Taylor Swift is a serious artist so it’s time to give up on the cutesy gimmicks

Over on TikTok this week, a new trend has emerged: women informing their sports-mad partners, fathers, and brothers, that dating Taylor Swift has “really put Travis Kelce on the map” before going on to record their inevitably indignant reactions. For American sports fans, the incredulity is warranted: 33-year-old Kelce is the stuff of NFL legend, one of the best players in the game’s history, a star to rival Swift herself.

For those not immersed in US sporting culture, though, the map reads a little differently. In recent days, Swifties have learnt that Kelce plays for Kansas City Chiefs, his name rhymes with Chelsea, and some of us now have a vague understanding of what a “tight end” is in the context of American football. We have also been set a new conundrum: what does it mean when Taylor Swift dates a sports star?

Unravelling Taylor Swift is something of a full-time occupation for many of her fans. Each lyric, semi-colon, outfit choice and social media post is analysed into submission; every haircut a possible clue to her state of mind and creative direction. Over the near 20 years of her career, Swift herself has conducted much of this frenzy – in the early days, she planted hidden clues in liner notes and music videos. It’s a game that continues to this day. In the lead up to the October release of 1989 (Taylor’s Version), she set her devotees the mission of solving 33 million Google puzzles. And promptly broke Google.

Such hints are referred to as “Easter Eggs”. A way of encouraging extra audience engagement, they are used in everything from computer games to comic books and DVD blooper reels. In Swift’s case, it is as if the singer has led her dearest fans on a perpetual egg hunt in tandem with her music career, the purpose of which is (obviously) executing marketing strategy, but also cultivating a semblance of intimacy between one of the biggest stars in the world and her admirers. “As long as they like it, I’ll keep doing it,” she once said of the endless trail of breadcrumbs. “It’s fun. It feels mischievous and playful.”

Arguably, there has been no greater area of speculation for fans than Swift’s romantic life – is this song about John Mayer or Jake Gyllenhaal or Harry Styles? Is she secretly gay? What does it mean for Swift to be snapped by paparazzi out on the town with Joe Jonas’s estranged wife, Sophie Turner, when Swift herself once dated Jonas? Whenever the singer acquires a new beau, that speculation reaches a fever pitch. This summer, it was Matty Healy from The 1975 – the re-heating of a romance first kindled in late 2014. Rumours began to flutter just as Swift kicked off her colossal Eras tour (itself a production chock full of signals only detectable by her most devoted devotees, like say, the secret meaning behind her multi-coloured manicure). Healy flew 17 hours to attend a Swift show in Nashville; Swift was pictured backstage at a 1975 gig alongside Healy’s mother, the actor Denise Welch. Just a few days apart, at their respective shows, each appeared to mouth the words: “This one is about you. You know who you are. I love you,” into the on-stage cameras.

Of late, Swift appears to have been stepping out with Kelce. The romance was allegedly confirmed by his brother after Swift was photographed beside Kelce’s mother watching the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Chicago Bears. Kelce himself has spoken fulsomely of Swift’s game-side appearance in his podcast, referencing the Swift song “Getaway Car” in the process. Egg-hunters also clocked that as Swift and Kelce left the Arrowhead Stadium in Missouri, the footballer wore a distinctive splatter-print denim suit from the label KidSuper Studios. The brand lists the same suit on their website as the “1989 Bedroom Painting” denim jacket and pants. Again, a reminder: Swift’s fifth studio album, 1989, is the latest to be re-recorded and re-reissued following a dispute with her former manager Scooter Braun. The release date is almost exactly a month away, scheduled for 27 October 2023.

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All of this is, as Swift sees it, mischievous and playful and fun. And the impact is tangible – there are vast acres of the internet now devoted to interpreting Swift’s cryptograms. But there are moments where one wonders when the singer’s affection for posing puzzles and steering romantic speculation might wane.

Swift is not only a pop megastar, she is a ludicrously talented songwriter, revered and respected by her peers. Her artistry, from vocal tone to live performance via lyrical craft, has evolved so richly since the early days of her career, that to see her still so invested in the hint-dropping games played when she was a 14-year-old newcomer can jar. One can’t help but feel as if all the coded messages and sartorial winks might threaten to undermine the sheer magnificence of her talent.

Perhaps this has been Swift’s way of controlling the narrative in an industry famously unkind to female stars. In an age in which the paparazzi always know where to find you, journalists seek scandal, and friends sell secrets, maybe casting herself as the Game Master has been the only way to stay safe and keep sane. But let us hope that someday Taylor Swift will come to see that none of this is really necessary; she has already put herself on the map.