Travis Kelce’s First Response to Taylor Swift’s <i>The Life of a Showgirl</i> Is Subtle But Telling

THE RUNDOWN

• Taylor Swift’s fiancé, Travis Kelce, offered a subtle public response to his partner’s new album, The Life of a Showgirl.
• Kelce liked an Instagram 50 Cent posted about it.
• The Kansas City Chiefs tight end was a muse for many of the album’s tracks.

Travis Kelce was among the first people to hear Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl, and he served as the album’s chief muse. The Kansas City Chiefs player was relatively quiet on social media today as fans took in his fiancée’s album. But he did give Swift a subtle show of support in an unexpected way.

Rapper 50 Cent, whom Swift name-dropped on the song “Ruin the Friendship,” posted on Instagram about the tribute. “@taylorswift shit is popping right now, 😏she shout me out, 🤫she don’t shout you out. LOL 😆 THIS IS FOR BIG TIMERS ONLY! @50centaction wait I’m the only shout out on the whole album. 🔥” he wrote.

Kelce liked the post, marking his first (somewhat) public reaction to any song on The Life of a Showgirl since its release. “Ruin the Friendship” is one of the few tracks that’s not about Kelce. Instead, Swift expresses her regrets about not kissing a high school friend who later passed away when she was just 20. It is one of the most emotional songs on the album, and Kelce's reaction to it first makes the move even more poignant.

Swift spoke about the track during The Official Release Party of a Showgirl film, saying she wrote it while reminiscing about her teenage years. “It would’ve been fine to take chances I didn’t take [on love],” she said. “I was so disciplined in high school. It’s very wistful and very nostalgic.”

The singer did take a chance on Kelce years later, after he made a grand gesture on his podcast New Heights—and it paid off.

“He’s the most fun person,” Swift said on the radio show Heart Breakfast today. “He’s such a natural, like in life. He’s never been nervous about anything in his entire life, so it’s pretty fun. He’s all the things; he’s fun, vibrant, has this infectious personality, makes me laugh so much. There’s a line in the song [‘Wi$h Li$t’] that you just wanted a best friend who you think is hot. Well, that’s kind of it, you know?”