4 Normal Things Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce Do That Only Annoy People Who Don't Like Love
It seems like Taylor and Travis have a lot of haters, but is it possible those haters just really don't like love?
Reddit In case you’ve been living off the grid for the past week, let me catch you up on the news: Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce asked his longtime girlfriend, pop superstar Taylor Swift, to marry him, and she said yes. Naturally, this has delighted legions of fans — and riled up countless haters in equal measure. While Swifties are thrilled, others are saying that the engagement is simply a publicity stunt or just disgusted by the general display of love.
This begs the question, how many people are fed up with Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, and how many just don't like love? Surely some people are really tired of seeing the couple plastered all over social media, but the things they’re doing aren’t out of the ordinary for a recently engaged couple riding that high of love. In fact, it might be some of the most downright normal behavior Swift and Kelce have displayed since becoming famous. So, really, it seems like the haters may hate love itself more than anything else.
Here are 4 normal things Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce do that only annoy people who hate love:
1. Support each other’s careers and ambitions
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Swift and Kelce are known for their very public and visible careers. So for them to support each other, they sort of have to be public and visible themselves. For many, going to a concert or a football game is a normal occurrence, and there’s a good chance they’ll take pictures and share that they were there. As they should — it’s fun and exciting! The problem for Swift and Kelce is that when they attend each other’s concerts or games, other people want to take pictures of them because of their star power, and that gets on some people’s nerves.
Swifties have been pretty welcoming of Kelce and have been happy to see him follow Swift around on different stops of her Eras Tour, but the same can’t be said for Swift’s reception in the NFL. Because she’s, well, Taylor Swift, she gets a ton of media coverage during the games and is often seen onscreen. Fans (particularly men) have thrown a fit over this. For her part, Swift doesn’t really care. She told Time Magazine, “I’m just there to support Travis. I have no awareness of if I’m being shown too much and pissing off a few dads, Brads, and Chads.”
For a couple with regular old nine-to-fives, supporting their partner in their career would be no big deal. It would just mean providing moral support and maybe tagging along for the occasional office party. But because Swift and Kelce are so famous and their jobs are so publicized, the optics are off. They’re doing what any good couple in love would, but they’re being punished for it. People who hate love think they’re over-the-top to just be there for each other.
2. Wear something that matches
Who doesn’t love a matchy-matchy couple? People who hate love, apparently. In 2024, Kelce approached Wove Made Inc., a bespoke jewelry company, about making matching bracelets for him and Swift to wear. The bracelets, which are reminiscent of the friendship bracelets that fans traded at Eras Tour stops, feature the letters “TNT.” This is supposedly a reference to the couple's names, both starting with “T.”
Simone Kendle, the company’s CEO, told People Magazine, “Since this was for him, we were all hands on deck.” She also said that Swift’s bracelet cost $6,360 and was made of 14K yellow gold with 4.62 carats of diamonds. Kelce’s is similar, but larger. The average person admittedly could not afford to have something so extravagant made, even for the person they love the most, but that doesn’t stop them from still wearing some kind of matching token.
Whether it’s something as traditional as wedding rings or something more unique, like clothes with matching prints or bracelets with a cute word or phrase, couples regularly wear items that match. It may feel a little cheesy even to some of the romantics out there, but it’s just a fact of life. Holding this choice against Swift and Kelce feels like something only someone who hates love would do. To anyone else, it’s just normal.
3. Go on dates
Heaven forbid a couple go out on an actual date! At least, that’s what the haters think. Just like any couple, Swift and Kelce are regularly seen going out, both just as a pair and with friends. This is perhaps the most normal thing the couple does. I mean, going out on dates is not only normal for any relationship, but kind of necessary for one to flourish.
Of course, because Swift and Kelce are who they are, they’re followed around on their dates by paparazzi who are desperate to get the perfect photo or pick up on a snippet of their conversation. This is actually a violation of their privacy, but no one seems to worry about that, especially the haters. People who hate love are annoyed by seeing them out so frequently.
The thing is, they really don’t go out on public dates that frequently at all. The few they do go on are just broadcast to the world because Swift is one of the most famous people in the world, and Kelce’s stardom is only rising because of that. They’re just like any normal couple out on a date, though, and people who can’t stand that really just hate love.
4. Post engagement photos
When that old friend from high school got engaged and shared pictures on social media, did you think anything of it? Probably not. You may have even been happy for her and congratulated her. Well, just like hundreds of thousands of people every year, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce also got engaged, and they dared to post pictures from the special moment on Instagram. Obviously, this was not two happy people sharing their love with the world, but actually a calculated PR move.
The conspiracy theories surrounding the engagement range from almost understandable that someone thought that to leaving you wondering if the world is okay. (It’s not.) Some are pointing out that the announcement comes particularly close to the release of Swift’s 12th album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” on October 3. Others said that it coincided with the beginning of the NFL season and gave Kelce and the Chiefs a nice media boost.
Some theories are nothing short of deranged. For example, conservative commentator Charlie Kirk suggested on his podcast that Swift was somehow going to “deradicalize” herself and become some sort of tradwife. “Taylor Swift might go from a cat lady to a JD Vance supporter,” he said. “I think that if she ends up having children, she’ll stop this kind of liberal endorsing Joe Biden nonsense.” The problem with these theories is that posting engagement photos is nothing groundbreaking, and the couple had to announce the happy news somehow. They might as well do it on their own terms.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are really annoying some people, but the reasons those people are giving (She’s always at his football games! They shared pictures from their engagement!) are actually completely normal for any couple in love. In fact, if Swift and Kelce weren’t doing those things, those same people would claim their relationship was completely fake. It seems that the only people who are bothered by them simply existing are people who hate love and can’t handle seeing it on full display.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
