LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Maybe you heard. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are getting married.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PAPER RINGS")
TAYLOR SWIFT: (Singing) I like shiny things, but I'd marry you with paper rings. Uh-huh.
FADEL: The pop star and Kansas City Chiefs tight end posted their news with photos on Instagram, and it does not look like a paper ring. Here's NPR's Isabella Gomez Sarmiento.
ISABELLA GOMEZ SARMIENTO, BYLINE: Taylor Swift knows how to write about love. For nearly two decades, her personal heartbreaks and disappointments have fueled dozens of major pop hits.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ALL TOO WELL")
SWIFT: (Singing) And you call me up again just to break me like a promise.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: When she played at NPR's Tiny Desk in 2019, she said interviewers would often ask her...
(SOUNDBITE OF TINY DESK CONCERT)
SWIFT: What will you ever do if you get happy? Like, what will you write about?
(LAUGHTER)
SWIFT: Will you just never be able to write a song again?
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: But Swift has never held back from dreaming or singing about her fairy-tale wedding.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LOVE STORY")
SWIFT: (Singing) You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess. It's a love story. Baby, just say yes.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Romance has often been at the center of both her career and her personal life. In 2023, they intersected in a big way on her record-breaking Eras tour. Travis Kelce attended one of her concerts. And as he said on the podcast he co-hosts, "New Heights"...
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "NEW HEIGHTS WITH JASON & TRAVIS KELCE")
TRAVIS KELCE: If you're up on Taylor Swift concerts, there are friendship bracelets. I received a bunch of them, but I wanted to give Taylor Swift the one with my number on it.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Swift ended up getting the memo. She spent over a year playing shows around the world, and she also started a very public relationship with Kelce.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE ALCHEMY")
SWIFT: (Singing) So when I touch down, call the amateurs and cut them from the team.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Earlier this month, Swift appeared on Kelce's podcast to announce her upcoming album "The Life Of A Showgirl." She said it'll be an upbeat project reflecting this period in her life, both onstage and behind closed doors. So even though her heartbreak days are behind her, they'll always be a part of her life and her music. As she told NPR's Tiny Desk...
(SOUNDBITE OF TINY DESK CONCERT)
SWIFT: In life, you accumulate scars. You accumulate hurt. And if someone's going to take your hand, they'd better take your hand, scars and all.
(Singing) Ladies and gentlemen, will you please stand? With every guitar string scar on my hand, I take this magnetic force of a man to be my lover.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Isabella Gomez Sarmiento, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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