Travis Kelce is living in his 1989 (Taylor’s Version) era, and I love that for him. How do I know this you ask? Well, at a live taping of his podcast New Heights, the football player was seen jamming out to “Shake It Off,” one of the signature tracks from his girlfriend’s pop masterpiece, and he told the crowd that the song was one of his favorites. Now, I can’t stop thinking about how on-brand it is for this tune to be one of the Kansas City Chiefs tight end’s favorites.
For context, Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift are both in the off-season at the moment, and they’re on breaks from the NFL’s season and the Eras Tour, respectively. While Swift works on her upcoming projects and gets ready to drop her eleventh album, The Tortured Poets Department, Kelce is podcasting with his brother, and they took a trip to their alma mater, the University of Cincinnati, to do a live podcast. During the show, they played a game of guess the song, and the pep band played the tracks. At one point they performed “Shake It Off,” and this is how the three-time Super Bowl champ reacted (via @rileysconcertfootage TikTok):
@rileysconcertfootage ♬ original sound - Riley’s Concert Footage
As you can see, Travis Kelce was having a blast dancing along to “Shake It Off,” and his confident and carefree moves have the same energy as the track’s music video, which is one of Swift’s best. After the song was guessed correctly, the football player then enthusiastically told the crowd:
Yeah, that’s one of my favorites right there, ladies and gentlemen, all right nah.
Like I said, I think it’s very on-brand that “Shake It Off” is one of Travis Kelce’s favorite Taylor Swift songs. The track is all about shaking off the haters and continuing to live your life. Kelce is a pro at that, and you have to be if you’re a professional football player. There are constantly people hoping he and his team will lose, every athlete always has to deal with loss, and the man is known for his touchdown dances. He’s been shaking it off his entire career, and the guy is the epitome of “can’t stop, won’t stop grooving.” So, of course, he loves this irresistible 1989 track.
This admission shouldn’t come as a surprise to Swifties, because this isn’t the first time we’ve seen Kelce bop along to “Shake It Off.” During one of his trips to the Eras Tour – along with passing out guitar picks to fans and reacting to Swift singing “Karma is the guy on the Chiefs” – he was spotted dancing to the song during a show, check out @misschandlerbongg’s TikTok of the moment:
@misschanandlerrbongg ♬ original sound - misschanandlerrbongg
What can we say, the guy loves to get down to this sick beat, and who can blame him?
I personally love the fact that one of Travis Kelce’s favorite Taylor Swift songs is “Shake It Off.” As a guy who clearly loves to dance, it makes sense that this is a bop he adores, and the meaning behind the song is likely something he can really relate to. Plus, if you’ve streamed the Eras Tour with a Disney+ subscription or if you’ve been to the concert, you know that it’s basically impossible to not get up and dance along to the high-energy song, it’s honestly irresistible.
Now, hopefully, we’ll learn more of his favorite Taylor Swift songs as she gets ready to drop The Tortured Poets Department and re-release Reputation (Taylor’s Version). But for the time being, we'll all be grooving to "Shake It Off."