Going Long on Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce

Plus, what I thought about all of those Bravo trailers

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I guess it’s time to share my thoughts on the whole Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce situation. I’ll say right off the bat that I’m probably just as (if not more) exhausted that you are when it comes to the incessant coverage and speculation and dissection of every detail surrounding this romance, but I do think it’s worth thinking about from a bigger picture perspective.

At the base level of all of this, it’s really so refreshing to see her so clearly happy, so clearly having fun and so clearly being herself in a relationship again. Given the monstrously successful year she's had that might seem like a given, but it’s actually been a while since we’ve seen this from her. During her years of dating Joe Alwyn, which started during her reclusive Reputation era — a time when she famously didn’t do any interviews after being scorned by the press coming out of her victorious 1989 era (she won the Grammy for Album of the Year) that left her over-exposed (the girl squad, bringing guests up on stage every night of her tour) and maligned (the whole KimYe feud that, at the time, she was on the wrong side of public opinion on) — Taylor became (and stayed) extremely private. She was rarely paparazzi’d, she didn’t walk many red carpets (and never did with Joe) and her social media got much less personal. While this timid approach to her relationship with the press and the public might’ve been born out of the whole idea of being torn down after reaching her initial 1989-fueled apex, it always felt as though she remained that way because of Joe.

Joe is the quintessential Serious Actor. The kind of guy who tried his hardest to reject the celebrity aspect of being a talented actor on the rise, appearing in a slew of Oscar-bait-y movies and eschewing any questions about his relationship with one of the most famous singers in the whole during his corresponding press tours. The whole thing felt a little ridiculous — and so not her. You know that Taylor wanted to be out there on awards show red carpets with her longtime boyfriend, maybe not doing interviews about it but at least not avoiding being seen together at all costs. Miss thing loves a media moment — always has, always will — so why wasn’t she able to create them in her usual way? Did her Serious Actor boyfriend not want his supporting performances overshadowed by her mere presence? Perhaps he was in denial about the possibility of continuing in this relationship and maintaining a relative low level of celebrity fame. Whatever it is, the romance never felt like a natural fit for her in my eyes. She was molding herself to fit his wants and needs as they pertained to being public figures, which is so not her usual M.O. Part of me also thinks that maybe the spaces that they were operating in professionally overlapped too much, because even though he was never the type to seemingly want the attention that came with fame, he clearly wanted the accolades and potential awards that did. And so does she (you know that getting an EGOT is on T-Swift’s mood board!).

All of that is to say that it’s actually very affirming to see her out here playing with the press and drumming up attention around her friendships and relationships and projects, because we all know she loves to do that. That’s part of why this apparent relationship is so exciting — as far as we know, she’s never dated a professional athlete before. In addition to being completely new territory, it also means that she’s dating someone who is operating in a totally different professional space than she is. The threat level on either side is low. There’s enough space for both of their egos and brands and endeavors and fans, because they’re coming into it with little overlap and they’re not competing for the same things.

It’s hard to tell how much of this media hoopla is organic or drummed up by her and her publicist Tree and his team and the NFL and whoever else may or may not be involved in the behind-the-scenes here but, again, I don’t really care. What I do think is kind of hilarious is how quick people are to dismiss any acknowledgement of the convenience of the timing of this extremely public relationship. The same people who are so quick to always point to Kris Jenner as a mastermind whenever something big happens in the lives of the Kardashians are the same people who refuse to believe that there’s any funny business happening here, too. It doesn’t mean that the relationship is fake or just for PR or whatever, but it does mean that it’s mutually beneficial.

I mean, Taylor has her Eras Tour concert movie hitting theaters next weekend and the release of 1989 (Taylor’s Version) coming out two weeks after that. Commercials played for the film during the Chiefs-Jets game that she attended. The film is expected to break all sorts of box offices records — you don’t think that weaving promotion for said film into the biggest, most powerful, most watched sports league in the nation to advertise to millions of potential new ticket buyers doesn’t help ensure that? Taylor loves breaking a record and she is famously savvy about setting up her releases to go to No. 1. That isn’t any different this time around. For him, it’s bringing his level of celebrity and household name recognition to another level, skyrocketing the numbers of his podcast and selling a record number of jerseys.

And it’s no coincidence that ever since her breakup with Joe, Taylor has returned to stepping out with her girl squad — which was a defining characteristic of her first 1989 era and has culminated in said squad being broadcast live during primetime network TV while sitting in the boxes at NFL games. What better exposure is there? The recreation of the girl squad serves as a way to show that she has a support system post breakup, it helps get attention every time they’re photographed or she adds someone new or noteworthy to the mix (hi, Sophie Turner!). It also helps her tie in New York City, which is a main character in this album, as well. A big element of the success of Taylor’s Versions and, I’d argue, the Eras Tour, is how well Taylor has leaned into the nostalgia for those previous album eras. And the girl squad, as much as it was made fun of at the time, is a way to harken back to the album’s initial run and cue that nostalgia to prep people for the re-release of her music from that time.

To be clear, none of this is criticism. It’s fucking smart. It makes so much sense to put such an in-your-face, unavoidable, bombastic, obvious PR strategy in place around her most highly-anticipated re-release, which is also her most in-your-face, unavoidable, bombastic, obvious pop record. It was inspired by the ‘80s, after all, which wasn’t an era exactly known for its subtlety. I mean, Travis was born in the year 1989, for crying out loud!

The part that gives me pause is just the sheer level of breathless coverage and dissemination that this relationship has resulted in. It feels like the intersection of Taylor Swift at an almost unfathomable level of popularity and the NFL should take us into a new stage of capitalism. I don’t know what it’s called, but it’s overwhelming and results in these moments that are so picked-over and dissected that they become stale and uninteresting in record time. Take “Seemingly Ranch,” for example: A fan account tweet that was funny for approximately an hour and 37 minutes before brands starting hopping on and Heinz sent out literal packages of “ketchup and seemingly ranch” less than two weeks later. Smart? Of course. Exhausting? Yes.

It’s also so funny to me how many people there are on my time lines posting about watching football and being like, “Taylor’s impact!” It’s like, I love Taylor so much and I have seen every tour of hers since she opened for Rascal Flatts my freshman year of high school, but even that isn’t going to get me to choose to watch some random football game that started at 8:30pm on a Sunday night. I have “Real Housewives” to watch and a life to live. I don’t even watch the football parts of the Super Bowl. You think I’m going to subject myself to hours of football just to hear the commentators’ lame allusions to Taylor Swift songs and shots of her cheering from a box next to Hugh Jackman and Blake Lively? It’s going to dominate social media that night and the following day anyway, so I’ll pass.

It just feels like there’s an unsustainable level of investment in this relationship and I’m not sure how it ends. Taylor reached new heights for herself during the original 1989 era which, as I said earlier, ultimately ended with her being torn down. There’s nothing the public loves more than building someone up just to tear them back down again, and I sincerely hope that doesn’t happen here again. I don’t think it will — this new apex is so universal and all-encompassing that it feels indestructible. She might slowly lose the more casual fans that have hopped on the bandwagon, but her devoted core is too big and in too deep to turn back now.

And, maybe I’m showing my age but, like, do people actually care this much about her dating a football player? Or are they performing this level of care so that they can post about it on their Instagram Stories? Maybe it’s also about feeling part of something universal and monoculture-y in a time where everything is so divided and fragmented. It doesn’t get more monoculture than the NFL or Taylor Swift in 2023 — both of them together, though? Almost too much to handle, but I guess it’s been cool observing a crossover phenomenon that everyone either cares about or at least has an opinion on.

I mean, here I am willingly writing an essay analyzing the entire thing for my free newsletter, so who am I to talk? Catch me at the theater during opening weekend of “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.”

Read

• This was a great discussion that ran earlier this week (before today’s two-episode drop) analyzing this season of “Love Is Blind” and how the experiment finally broke. (Vulture)

• Unpacking what has made Jenna Lyons so fun to watch on the “Real Housewives of New York City” reboot and why her ambivalence about being a Housewife is so appealing. (Alex Abad-Santos for Vox)

• This new profile of Gwyneth Paltrow and Goop felt kind of random, but there’s a lot of talk in it about the future of the brand and whether or not she plans on selling it soon (it seems as though she does) — so I’m thinking this article is part of a plan to appeal to potential buyers. Watch this space. (Marisa Meltzer for the New York Times)

• I had similar thoughts while reading this piece about the incredible growth and success of Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty, but it feels like it’s a little too soon for her to sell it, me thinks. Some nice moments in this nevertheless. (Karen Valby for Fast Company)

• A really funny theory about why Taylor Swift even went to that Jets game in the first place. (Fran Hoepfner for Vulture)

Listen

Maren Morris on Popcast Deluxe (NY Times)

This interview with Maren Morris, who recently announced that she was “leaving” country music, was a really fantastic listen. She shed a lot of light on that announcement, her disenchantment with the fucked up politics of the genre and how she’s thinking about her future. Listen to it below (or watch it here!):

RELATED: If you enjoyed this convo or want more on the topic, the most recent episode of “Pop Pantheon” gets into the question of how country bros took over pop. Listen to that here!

Watch

Flora and Son (Apple TV+)

I loved this feel good movie starring Eve Hewson (“Bad Sisters”) as a single mom in Dublin who is struggling to connect with her teenage son. After she starts taking virtual guitar lessons from a washed-up musician in Los Angeles (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), she’s inspired to start making music with her son. The result is predictably (but no less satisfyingly) lovely.

Carbi B Cooks with Vogue (YouTube)

Another week, another irresistible video of Cardi B — this time as she makes a frozen margarita and corn salad, for some reason. 10/10. No notes.

Bravo, Bravo, Fucking Bravo

Trailers on Trailers

It was another incredible week to be a Bravo fan: We got the trailers for “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” “The Real Housewives of Miami” and “Married to Medicine,” all of which return within about a week of one another at the end of October and into the first week of November. Also returning that week is “The Real Housewives of Potomac,” the trailer for which dropped last week.

Overall, I think all of the trailers were at least solid, but the one that stood out the most to me was the one for “RHOM.” The show is returning to Bravo with what feels like will be a big bang, with a bunch of unexpected fights teased and the kind of low-level drama that I’ve been loving recently. We’re also going to follow along with Guerdy’s breast cancer diagnosis and battle, which is sure to be extremely emotional and put everything into perspective. This is the third straight season of “Miami” having the exact same nine-person cast since its reboot and I’m so glad they aren’t tinkering too much with the formula, because it’s clearly still working.

With “RHOBH,” which more and more feels like the most serious of the “Housewives franchises,” the trailer was dominated by the Kyle and Mauricio stuff, which is simultaneously compelling and exhausting. I really hope that there’s some revelation that they’ve been saving to be revealed on the show, which would explain how cryptic they’ve been for so long in the press, but maybe that’s wishful thinking.

And season 10 of “Married to Medicine” is not only a huge milestone for this unrivaled cast, but it also represents the official return of Phaedra Parks to Bravo. Her appearance on season 2 of “Ultimate Girls Trip” felt like a test following her exit from “RHOA” years ago — would fans respond well to her or would they reject her reemergence? She was a huge hit on that season, so I’m excited to see how she pops alongside the likes of Quad and Heavenly and Toya.

Self-Promotion

“We Should Talk” feat. Tyler Cameron

This week was an interview with Tyler Cameron, formerly of “The Bachelorette” and now on “Special Forces.” We talked about a brand collab he’s doing in addition to his post-”Bachelorette” career, his friendship with JoJo Siwa on “Special Forces” and that recent flirty appearance on “Watch What Happens Live” with Brynn Whitfield from “RHONY.”

Currently

I’m completely overwhelmed by the abundance of reality TV riches that I wrote about in last week’s newsletter, so I’ll be spending part of my weekend playing catch up on some of my shows (and hopefully finally finishing my book, “Foster Dade Explores the Cosmos,” which I’ve been absolutely loving).