Lyrics We Think Are About Travis Kelce On Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department
With every Taylor Swift album drop, with the exception of the fictional narrative-driven "Folklore" and "Evermore," Swifties scramble to speculate which ex of hers got a musical roast. Everyone was teetering at the edge of their seats with the release of "The Tortured Poets Department" (TTPD), thinking that we'd finally get the lowdown on her days with Joe Alwyn — especially given the album's title, which feels like a direct reference to Alwyn's "Tortured Man Club" group chat with Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott (yes, it's a thing!) But to our surprise, it turns out TTPD isn't the Alwyn-centric we thought it would be. Nope, fans seem to think that it's largely about her short-lived fling with Matty Healy, with a solid track (or two) thrown in for her latest squeeze, Travis Kelce.
To be clear, it's not like Swift made a career out of subtweeting her exes (at least not entirely). The Grammy winner is equally adept at churning out hits about falling head over heels in love — case in point, her whole "Lover" album. And TTPD? It's no exception. Track 15, "The Alchemy," might as well be titled "The Travis," with how it has the Kansas City Chiefs tight end written all over it. Penned in the middle of her Eras tour — with Kelce himself playing cheerleader at several shows — it's clear that Swift managed to crank out a love letter dedicated to her new beau just in time for TTPD's release. Let's dig in!
The Alchemy seems unabashedly about Travis Kelce
We don't know about you, but we feel "The Alchemy" is so Travis Kelce-coded. Taylor Swift typically keeps the muses behind her tracks under wraps, but she's tossed enough football references into this song to leave us with little doubt that, yes, it's all about Kelce. We get it, Taylor, you're dating a Super Bowl winner!
But "The Alchemy" strays from the TTPD's heartbreak anthems, like the tear-jerker "So Long, London." Instead, it revels in the excitement of a brand-new romance, peppered with metaphors of unbeatable chemistry. Swift sings, "Baby I'm the one to beat / 'Cause the sign on your heart / Said it's still reserved for me / Honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy?" She rolls out a string of football metaphors next, with lines about "touching down," "a winning streak," and feeling like "the greatest in the league." She even appeared to have included a nod to Kelce's Super Bowl triumph with, "Where's the trophy? He just comes, running over to me."
The song wraps up full circle, with Swift gushing about a rare, intoxicating love. "This happens once every few lifetimes / These chemicals hit me like white wine." And, unlike her previous romances where she practically had to play hide and seek with the public, "The Alchemy" shows Swift embracing her return to the public eye, declaring it her rightful place. "I circled you on a map / I haven't come around in so long / But I'm coming back so strong."
Travis makes Taylor feel a 'high school love'
Is a Taylor Swift album ever just an album? Of course not! Mere hours after the initial release of TTPD, Swift announced that she was dropping 15 more songs, beefing up "The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology." And lo and behold, nestled among the surprise tracks is what seems to be yet another Travis Kelce-themed love letter, "So High School," sitting pretty at Track 22.
Channeling a 90s vibe, Swift captures the quintessential high school crush experience in the song. "I feel so high school every time I look at you / I wanna find you in a crowd just to hide from you," she croons. She then appears to reference a 2016 video where Kelce, during a game of marry, kiss, or kill, had to choose between Swift, Katy Perry, and Ariana Grande. She sings, "Are you gonna marry, kiss, or kill me (Kill me)." Spoiler alert: Swift gets a peck, Perry gets the proposal, and Grande — well, you know how it goes. Elsewhere in the lyrics, Swift serenaded about Kelce making the first move with the lines, "You knew what you wanted, and, boy, you got her / Brand new, full throttle / You already know, babe." It's probably a throwback to when Kelce admitted to shooting his shot by attending a The Eras stop to try and give her a friendship bracelet with his number, only to get shot down by her security.
Fine, "So High School," admittedly, isn't as profound as the rest of its TTPD siblings, but it's got us all kicking our feet like smitten high schoolers. And apparently, so has Swift!