The Japan Times - Taylor-Travis love story: 5 things to know

Stadium-filling pop megastar Taylor Swift and three-time NFL Super Bowl winner Travis Kelce announced their engagement on Instagram Tuesday.

Here are five things to know about their love story:

- Taylor's Version -

Swift's journey to becoming the world's biggest pop star has contained twists and turns -- and not just the romantic missteps that fueled her hit songs until she met Kelce.

A teenage country music sensation, she won her first Grammy at just 20 years old, before pivoting to pop.

Wild success and scrutiny followed. Swift endured a high-profile feud with Kanye West, and re-recorded her early song catalog to reclaim ownership from a private equity firm.

High-profile romances with Hollywood actors and pop stars came and went, with references to Jake Gyllenhaal, Tom Hiddleston, Joe Jonas, Calvin Harris and Harry Styles all rumored to be embedded in her song lyrics.

Last year, she won a fourth Grammy for Album of the Year -- the most by any artist -- and wrapped up the highest-earning concert tour of all time.

- NFL great -

Kelce's own road to American football greatness has had a few bumps of its own.

While playing college football, he was suspended for marijuana use.

His older brother Jason lobbied coaching staff to give Travis another chance, and again vouched for his younger sibling when Travis was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2013.

As the Chiefs went from broken franchise to NFL dynasty, Travis Kelce has played a vital role, and is now considered one of the greatest tight ends in the sport's history.

He has won three Super Bowls -- and lost two, including an agonizing loss to the Philadelphia Eagles this year that ended dreams of a historic Chiefs "three-peat."

- How it began -

During Swift's $2 billion-grossing "Eras" tour, handing out homemade "friendship bracelets" with beaded messages became a treasured ritual among fans.

Kelce took it a step further, attempting to meet Swift backstage at a concert in Kansas City in 2023 and pass her a bracelet bearing his phone number.

He was thwarted upon learning that Swift doesn't do meet-and-greets -- even for star NFL players -- before or after her shows "because she has to save her voice," he pined on his podcast shortly afterward.

But Swift was charmed when she learned about the romantic ploy, and "we started hanging out right after that," she told TIME magazine.

- Controversy -

Swift quickly became a fixture at Kelce's Chiefs games.

As television cameras cut to her reactions with increasing regularity, viewership and tickets sales for the already wildly popular sport went through the roof.

With that came criticism from football die-hards that their sport was becoming a showbiz circus, and even right-wing conspiracy theories claimed that the entire relationship had been contrived as "Democrat propaganda."

As it turned out, the distractions did not seem to faze Kelce or the Chiefs, who went on to win that season's Super Bowl.

Although Swift did endorse Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in 2024, her Republican opponent Donald Trump won the US election -- and even wished the couple "a lot of luck" when asked about their engagement.

- Engagement -

A joint post on their Instagram pages Tuesday showed pictures of Kelce proposing on one knee in a flower-laden garden, and Swift wearing an enormous diamond ring.

No date or details about the wedding have been revealed.

It comes at a busy time for both, with Kelce -- having shrugged off talk of retirement -- gearing up for the start of the NFL season next month, while Swift has a new album, "The Life of a Showgirl," out in October.

S.Fujimoto--JT