Damn, that’s messed up,” he started. “I don’t want to kill any of them.”
He then answered, “Ariana is kill, unfortunately. I love you, but you’re gone. And then Taylor Swift would be the kiss, and then Katy Perry would be the—what’s the last one? Katy Perry would be the marry.”
In early April, a source told Us Weekly that the couple was discussing moving in together but not rushing down the aisle.
The source said they are “having so much fun and enjoying things so there’s no rush [to get engaged]. She loves how down-to-earth Travis is, and it’s a very healthy relationship. Things are very serious, and they’re both thinking of the next steps.”
Swift liked an Instagram on the night of The Tortured Poets Department’s release where Kelce was ranked as her best boyfriend. That move echoes her verse “no one’s ever had me (Had me), not like you.”
Kelce spoke to WSJ in November 2023 about how he doesn’t consider himself a writer like Swift. He is in awe of her intellect though. “I’ve never been a man of words,” he said. “Being around her, seeing how smart Taylor is, has been fucking mind-blowing. I’m learning every day.”
Swift shared her own respect for Kelce’s athletic talent in her December 2023 interview with Time, explaining it’s why she attends so many of his games. “When you say a relationship is public, that means I’m going to see him do what he loves, we’re showing up for each other, other people are there and we don’t care,” she said. “The opposite of that is you have to go to an extreme amount of effort to make sure no one knows that you’re seeing someone. And we’re just proud of each other.”