Originally appeared on E! Online
Don’t blame Jason Kelce for being moved by his brother Travis Kelce‘s epic romance.
As Taylor Swift shared rare insight into her relationship with the Kansas City Chiefs star and the whole Kelce family on the special Aug. 13 episode of New Heights, her heartfelt words about the joy Travis brings to those around him made his elder brother visibly emotional.
Jason, 37, grinned and then looked up teary-eyed as Taylor said of Travis, “He’s like a human exclamation point.”
The “Cruel Summer” singer went on to explain that being around Travis is like “when you take a picture on your phone and you push the enhance color button,” prompting Jason to squint and raise his eyebrows as he nodded his head in agreement.
The heartfelt moment didn’t end there. “That’s what you do to everyone’s life,” Taylor continued, as a teary Jason continued to listen with a smile. “I use so many more exclamation points now.”
Fans were quick to notice the meaningful moment between Taylor and her unofficial brother-in-law.
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As one user on X put it, “jason’s reaction to taylor calling travis a ‘human exclamation point’ and him being an ‘enhance color button’ is the sweetest thing in the world,” one person wrote on X. “you can tell how much it means to him that travis found someone that see’s him and loves him the way taylor does.”
Another added, “He almost started crying he’s so happy someone actually wholeheartedly loves and understands his brother.”
New Heights
During the two-hour conversation between Taylor and the Kelce brothers, they reminisced about the now-iconic beginning of Taylor and Travis’ romance and how she got to know his family. In fact, she revealed, “I’ll always remember meeting you for the first time, Jason.”
The “Karma” singer then shared the hilarious first impression Jason and his wife Kylie Kece made on her while cheering on Travis at the AFC Championship game in January 2024 during the Chiefs game against the Buffalo Bills.
“I did know that one of the first things I saw was you say to Kylie, ‘I was just shotgunning beers with the Bills Mafia, and I really want to go through one of the fire tables, I want to jump through it, I want to jump onto the flaming table,'” Taylor recalled. “And she goes, ‘OK. Can we not do that right now?”
She continued, “Since then, I’ve heard her say that exact thing to your 4-year-old.”
As Jason jokingly admitted, “That’s a common phrase.”
Ultimately, Taylor shared that the couple—who share four daughters—was exactly what she expected.
“So, I meet you, you’re exactly as I thought you would be, Kylie is exactly as I thought she would be just like the realest, the smartest, the coolest,” she emphasized. “You’re fantastic, obviously, you know that.”
Despite the chaos of their first encounter, she shared that she’s so happy to be a part of the Kelce family—and Chiefs Kingdom. She added, “I love this new world that Travis has shown me.”
jason’s reaction to taylor calling travis a ‘human exclamation point’ and him being an ‘enhance color button’ is the sweetest thing in the world. you can tell how much it means to him that travis found someone that see’s him and loves him the way taylor does pic.twitter.com/J6HLVLBU7W
— Tayvis Nation 🏈🫶🏻 (@tayvisnation) August 14, 2025
For more revelations from Taylor's New Heights appearance, read on.
What Happened to Travis Kelce's Friendship Bracelet for Taylor Swift
As the couple's love story goes, Travis Kelce landed on the Taylor Swift's radar when he shared his frustrations in failing to give her a friendship bracelet with his number on it at Eras Tour's Arrowhead Stadium stop on a July 2023 New Heights podcast episode.
Well, according to Taylor, Travis "didn't even reach out" to her management to set up a possible meeting in the first place.
"He thought because he knows the elevator lady, that he could just talk to her about getting down to my dressing room," she quipped in an August 2025 New Heights episode. "He really was just like, 'I know a guy. I can figure this out.'"
As for the friendship bracelet, Taylor said she's still "never seen the original."
Travis added, "They didn't leave the stadium because I was butt hurt."
Why Travis Kelce Wanted to Date Taylor Swift
Travis detailed the exact moment he knew he wanted to date Taylor, telling her on his podcast, "If I would have never gone to that show and been mesmerized and just been captivated, and then left with such a desire to want to meet you, I would have never went on here and told everybody how butt hurt I was.”
Explaining how he was "so engulfed in the curiosity" of Taylor, the athlete continued, "You see how crazy you can get an entire stadium going, And then I get you in a room and it’s like I’ve known you forever.”
It was a sentiment shared by Taylor, who responded, "I felt the same exact way about you.”
Did Coach Andy Reid Set Up Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce?
“Whatever Andy Reid says, we’re gonna stand by,” Taylor responded. “That’s what happened.”
She revealed that her dad Scott Swift has been longtime friends with the Kansas City Chiefs coach, so Andy has been coming to her concerts for years.
Noting that her dad “is the most social man who’s ever been born,” Taylor explained that she’s “always had a really positive vibe” when interacting with Andy.
“I didn’t really know what the sports were that he was doing but I knew that that was my dad’s friend Andy Reid,” she added. “I now know that he is the most iconic, legendary coach of all time.”
Ultimately, Andy "vouched" for Travis—and a lot of Taylor's family and friends also put in a good word after he decided to shoot his shot on New Heights.
"My cousins were like, ‘Please please please, he’s amazing,'" Taylor recalled. "There was a lot of people whispering in my ear about you and that’s not normal. There are people just willing to go to bat for you."
What Taylor Swift Told Travis Kelce on Their First Date
The Grammy winner admittedly fumbled on asking the Kansas City Chiefs tight end a football question during their first date.
"I legitimately asked him what it was like when the Chiefs played the Eagles in the Super Bowl and he looked across the field," Taylor recalled, "and saw his brother standing five feet away."
Two years later, Taylor realized it was an "insane question" to ask since the brothers were never on the field at the same time due to their positions. Still, she said Travis patiently explained the game, leading her to develop a passion for the sport.
"He was like, 'Actually, I'm on the offense and my brother is on the offense. I'm only on the field the same time as the defense,'" she recounted. "I thought everyone was on there at the same time."
The Life of a Showgirl: Meaning and Inspiration Explained
While announcing her 12th album would arrive Oct. 3, 2025, Taylor said that she selected just 12 songs for The Life of a Showgirl to keep "the bar really high" and make the record "just right" with a holistic theme (so no, there won't be more songs coming).
The inspiration was about going "behind the curtain" of the Eras Tour.
"This album was about what was going on behind the scenes in my inner life during this tour," Taylor said, "which was so exuberant and electric and vibrant."
She continued, "It just comes from the most infectiously joyful, wild, dramatic place I was in in my life, so that effervescence has come through on this record."
On her days off from the tour, Taylor worked with hitmakers Max Martin and Shellback in Sweden to create these "infectious anthems," including the titular track with Eras Tour opener Sabrina Carpenter.
Travis admitted he's heard every song and called them "12 bangers." In addition to "The Life of a Showgirl," the tracks will be "The Fate of Ophelia," "Elizabeth Taylor," "Opalite," "Father Figure," "Eldest Daughter," "Ruin the Friendship," "Actually Romantic," "Wi$h Li$t," "Wood," "Cancelled!" and "Honey."
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's Green Flags for Each Other
“A huge green flag,” Taylor noted, “is that Travis has had the same friends since he was probably 4 years old. And he's incredibly good at maintaining friendships and he’s so loyal and his friends are equally loyal.”
And after bonding with his pals in the NFL box at Arrowhead Stadium, she added, “They’re the funniest most hilarious group of people.”
And Taylor’s game day behavior impressed Travis, too.
“You wanna talk about green flags?” he quipped. “The first game she went to, the Bears game, she literally went through the front door of the stadium, though general admission."
That move immediately convinced him she was down to become part of Chiefs Kingdom: “I was just like, ‘Oh, she’s just in it. She’s down for the ride. She’s here for the fun.’”
How Travis Kelce Taught Taylor Swift Football
Another thing Taylor appreciates about her NFL star boyfriend? The fact that he didn't judge her for her lack of football knowledge.
"You're so nonjudgemental about people and you weren't judgmental about the fact I knew nothing about the world you were in," she told Travis. "I didn't know what a first down was. I didn’t know what a tight end was."
And while Travis responded, "I am forever thankful for you diving into the football world whole-heartedly," Taylor noted she did more than dive in.
"I became obsessed with it," she said. "My friends were like, 'Who body snatched you?'"
Taylor Swift's "Granny S--t” Hobbies
"I'd say all my hobbies could be categorized as hobbies you could have had in the 1700s," Taylor quipped. "I like to sew—I specialize in children's purses and baby blankets. I love to paint. I love to cook."
In fact, she admitted that she has a "different baking obsession every six months," with sourdough being the one that's "taken up my life" during the episode's recording.
"I'm always baking bread and texting my friends like, 'Can I send you some bread?,'" Taylor added. "I'm on sourdough blogs. There's a whole community of us, and I didn't know it."
Inside Taylor Swift's Bond With Jason Kelce's Daughters
Speaking about her love of baking, the "Blank Space" singer shared she's been working on creating a new variety of sourdough bread for Jason and wife Kylie Kelce's young daughters Wyatt, Elliotte, Bennett and Finnley.
“There’s one I've been workshopping for the girls because they love everything rainbow: Funfetti sourdough," she revealed. "Because they love sprinkles. We put sprinkles in everything when we hang out."
Taylor Swift's Cats Have Met the Kelces
Bread aside, Taylor also bonded with Jason's girls through her cats Meredith Grey, Olivia Benson and Benajmin Button.
"It was actually really a great challenge, because as soon as I got the kids around the cats, it was my goal to prove to them that they weren’t poisonous,” she shared. "And there’s no better way to prove that than to just hand them Benjamin, my rag-doll cat, who lets humans hold him like he’s a baby.”
How Taylor Swift's Family Helped Her Buy Masters
Taylor bought the master recordings of her first six albums—Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989 and Reputation—in May 2025 after a years-long battle to obtain them.
Before striking the deal with Shamrock Capital, the "Bad Blood" artist had her mom Andrea Swift and brother Austin Swift handle the negotiations "rather than send lawyers or management."
"I'm in the business of human emotion, so I would so much rather lead heart-first in something like this," she tearfully explained, "because to me this isn't something like, 'I want to own this asset because of its return.' I want it because these are my handwritten diary entries from my whole life."
So, Taylor said her family told Shamrock "all the times we’ve tried to buy it, all the times it’s fallen through, all the times we had gotten plans together and figured out something we thought was gonna work and then it didn’t at the last minute."
How Taylor Swift Plans Her Easter Eggs
"There's dos and don'ts," she noted. "I'm never going to plant an Easter egg that ties back to my personal life. It's always going to be towards music, something I have coming up."
And while she jokingly admitted that the practice has become "a little Zodiac killer," Taylor said she'll keep dropping clue as long as fans enjoy them.
"I want Easter eggs to be a certain thing where if you are a part of the fandom and you want to experience music in a normal way, then then you don't even see these," she said. "If you know, you know."
The Inspiration Behind Travis Kelce's Eras Tour Performance
According to Taylor, the idea of having Travis join her on stage all started out as a "bit."
"It was a 'wouldn't it be funny if' kind of thing," she explained. "But when when we were talking about it, I saw that little twinkle in [his] eye.'"
But for Travis, it was anything but a joke. As he noted, "I was serious in a terrifying fashion."
When Did Taylor Swift Record The Life of a Showgirl Album?
The "Cruel Summer" hitmaker recorded her 12th studio album with producers Max Martin and Shellback during the European leg of her Eras Tour. According to Taylor, she would fly to Sweden to record whenever there was a multi-day break in between shows.
"This album was about what was going on behind the scenes in my inner life during this tour," she explained, "which was so exuberant and electric and vibrant."
That's why Taylor said the album is filled with "bangers."
"It just comes from the most infectiously joyful, wild, dramatic place I was in in my life," she added, "so that effervescence has come through on this record."
The Meaning Behind The Life of a Showgirl Album Cover
She explained that the cover art—taken by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggot, who also worked on her reputation photoshoot—represented her mood after getting into the bath at the end of the night after performing on the Eras Tour.
"When all this has gone down, you won't be able to get to bed until 4 in the morning," Taylor reflected, "but you had to jump through 50 million hoops in this obstacle course that is your show. And you did it. You got two more in a row, but you did it tonight."
The superstar wanted a pic of her “behind the scenes” instead of in showgirl mode, because “this album isn’t really about what happened to me onstage. It’s about what I was going through offstage... This, to me, tells more of what the actual contents lyrically of the album are.”
How Taylor Swift Handles Rumors & Criticism Around Travis Kelce Romance
"We don't," she bluntly put it. "Anything you feed your brain, it will internalize. Anything you feed the internet, it will kill. I've been in the music industry for 20 years. It's pretty hard to hurt my feelings at this point."
In fact, Taylor quipped, "Something can be about me, my name can be in the actual headline, and it can still be none of my business."
Explaining that she's been about to "mediate a really healthy relationship with not seeing a whole lot" on social media, the singer added, "I do detach from the internet in a huge way."
Taylor Swift Moved in With Dad Scott Swift After His Quintuple Bypass Surgery
Taylor said she spent her summer 2025 with her dad following his quintuple bypass surgery, sharing he was the “loveliest patient ever” and has been doing “incredibly well” since the procedure.
“He was the funniest he's ever been—and he's usually really funny,” she shared of his post-op behavior. “He didn't know how many blockages he had and I was like, ‘Dad, you had a quintuple bypass. You had five. That's crazy. It's more than we thought.’ And he's like, ‘Well, you see, I come from a very competitive family.’”
Taylor Swift's Mom Andrea Swift Also Underwent Surgery
Andrea has also been “doing great” after getting a new knee this summer, according to Taylor.
“They're two of my best friends and I just adore them,” the Miss Americana star explained of her parents. “It was actually one of the most special things that's ever happened to me, spending all that time with them this summer. You have those long talks that you don't have when it's a small, concentrated period of time.”
No, Taylor Swift Was Not the Bear in Happy Gilmore 2
“I can deny!" she said of the rumor that she played a costumed bear in the 2025 Adam Sandler comedy, which also costarred Travis. "I’m honored to be thought of in that context, because I loved that movie so much."
Taylor added, “Whoever did the bear’s acting was exquisite.”
How Travis' Mom Donna Kelce Played a Role in Her Favorite "Welcome to the NFL" Moment
Her favorite moment from watching the guy on the Chiefs actually involved his mom Donna Kelce.
"We're in the suite, [Travis] had just won the AFC Championship," Taylor recalled. "We’re freaking out, everybody’s screaming. And his mom goes, ‘Alright, let’s go down to the field.’ And I was like, ‘What? What do you mean?'"
Noting that she and Travis hadn't discussed her joining him on the field beforehand, Taylor said she worried that Travis was going to be like, "What are you doing here, dude?"
"[Donna] was like, ‘Trust me he wants you there,'" she remembered. "And I was like, 'OK, well, she would know.'"
In the end, Taylor's glad she took Donna's advice and got to have the "magical" experience with Travis—even if she'd "never seen this many cameras."
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