Why are we so obsessed with the idea of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce getting married?
I like Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce as much as the next person (who is not a avowed anti-Swiftie, that is to say): after years of excellent but depressed songs on his romantic work, it is a little wonderful to see pop star in what seems, in the unused eye, to be a happy and healthy relationship.
It may be why it is so frustrating for me every time that the “final ends of Taylor and Travis are engaged ???? Are they already married ????? ” The speech cycle starts again, as it did this week via page six. (The “proof” of the point of sale that the couple may have already married? A table assignment was presented to “Taylor and Travis Kelce” at the wedding of the Chicago player, Cole Kmet.)
Obviously, if all this turns out to be a real thingI’m going to eat my words (and a lot of crows too). But for the moment, I must wonder why we, as a company, are so invested in the idea that Swift and Kelce become a married couple. On the surface of all this, it might not seem so deep – people like beautiful pop stars and beautiful athletes and like to see them pass their lives together! – But I can’t help but read something a little darker in the complete obsession that started almost immediately after the two were published as a couple in 2023.
It is now 2025, and we have many evidence (part of this one provided by Swift’s own words!) That a woman is worth much more than the bling on her left ring finger. However, critical commentators and marital Swings seem determined to distill Swift’s story to find out whether it is installed or not – or already installed with – her boyfriend. But please: they are adult adults, and it is not a novel by Jane Austen, so can we please go beyond the wedding plot?
There is a substantial cultural precedent to romanianize a “wedding of fairy tales” favorable to fans, but at the risk of appearing cynical, they do not always end well. Namely: more 750 million people I watched Princess Diana float in the aisle to marry Prince Charles then in 1981, and their real union was, well, one of the original and defining hot messages. (“We were three in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded”, ” remember?) All the pump and the nuptial circumstances in the world have not created a real and durable link for Diana and Charles, so why our fever pitch of parasocial expectations around the potential marriage of Swift and Kelce would have them set them up to succeed? If we like Swift as much as many of us claim that we do it, should we not just … Leave our man and man alone to find their own path to the altar (or not)?
