This post was updated Sept. 28 at 8:04 p.m.
Second-year public affairs student Camille Jacala stopped to check her phone at a red light when she saw a headline that left her stunned.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce were engaged.
“I was in shock,” Jacala said. “I didn’t know when the day would come.”
Swift and Kelce announced their engagement Aug. 26 in a joint Instagram post captioned, “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.” Swift’s song “So High School” – which is rumored to be about Kelce – played in the background of the post, which included five photos from the proposal. The post received over 14 million likes in one hour.
Caroline Meyers, a fourth-year public affairs student, said she was walking in New York with friends from UCLA when she received a text from her sister about the engagement. Meyers added that she quickly informed her friends around her, who had not yet heard the news.
“I felt like that Paul Revere meme, telling everyone,” Meyers said. “My friends were super excited.”
Swift’s fans – better known as “Swifties” – rapidly inundated social media with videos reacting to the news, many of which showed fans screaming and in disbelief. Meyers said she believes the fact that Swift found love – after writing about it throughout her career – is what caused the enormous reaction. The couple, which has 14 Grammys and three Super Bowl titles between the two, is a “crossover of two different areas of pop culture,” Meyers added.
“She’s been writing these songs about her love and different romances throughout the years,” Meyers said. “It’s crazy that this is it.”
Swift’s relationship with Kelce has shown a shift in the singer’s willingness to share about her personal life. Swift has been private about past relationships – particularly with her former partner Joe Alwyn, whom she dated for six years but rarely made public appearances with. The singer’s fans tend to follow her relationships closely, often speculating on how her songs are connected to people she has been – or is – romantically linked to.
However, Swift has publicly supported Kelce, a Kansas City Chiefs tight end, regularly attending games with the 10-time Pro Bowler’s family. Thirteen days prior to the couple’s engagement announcement, Swift appeared on Kelce and his brother’s podcast “New Heights” for a two-hour-long interview – the longest Swift has ever done, including her 2020 documentary “Miss Americana.”
Jay Jay Rodriguez, a fourth-year psychology student, said he saw the couple’s engagement coming after Swift’s podcast appearance. Rodriguez, who doesn’t identify as a Swiftie but said they enjoy Swift’s music, added that they understand Swift is some people’s “princess” – but said some fans can be overly involved in her private life.
“People being in her private life is scary because she’s been out in the public since she was 15,” he said.
Jacala said she believes Swift’s engagement signals a new era she is entering in her life – and could usher in a new sound for her as well. Swift is releasing her 12th studio album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” on Oct. 3. The album quickly became Spotify’s most presaved album countdown page in history after Swift announced it in August.
Meyers and Jacala both said they have found a Swiftie community at UCLA, with many of their friends enjoying the artist. UCLA, however, unlike many other college campuses, does not have an official student organization dedicated to the artist.
Rodriguez added that they believe Swift is now living her high school fantasy – which Swift confirmed on her “New Heights” appearance, saying that Kelce is what she has “been writing songs about wanting to happen to me since I was a teenager.”
“Good things are to come,” Rodriguez said.
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