From the friendship bracelet that started it all to the Super Bowl victory to surprises on the Eras Tour

On September 23, 2023, Taylor Swift shocked the world when she appeared at Arrowhead Stadium and announced to the NFL and other media her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce while sitting next to his mother Donna.

Since then, things have moved quickly and Taylor and Travis have dominated the NFL and the world of entertainment for the past nine months.

However, their relationship began before that fateful day in Kansas City – two months earlier to be exact. In fact, it was a year ago today.

Taylor has accomplished a lot more in her life than just dating the boy on the football team, but that doesn’t mean her relationship with Travis didn’t make headlines for nearly a year. And all she needed was a little friendship bracelet. Well, nearly.

One year ago, on July 8, 2024, Travis attended Taylor’s Eras Tour in Arrowhead with a friendship bracelet and a dream.

Despite being in the stands at his home stadium instead of on the field, Travis clung to the hope of getting close to the pop superstar. He made a friendship bracelet, joining in the Swifties’ tradition of making bracelets for the tour in honor of a line from their song “You’re On Your Own, Kid.” But he brought a surprise with him – his phone number.

There were signs that he had been making plans before the concert, as the NFL released a video about a week earlier of Travis making friendship bracelets for his tight end college.

But his hopes were dashed when he found out that Taylor was not meeting anyone before the show to preserve her vocal cords for the song marathon she was performing.

“I was disappointed that she doesn’t speak before or after her performances because she has to conserve her voice for the 44 songs she sings,” Kelce said during a July episode of his podcast “New Heights,” which he co-hosts with his brother Jason Kelce. “So I was a little upset that I couldn’t give her one of the bracelets I made for her.”

He added: “She’s not meeting anyone, or at least she didn’t want to meet me, so I took it personally.”

Luckily for Travis, however, Taylor – or more likely someone from her camp – took pity on him and his efforts, and the two reportedly began dating, but kept their budding romance top secret.

In early September, NFL commentators made countless puns about Taylor in their reports on Travis’ games, but the tight end remained reserved and did not address questions about his personal life.

However, the success went from zero to one hundred when the singer stole the show in her NFL debut later that month.

Taylor admitted in her interview with TIME Magazine in December that they only made their relationship public after dating behind the scenes for a while.

“It all started when Travis gave me a really nice dig on his podcast, which I thought was metal as hell,” she said.

“We started hanging out right after that. So we actually had a significant amount of time that nobody knew about, which I’m grateful for, because that’s how we got to know each other. When I went to that first game, we were a couple. I think some people think they saw our first date at that game? We would never be psychotic enough to start a first date with all the force.”

The pair were filmed driving off into the sunset, with Travis’ convertible serving as a getaway car. But the rough start was just the beginning. It opened the floodgates for Swift’s NFL season.

The following week, the Chiefs traveled to the Big Apple to face the Jets – a game the NFL had been promoting all week with Taylor’s hit “Welcome to New York.” And sure enough, there it was waiting for them – well, MetLife Stadium.

Taylor and her A-list crew of Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Sophie Turner and more watched the defending Super Bowl champions topple the Jets. News Week continued the routine, this time wearing a retro Chiefs-style jacket designed by NFL reporter Erin Andrews, Taylor was photographed cheering on Brittany Mahomes, the wife of Chiefs quarterback Patrick, sparking the start of a friendship.

On Saturday, October 14, Taylor and Travis took their relationship to the next level: off the court. The new couple made a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live in New York. The A-list couple grabbed a bite to eat at Nobu before making cameo appearances on the first episode of the program’s 49th season. They then showed each other their affection, kissed and did handjobs at the cast after-party.

After supporting her NFL boyfriend for several weeks, it was time for Taylor to return to the spotlight and continue her Eras Tour with the South American leg, with Travis taking on the role of supportive partner.

During the Chiefs’ off week, the Super Bowl winner traveled to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to see his girlfriend perform in front of a sold-out crowd. It was the first time Taylor changed the lyrics of her latest song, Karma, to “Karma is the guy on the Chiefs,” in a sweet nod to her boyfriend that has become a tradition every time he’s in the building for a show – like the Tayvish equivalent of the royal standard that flies when a monarch is in residence.

After wrapping up her final shows in South America, Taylor returned to cheerleading in Green Bay on December 3. The “Anti-Hero” singer appeared to borrow a red teddy coat from Brittany Mahomes to brave the frigid temperatures, which is when NFL Swiftmania was really starting to take off.

Taylor attended every single remaining Chiefs game heading into the postseason, including an appearance in Foxborough with her father Scott, a Philadelphia Eagles fan, the Christmas Day disaster against the Las Vegas Raiders and the New Year’s Eve game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

With each game she attended, Taylor began to wear her heart on her sleeve more and more—literally. On Christmas, she wore a Santa hat with Travis’ number 87 embroidered into the fur and began wearing friendship bracelets and other jewelry with his number, culminating on Jan. 13 with her and Brittany getting the now-infamous matching puffer jackets designed by San Francisco 49ers player Kristin Juszczyk.

But it was around this time that the pressure began to mount on Taylor. As the Chiefs’ record began to decline, fans and analysts inexplicably began pointing fingers at the 14-time Grammy winner.

Travis, Taylor and Kansas City put it behind them, however, and head coach Andy Reid and his players denied that the excitement surrounding the singer’s endorsement was a distraction. The Chiefs continued on with flying colors, making the playoffs, beating the Miami Dolphins in the wild-card round and setting up a matchup against the Buffalo Bills in the divisional round.

On January 21, Taylor met Travis’ brother, now-retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason, and his wife Kylie at Highmark. Despite Kylie telling him to be on his best behavior around Taylor, a shirtless Jason hilariously downed a few beers and jumped out of the VIP suite into the crowd of fans.

But the highlight of the night came in the season finale. Taylor lived up to her reputation as a Super Bowl player by hopping on a private jet immediately after a show in Tokyo and flying via Los Angeles to Las Vegas to watch her husband hoist the Lombardi Trophy with an overtime victory for the Chiefs.

The couple embraced on the field at Allegiant Stadium amidst a shower of red and gold confetti in fairytale scenes before partying the night away on the Sin City Strip.

The off-season was marked by a whirlwind of performances on the Eras Tour, which saw Travis follow his girlfriend around the world to Australia and Singapore, as well as vacations in the Bahamas, Coachella and a romantic trip to Lake Como that sparked engagement rumors.

On April 19, Taylor celebrated the release of her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, which featured the songs “So High School” and “The Alchemy,” which were presumably written about Travis.

On May 9, Taylor kicked off the European leg of her Eras Tour in Paris with a snippet of “So High School” while performing the segment “The Tortured Poets Department” for the first time, choreographed by Travis’ touchdown celebration and the Chiefs’ “Swag Surf.”

The three-time Super Bowl winner attended all three of Taylor’s Wembley concerts last month and was joined by Jason and Kylie, who saw the Blank Space icon perform for the first time. The box office hit, however, came on the third night of the tour.

Travis surprised 90,000 fans by coming on stage and joining background dancers Kameron Saunders and Jan Ravnik for the mime sketch during Taylor’s costume change for “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart.”

At New Heights last week, Travis revealed: “I initially mentioned it to Tay, but said, ‘How fun would it be if I rode out on one of the 1989-era motorcycles,’ and she started laughing and said, ‘Would you seriously be willing to do something like that?'”

“I just thought, ‘What? I’d love to do that, are you serious?’ I’ve seen the show enough times, so I might as well get in line here.”

“She actually found the perfect part of the show for me to perform. No bike, in case I collided with someone else or hit one of the dancers. That was the safest option.”

Travis continued his love affair and surprised his superstar girlfriend. He flew to Dublin after a teammate’s wedding in the USA to set up camp in the VIP area again. Taylor got an overjoyed but also shocked look on her face when she spotted him in the crowd.

The last 12 months have proven that Travis Kelce is the true king of manifestation. A friendship bracelet has become an incredible love story.