Swift's enthusiasm at her first Chiefs game seemed to confirm her then-rumored romance with Kelce.

Swift later said they were already an official couple before she watched the Chiefs beat the Chicago Bears.

"This all started when Travis very adorably put me on blast on his podcast, which I thought was metal as hell," she told Time. "We started hanging out right after that. So we actually had a significant amount of time that no one knew, which I'm grateful for, because we got to get to know each other."

"By the time I went to that first game, we were a couple," Swift continued. "I think some people think that they saw our first date at that game? We would never be psychotic enough to hard launch a first date."

Swift and Lively watched the Chiefs defeat the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey — where Swift had performed three sold-out concerts just a few months prior.

The October game drew the highest viewership for a Sunday TV show since the Super Bowl, NBC Sports reported.

Indeed, Swift's newfound interest in football has been credited with bumping merch sales and enticing more female viewers.

Shortly before her third game-day appearance, Kelce accused the NFL of "overdoing it" with its wall-to-wall coverage of Swift.

"I think it's fun when they show who all is at the game. I think it brings a little more to the atmosphere, brings a little bit more to what you're watching," Kelce said during an episode of his "New Heights" podcast.

"But at the same time, I think they're overdoing it a little bit," Kelce continued. "For sure, especially for my situation. I think they're just trying to have fun with it."

Just a few days before the release of "1989 (Taylor's Version)," Swift watched the Chiefs take down the Los Angeles Chargers.

She spent the home game cheering with Mahomes and showing off their secret handshake.

Swift spent most of November 2023 on the road for the South American leg of the Eras Tour. Kelce even flew to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to watch Swift perform — and received an onstage shout-out in return.

She returned to Kelce's side in early December when the Chiefs took on the Green Bay Packers. It was her first time watching Kelce's team lose.

Swift purchased the '90s sweatshirt from Westside Storey, a secondhand clothing boutique in Kansas City.

The store's owner, Chris Harrington, told Business Insider he originally thought Swift's order — which totaled $1,200 for curated vintage pieces — could be fraudulent.

Instead, she wore one of those pieces at Arrowhead Stadium in December, causing a surge of traffic to Westside Storey's website.

"We've had hundreds of orders over the last 48 hours," Harrington told BI. "Sometimes our online store lights up after a Chiefs game when we win, but this is 100 times more than that, and we lost the game. It was the Taylor effect."

Swift hit the road to watch the Chiefs defeat the New England Patriots on the latter's home turf. She even convinced her father, Scott Swift, to swap his traditional Philadelphia Eagles gear for a Chiefs sweatshirt.

Several friends accompanied Swift, including Alana Haim, stylist Ashley Avignone, and backup singer Melanie Nyema.

Even though the Chiefs lost to the Las Vegas Raiders on December 25, 2023, Kelce praised Swift and her family for making the day special.

The singer's brother, Austin Swift, dressed up as Santa Claus and gave Kelce a VHS copy of the 1994 film "Little Giants."

"He actually made me feel like a child because his gift to me was straight out of the bag," Kelce said on his podcast "New Heights.' "Whipped it out and handed me a VHS of my favorite football movie of all time."

Swift wore a Chiefs varsity jacket for the game against the Cincinnati Bengals, which the home team won.

The Chiefs defeated the Miami Dolphins during the fourth-coldest game in NFL history, per CNN.

That same day, the Chiefs owner praised Swift and Kelce's "purely organic" relationship.

"It's been a very interesting, very fun year having the two of them dating, the attention that's been focused on the Chiefs," Clark Hunt told CNBC. "Our female audience has grown leaps and bounds."

Swift joined Kelce's family to watch the Chiefs advance through the NFL playoffs — including his brother, Eagles center Jason Kelce, who lost his shirt in the frenzy.

Swift watched the Chiefs beat the Baltimore Ravens in the 2024 AFC Championship Game, securing their spot in Super Bowl LVIII. She even joined Kelce on the field to celebrate the win.

Swift was widely expected to attend the 2024 Super Bowl in Las Vegas, despite having an Eras Tour stop scheduled in Tokyo the night before.

Sure enough, she made the trip in time to watch the Chiefs take on the San Francisco 49ers, with friends like Lively, Lana Del Rey, and Ice Spice in tow.

Swift was back in Kansas City on the evening of September 5, 2024, as the Chiefs took the field for their first game of the season against the Ravens.

She donned an all-denim getup and thigh-high red boots.

Just a few days after attending the MTV Video Music Awards in New York (and giving her then-boyfriend a shout-out onstage), Swift was back in Kansas City to watch the Chiefs defeat the Bengals.

After skipping two of Kelce's games in Atlanta and Los Angeles, Swift returned to Kansas City in style — wearing over $50,000 worth of jewelry and designer clothing — to cheer for the Chiefs against the New Orleans Saints.

The home team won 26-13, their fifth consecutive win of the season.

One day after Swift wrapped the final US leg of the Eras Tour in Indianapolis, she was back in Kansas City to watch the Chiefs take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Despite a touchdown from the Buccaneers in the final minute of regulation play, the Chiefs rallied in overtime to score a winning touchdown.

Swift wore her typical black-and-red combo for another home game at Arrowhead Stadium, pairing a Victoria's Secret corset with a Versace tweed two-piece set. She was joined in the VIP box by her mother, Andrea Swift.

Swift arrived at Arrowhead Stadium with Kelce's mom, Donna. The pair cheered as the Chiefs clinched a narrow defeat against the Raiders.

Swift wore her boldest gameday outfit yet for the Chiefs vs. the Houston Texans, pairing a statement red coat with a faux-fur lining from Charlotte Simone and a vintage Chanel bucket hat.

Kelce and the Chiefs beat the Texans 19-27, adding another win to their dominant season.

Swift and WNBA star Caitlin Clark were spotted celebrating together when the Chiefs defeated the Texans again, 23-14, advancing to the AFC Championship Game for the seventh straight season.

The Chiefs took down the Buffalo Bills 32-29 in the 2025 AFC Championship Game, sending the league's top-seeded team to the Super Bowl in New Orleans.

Like she did the previous year, Swift joined Kelce, his mom, and his teammates on the field for their post-game celebration. Unlike the previous year, however, Swift wore a loud-luxury outfit covered with Louis Vuitton logos.

The Chiefs faced the Eagles at Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans. Serendipitously, Swift's trusted collaborator Kendrick Lamar headlined the halftime show.

As opposed to her usual Chiefs getup, Swift wore an agnostic white-and-denim outfit — perhaps to avoid rooting against her hometown team, who beat the Chiefs 40-22. (To date, the Chiefs have only lost four times with Swift in the stands.)

During the 2026 Emmys, Swift appeared in a prerecorded sketch with host Mariska Hargitay and the rest of the "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" cast to explain her absence from the awards show. (Swift's latest Disney+ concert movie, which was filmed during her final performance of the Eras Tour, was nominated for outstanding variety special.)

As Hargitay's Olivia Benson pieces together, the Emmys overlapped with the Chiefs' first game of the 2026 season — playfully described in the scene as Swift's husband having a "work thing."

Indeed, Swift was spotted celebrating the Chiefs' win over the Broncos alongside her mom, Andrea; Kelce's mom, Donna; and Kelce's brother, Jason.

The Chiefs won their second game of the 2026 season against the Indianapolis Colts.

When Kelce scored his first touchdown of the season, Swift was filmed cheering and pointing to her wedding ring, apparently yelling, "That's my husband!"

On October 17, 2026, Swift took the stage at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures' sixth annual gala in Los Angeles. She sang her "Toy Story 5" soundtrack hit, "I Knew It, I Knew You," and gave her debut performance of "The Fate of Ophelia."

The following day, Swift was back in Kansas City to watch the Chiefs take on the Chargers. The home team won 22-6, extending their undefeated streak this season.

As Business Insider previously reported, Cyrus and Hemsworth met on the set of "The Last Song," which was released in 2010, and dated on and off for several years. The couple married in 2018 and divorced a year later. The split was finalized in January 2020.

While Cyrus hasn't confirmed that "Flowers" is about her relationship with Hemsworth, the single's release date, lyrics, and other hidden details offer a few clues to the song's meaning.

The buzz around "Flowers" began when fans noticed its release date.

The single dropped on January 13 — Hemsworth's 33rd birthday — a detail that was not lost on Cyrus' fans. 

"She definitely didn't lie when she said she's got nerve," one user tweeted. 

In "When I Was Your Man," Mars sings that he wishes he "bought you flowers, and held your hand."

Although Mars isn't credited as a songwriter on "Flowers," Cyrus sings "I can buy myself flowers," and "I can hold my own hand" in a similar tune to Mars' hit. 

According to Billboard, some fans have speculated that Hemsworth dedicated Mars' song to Cyrus during their first engagement — though those theories are unconfirmed.

"We were good, we were gold/ Kind of dream that can't be sold/ We were right till we weren't/ Built a home and watched it burn," Cyrus sings in the opening verse. 

According to Us Weekly, the fire metaphor could be referring to the home Cyrus shared with Hemsworth, which burned down during the 2018 Woolsey Fire.

Cyrus has said that the loss of the couple's Malibu home is partially what led her and Hemsworth to get married. 

In 2019, while attending the Vanity Fair Oscars party, an Access Hollywood reporter asked Cyrus and Hemsworth what a dance number would look like between the couple.

When Cyrus began dancing on Hemsworth, her then-husband, he shut it down, saying, "We're not doing this. Not on the carpet."

One Twitter user put that video side by side with a promotional clip Cyrus posted on the platform, in which she appears to do a similar dance move — while the lyrics "I can love me better" play in the background.

After selling out shows at the Hollywood Bowl in October 2026, Cyrus changed the pre-chorus lyrics to "Flowers."

In the original version, Cyrus sings: "I didn't wanna leave you/I didn't wanna fight/Started to cry, but then remembered I," before belting out the chorus.

This past weekend, however, Cyrus changed that to: "I didn't wanna leave you (but I had to)/I didn't wanna fight (but we did)/Started to cry, but then remembered I sold out the Hollywood Bowl."

Cyrus has ad-libbed her hit single before: At the 2024 Grammys, she sang, "Started to cry, but then remembered I just won my first Grammy!"

Fans took to social media to applaud Cyrus' lyric change, with one YouTube commenter saying they "love how she's filling it in with different achievements."

Cyrus also paid tribute to Dolly Parton, her late godmother, during the concert, breaking down in tears as she recalled memories of Parton. Cyrus then performed Parton's hit song "Jolene."

Editor's Note: This story was originally published in January 2023 and was most recently updated in October 2026.