Courtnay Kim is the Star Tribune's business editor and a Taylor Swift fan, and Kristen Leigh Painter is an assistant business editor and lifelong Kansas City Chiefs fan. These close colleagues, like many people around the country, found themselves in surprising conversations during the past two weeks about Swift, Chiefs star Travis Kelce and the role of pop culture in our lives. We asked them to elaborate on their discussion that began on the company's internal messaging system:
Courtnay: Kristen, I can't believe how much you and I have been talking about the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce relationship and whether she's going to show up in Minneapolis on Sunday for the Chiefs-Vikings game. You're the biggest Chiefs fan I know. Why do you love them so much, and what did you think when you saw Taylor show up at Arrowhead Stadium two weeks ago?
Kristen: Even though I was born and raised in Minnesota and Wisconsin, my parents grew up in Missouri. So my baseball team became the Twins, but I have always been a shamelessly intense Chiefs fan. My grandparents lived just miles from the [Kansas City] stadium and I remember getting chills just driving by there as a kid when we visited them. It's in my blood! So I was tickled when Taylor appeared at that first Chiefs game and basically confirmed the rumors about her and Travis. He's really grown on me in recent years as he matured as a player and team leader. I mean, what's not to love about this rom-com unfolding before us between two likeable stars? What did you first make of it?
Courtnay: I thought: Good on him for asking out the most powerful musician/artist/multi-hyphenate on the planet right now! She's been working her heart out for decades! She deserves to be having a blast! Has this changed your thoughts on Swift at all?
Kristen: There are a million memes out there of Swifties doing rabid research on Kelce these past two weeks — and I did the same on her! I found myself Googling questions like, "Does Taylor Swift have siblings?" or, "Why do Taylor Swift's fans call her 'mother'?" What I appreciate about her is that she pulled the levers of capitalism as a woman and won. I've found myself listening to a bit more of her music in recent days, looking for clues about her relationship patterns and what that could mean for her and Travis.
Courtnay: Kristen, I am embarrassed to admit that I didn't really know Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes until a few weeks ago! So I'm confused why I'm seeing a lot of hate aimed at his wife, Brittany, some of it seeming to pit her against Swift. What is that about?
Kristen: Oh my word, Courtnay, nothing boils my blood more than manufactured vitriol on the internet, and the online hatred directed at Brittany Mahomes is so cruel and upsetting. Whatever reasons people claim to not like her, it is not based on personal experience but some contrived image they've created in their heads. I presume, deep down, it comes from either a place of jealousy or sexism. She's not this demure trophy wife that people expect for NFL players. She's feisty, she's an athlete herself, and she is Patrick's enthusiastic ride-or-die.
The moment Taylor showed up at the Kansas City game, the haters immediately started to compare her to Brittany, and they mocked Brittany. The two aren't in competition, but the trolls want to create one. Both of them can exist in the Chiefs' world without one being belittled. I mean, they are with different men, and those two men build one another up, too, as both teammates and close friends.
Courtnay: I feel like if anyone is going to be able to push back the haters, it's Taylor Swift! She's had to deal with a lot of them and knows not to let haters pit women against each other. It was the ultimate girlfriend move to embrace Sophie Turner the way she did as her divorce with Joe Jonas was splashed out all over the place! And she's brought Brittany into the fold, inviting her out to dinner in New York City and to her suite to watch the Chiefs-Jets game.
Kristen: I don't know about you, but I felt a shift inside of me during this past weekend's game, from glee to apprehension. That first week felt sweet when they were driving away from Arrowhead in that vintage Chevelle. But then the Taylor-Travis show moved to the world's largest media market — New York — and it suddenly felt, I don't know, too much?
Courtnay: Yes! Too much! The frenzy is ruining what is supposed to be the sweetest part of a relationship: the newness, the mystery. I shake my head when people suggest this is a PR stunt. This is her life, and what gives any of us the right to say: "I don't believe you! Prove to us that your life is real!"
It may be naïve to think it's not a PR stunt. But I think her power is her content, the fact that she has real things to say. That's unlike influencers, whose content is PR; they get paid to like things. Swift has a massive PR machine, no question. But she uses it to catapult her art, not manufacture her life. She's Taylor Swift. She doesn't get to do anything in private.
Courtnay: What do you see are the biggest downsides here?
Kristen: That the love for Kelce and the Chiefs will be like a supernova: Extremely hot and bright, and then inevitably, it will flame out and die. I don't want to see the backlash against my favorite team! And I fear this is what he'll be remembered for instead of his very successful career.
Courtnay: I agree, KP! But if it collapses, does it collapse into a neutron star or a black hole? I mean maybe it becomes something amicable. Will there be Kelce-Swift fatigue? Yes, no question! But at the end of the day, their true fans are going to stick with them!
How are you feeling about the social media trend of women trolling their husbands by pretending they don't know who Travis Kelce is and that Taylor Swift has "put him on the map"?
Kristen: It is mildly funny to me. I get that it touches on what's true for a lot of society!
The thing that bothers me a bit is the subtext that women don't understand or pay attention to football unless a pop star is there. There are a lot of us who were regular NFL viewers before Taylor Swift, and who will remain so after this drama fades.
I suppose one of the things I like about NFL football is how it's become ritualized in American culture. It is still a powerful force at creating these universal television moments that are few and far between in this era of digital streaming.
If she does show up at U.S. Bank Stadium this weekend, I'm sure it'll be one of the Vikings' most-watched games this season!
