This time, Taylor Swift wasn’t dancing on her own.
In fact, she had a room full of NFL stars and their loved ones shaking it off with her when she made a surprise appearance at her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s Tight End University and its celebratory June 24 concert in Nashville, Tennessee.
Taking to the stage—for the first time since the end of the Eras Tour—alongside Kane Brown, Taylor performed, you guessed it, her hit “Shake It Off.”
“See the one thing tight ends have in common with Nashville musicians,” she said on stage as seen in footage from the event, “is we’re all friends, right? We would like to dedicate this to our favorite players, who are going play, and these are the tight ends.”
And when she launched into the first verse of the song, the whole venue exploded into cheers.
Kane joined her performance of the hit, with the pair sharing a microphone for the last few refrains. Thanking Kane and his band at the close of the song, Taylor shared a hug with Kane before going and thanking his individual band members before she exited the stage.
So just how did this enchanted moment come to be? “We decided we were gonna perform that three minutes ago,” Taylor joked at the end of her performance, previously telling the crowd, “We’re up there, me and Kane are having some drinks, and we were thinking like how loud could this place get?” Theoretically, how loud could the singing get in here?”
She added, “And I was like, ‘I’d go up but I don’t have a guitar,’ and then Chase Rice said, ‘You could use mine.’”
The rest, as they say, was history.
Following the concert, Kane shared a snap with Travis and Taylor, which he captioned, alongside aa laughing emoji, “When you think you’re the special guest BUT you’re not.”
In the image, Kane and Travis are twinning in camouflage print pants while Taylor sports a little black dress from EB Denim, which she styled with knee high boots and a belt. The two singers were all smiles as they held a peace sign up to the camera.
The impromptu collab came just one day after Taylor and Travis made what many fans are referring to as their red carpet couple debut at Tight End University, walking into the June 23 event hand in hand. As the Tight End University Instagram account captioned a clip of the moment, “Tight end era.”
It was a long-awaited moment for many Swifities and NFL fans alike. “The red carpet moment that the world has waited on for two years happened at TEU?” one user wrote. “I kind of love this. Met Gala? Grammys? Hell no we’re doing TEU!”
Another added on the post, which featured Taylor’s “…Ready For It?” in the background, “BLESS YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE, MAY YOUR PILLOW ALWAYS BE ICE COLD. YOU ARE SO LOVED SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR, SO LOVED.”
For more of Taylor and Travis’ best couple moments, keep reading.
July 2023: So, Make the Friendship Bracelets
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce‘s love story began in July 2023, when the singer’s Eras Tour made a stop at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.
As a huge Swiftie, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end caught the show with hopes of giving Taylor a friendship bracelet with his number on it. However, he failed to complete the pass due to her pre-show rituals.
“I was disappointed that she doesn’t talk before or after her shows because she has to save her voice for the 44 songs that she sings,” Travis shared on the July 26 episode of his New Heights podcast. “So, I was a little butt-hurt I didn’t get to hand her one of the bracelets I made for her.”
Summer 2023: This Is Him Trying
After publicly recounting his fumble—a move Taylor would later describe as “metal as hell”—Travis decided to shoot his shot and invite the Grammy winner to watch the Chiefs play at Arrowhead Stadium.
“I threw it out there, I threw the ball in her court,” he shared on The Pat McAfee Show. “I told her, you know, ‘I’ve seen you rock the stage in Arrowhead, you might have to come see me rock the stage in Arrowhead and see which one’s a little more lit.’ So, we’ll see what happens in the near future.”
August 2023: Enchanted to Meet You
Travis was rocking a mustache—which he debuted in August during training camp—when he was first introduced to Taylor.
As he later noted of the era, “That ‘stache and the 87 jersey was pretty iconic there for a little bit, and I had it when I met Taylor for the first time.”
September 2023: Sparks Fly
By early September, a source close to the situation told E! News that Travis and Taylor were “texting and talking here and there.”
“It’s been very low-key,” the insider explained, “as he’s been in season.”
September 2023: Cheer Captain
Accepting Travis’ invite, Taylor joined the athlete’s mom Donna Kelce at Arrowhead Stadiumto watch him and the Chiefs take on the Chicago Bears. After the game, Taylor and Travis were seen packing PDA at a local bar.
Though folklore had it that it was the couple’s first in-person meeting, the “Karma” singer later clarified the two had spent a “significant amount of time” getting to know each other beforehand.
As Taylor noted, “We would never be psychotic enough to hard launch a first date.”
October 2023: Team Up
As an indication that the relationship was heating up, Taylor brought her squad—including friends Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Sophie Turner, Hugh Jackman, Sabrina Carpenter and Antoni Porowski—to watch the Chiefs play against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
October 2023: It’s Nice to Have a Friend
Another sign that Travis could be The 1? Taylor started bonding with Brittany Mahomes—the wife of Travis’ BFF and teammate Patrick Mahomes—in and outside of NFL games.
October 2023: Welcome to New York
The couple took their romance to TV, making a surprise appearance on the Oct. 14 episode of Saturday Night Live. Their Big Apple takeover also included the after-party for the NBC sketch show and a date night at the Waverly Inn.
November 2023: Karma Is Her Boyfriend
During a bye week, Travis traveled down to Argentina to catch the South American leg of Taylor’s Eras Tour. Not only did the NFL star bond with Taylor’s dad, Scott Swift,at the Nov. 11 show in Buenos Aires, but he also got a special shoutout from the stage.
“Karma is that guy on the Chiefs,” Taylor sang, “coming straight home to me.”
After the show, the Midnights artist was seen running up to Travis backstage and greeting him with a passionate kiss.
December 2023: Speak Now
Taylor addressed the lavender craze surrounding her appearances at Travis’ games.
“I’m going to see him do what he loves, we’re showing up for each other, other people are there and we don’t care,” she told Time. “The opposite of that is you have to go to an extreme amount of effort to make sure no one knows that you’re seeing someone.”
December 2023: You, Who Charmed Her Dad
The music superstar turned Travis’ Dec. 17 game into a family affair, bringing her dad to cheer on her man.
January 2024: All the Midnights
Taylor and Travis spent their first New Year’s Eve together, sharing a romantic kiss when the clock struck midnight on Jan. 1.
January 2024: Chosen Family
Continuing to bond with Travis’ family, Taylor hung out with his brother Jason Kelce and sister-in-law Kylie Kelce at the Chiefs’ game against the Buffalo Bills.
January 2024: Saved by the Perfect Kiss
Taylor joined Travis on the football field when the Chiefs won the AFC Championship, a victory that cemented the team’s spot in the 2024 Super Bowl. The couple shared a celebratory kiss before exchanging the L-word.
“Tay, I’m gonna enjoy with the guys,” he told her. “I love you—so much it’s not funny.”
February 2024: Super Bowl Champs
The pair locked lips on the field after Travis led the Kansas City Chiefs to victory on Feb. 11, 2024 in Las Vegas.
February 2024: TikTok Official
Taylor posted footage of Travis on social media for the first time Feb. 12, poking fun at how she took her parents clubbing with the athlete after the Super Bowl.
June 2024: Instagram Official
Taylor’s first Instagram pic featuring Travis was a selfie of the two with Prince William and his and wife Kate Middleton‘s eldest kids Prince George and Princess Charlotte backstage at the singer’s Eras tour show at Wembley Stadium in London.
June 2024: Travis’ Eras Tour Stage Debut
While attending his seventh Eras tour concert, and second show at London’s Wembley Stadium, the NFL star joined his girlfriend onstage as a backup performer during her performance of “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart.”
September 2024: Back in the Game
Taylor joined Travis for the Chief’s first game of the regular 2024-25 season and appeared to re-enact a PDA moment from October 2023 in this photo shared by Chariah Gordon, who is pictured with her boyfriend, Chiefs wide receiver Mecole Hardman.
September 2024: Wedding Date
The two attended model Karen Elson‘s wedding to Electric Lady Studios owner Lee Foster in New York City.
September 2024: U.S. Open Date
The next day, the pair attended the men’s singles final match at the U.S. Open.
October 2024: Double Date
The two stepped out for a double dinner date with Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds in NYC.
December 2024: Empire State of Mind
The pair stepped out for two back-to-back dates in New York City over the last weekend of 2024, matching outfits both times.
March 2025: Off-Season Adventures
The pair spent the NFL off-season together, enjoying a snowy vacation to Montana with sportscaster Erin Andrews.
July 2025: Instagram Hard Launch
Travis posted his first pics with Taylor on Instagram in July 2025, including an adorable shot of them at dinner—which subtly revealed their phone lockscreen pics of one another.
August: 2025: Taking Their Romance to New Heights
Self-described New Heights superfan Taylor made her debut on Travis and Jason’s podcast in a nearly two-hour-long special episode Aug. 13. In addition to very candidly detailing their life together—in and out of the spotlight—Taylor also revealed her 12th studio album The Life of a Showgirl, set to debut Oct. 3.
August 2025: It’s a Love Story, Baby Just Said Yes
More than two years after Travis’ podcast shoutout heard ’round the world, Travis and Taylor announced they are engaged. Making a cheeky reference to her song “So High School.” the two captioned the Aug. 26 Instagram post featuring their engagement photos, “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.”
