Travis Puts the Color Back in Taylor’s Face
Proof the prophecy was rewritten.
Photo by Gareth Cattermole
“He put color back in her FACE,” I emphasized to my friends, days after seeing online that Travis Kelce made a surprise appearance on Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour in London, England.
Swift is notorious for gifting her concert attendees unhinged, unpredictable moments and surprises during her shows. From debuting music videos, premiering stunning costumes, performing dumbfoundingly magical mash-ups, to announcing release dates for highly-anticipated albums, Swift knows how to make your jaw drop.
However, Kelce’s perfectly executed cameo takes the cake for the most mind-blowing, breathtaking, jaw-dropping moment thus far during Swift’s The Eras Tour.
While I, of course, gawk at Swift and Kelce’s presumably perfect relationship and admire them as a couple, the metaphors, meaning, and art behind Kelce joining Swift on stage belongs in history books.
Let me set the scene for you.
Taylor Swift has just finished performing the second-to-last song of The Tortured Poets Department set of The Eras Tour — “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived.” This performance is like no other — Swift mans the frontlines and leads her own marching band into battle where she’s seemingly shot, twice. One shot “fires” at the line, “You’ll slide into inboxes,” and the next during, “You said normal girls were boring.” This song and performance encompasses the never-ending battle of being in a relationship with someone who shatters your sense of self, til you’re left with nothing but a white flag to wave.
Swift is an artist. Through her art, whether it be lyrics, music videos, or performances, Swift can perfectly portray what her personal life may have looked like without any explanation. Swift is such an unmatched, unrepeatable, uniquely relatable artist — she allows fans to take a peek at her heart as if they’re looking at their own.
Concert-goers, grainy livestream viewers like myself, and anyone else who watches the performance of “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived,” can tangibly feel Swift’s emotion, heartbreak, loss, anger, and helplessness.
Having dated and broken up with two London boys (one of which rumored to be the inspiration behind “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived”), it was not lost on Swifties that Swift needed, and deserved, some new memories of London.
Enter Travis Kelce.
As the final shot is fired, the white flag is waved, and Taylor Swift is lying dead on stage, the era of succumbing to the lies and manipulation brought on by the smallest man who ever lived, is over.
Part of the stage opens up where, usually, two of Swift’s backup dancers would emerge and begin a skit, leading into the next song — “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart.” On June 23, this is what we all expected to happen, and it did, except this time three men emerged, dressed to the nines in suits and top hats.
The skit typically begins with Swift’s two dancers picking her up, one carrying her by her arms and the other by her feet. As vintage music is emitted throughout the stadium, Swift’s dancers take her lifeless body over to a red, broken-heart-shaped couch where they proceed to wake her up, change her outfit, and incessantly encourage her to go perform — this is the main message behind the next song, “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart.” Swift was shot dead, brokenhearted, but that couldn’t stop her from putting on a record-breaking tour.
As I watch videos from the first moments of Kelce’s cameo, the crowd’s eruptive cheering is sensational. Kelce walks onto the stage with Swift’s dancers like he owns the place — charismatic, hilarious, and energetic. You can tell how happy he is to be there, supporting Swift.
Kelce walks over to Swift lying on the ground, shot down and defeated by a harmful, toxic relationship she didn’t deserve.
He picks her up and jaws are now dropped more than ever before. The symbolism of Swift’s new love, one that is loud and proud, carrying her into a new era of life is tear-jerking. Swift, dead and gone, once broken into pieces she thought would be unsalvageable, is now put back together, alive and in love.
The cameo continues as Kelce dances for the crowd while Swift goes on with the regularly scheduled programming of the skit, insisting she’s unable to perform due to the catastrophic wounds many of us know all too well — being brokenhearted.
As the skit proceeds, Swift’s outfit changes as she’s being coaxed into performing the next song, “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart.” Kelce has a coyness to him as he watches Swift transition from her marching band costume to a dazzling two-piece. His stage presence is immaculate as he smiles from ear to ear. His feelings for Swift are all too noticeable as he’s smiling at her.
The smile in question.
Photo by Gareth Cattermole
Swift is a short time away from the skit coming to a close and being “pushed” into her next performance, so Kelce has to make one final touch — blush.
In other words, he put the color back in her face.
Swifties, including myself, love to connect the dots and put together the puzzle that is Taylor Swift’s mind. With that being said, Swifties have noticed the invisible string that connects Swift’s songs, “You’re Losing Me” and “So Long, London,” and how she poetically personifies her lyrics in The Eras Tour skit Kelce joined her for.
In “You’re Losing Me,” arguably one of Swift’s most heart-wrenching songs from the 2022 Midnights era, she sings, “My face was gray, but you wouldn’t admit that we were sick.” Flashing forward, during the 2024 The Tortured Poets Department era, Swift sings in “So Long, London,” “And I'm just getting color back into my face.” Through her lyrical parallels paired with skits and performances, Swift shows fans that over time she’s moved on from past loves and become herself again.
Travis Kelce has helped make Taylor Swift herself again. The blush he applies to Swift’s cheeks during the skit preceding her performance of “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,” artistically symbolizes the healthy partnership Kelce has given Swift — a partnership founded on support, expressive love, and bringing her back to life.
Moments after Kelce leans in (noticeably tempted to grab her waist) and applies blush to Swift’s face (i.e. putting “color back in her face"), Swift struts away with radiating confidence, blows a kiss to Kelce, and begins the performance of her next song. Swifties have universally come to the conclusion that Swift has a new glow to her since her relationship with Kelce blossomed. Watching the sparks fly between them as Kelce joined Swift in her element was palpable, and proved that Swift was no longer having to do it with a broken heart.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce have individually, and as a couple, raised the standards. From Swift openly being Kelce’s biggest cheerleader and celebrating his 2024 Super Bowl win on the field with him, to Kelce fully immersing himself in Swift’s poetically artistic world onstage, and surprising her with his attendance at other international shows, they’re the personification of loving loudly and proudly. In the words of Travis Kelce, “I’m not here to hide anything...that’s my girl, that’s my lady.”
As a long-time Swiftie, lover of love, and a tortured poet myself, it was enthralling witnessing Travis Kelce accompany Taylor Swift on stage, symbolically putting the color back in her face and loving her back to life. Unpacking the artistic meaning behind Kelce’s cameo with Swift during The Eras Tour is inspiring, as is realizing the bar Kelce set for women everywhere looking for their long-time lover — if he wanted to, he would.
Kelce found peace within Swift and her tortured poetry.
Swift did bigger things and dated the boy on the football team.
And for us Swifties and single women everywhere, we now know we too, don’t have to do it with a broken heart.
