Taylor Swift‘s relationship with Travis Kelce has put the invisible string theory to the test — and fans are convinced they’ve found another unexpected link between the couple.
Those familiar with the pair’s love story know the power Swift’s song “Karma” holds, but social media sleuths scrolled back to a 2022 TikTok that adds new meaning. When Swift, 34, was rolling out the launch of her album Midnights through the “Midnights Mayhem With Me” series, she uploaded the video revealing the name of track 11 on October 5, 2022 — which happens to be Kelce’s birthday.
Fans could hardly contain their shock when the video was resurfaced via X. “Not invisible….golden, iridescent, magical strings tying them to each other because what in the world…” one user wrote, while another joked, “Maybe Karma was the guy on the chiefs the whole time, we just didn’t know it yet.”
Midnights dropped on October 21, 2022, and the lyrics to “Karma” were believed to be inspired by Swift’s then-boyfriend, Joe Alwyn. In the bridge, she sings, “Karma is the guy on the screen / Coming straight home to me,” hinting at Alwyn’s acting career.
Us Weekly confirmed in April 2023 that the couple split after six years together. Swift moved on with The 1975 singer Matty Healy, but their relationship was short-lived.
When Kelce, 34, attended Swift’s Eras Tour concert at Arrowhead Stadium in July 2023, he went in with a plan. The athlete revealed on his “New Heights” podcast later that month that he wanted to give Swift his phone number on a friendship bracelet but was “butthurt” when he didn’t get the chance to meet her backstage. Swift caught wind of the namedrop — and everything changed.
“This all started when Travis very adorably put me on blast on his podcast, which I thought was metal as hell,” she told TIME in December 2023, revealing that she and Kelce “started hanging out right after” the shout-out.
The pair were first spotted together at a Kansas City Chiefs game in September 2023 and have been going strong ever since. Swift took fans — and Kelce — by surprise in November 2023 when she sang “Karma is the guy on the Chiefs” instead of “the guy on the screen” during an Eras Tour performance in Argentina with her boyfriend in the crowd.
Swift has incorporated the lyric change into her show several times since then, but only when Kelce is in the audience. He’s flown around the world to support his girlfriend on her record-breaking tour, most recently attending a show in Amsterdam with Patrick and Brittany Mahomes.
Fans have fallen head over heels for Swift and Kelce’s love story, and “Karma” isn’t the first invisible string — a term Swifties have been obsessed with since she released a song of the same name on Folklore in 2020 — they’ve found. Kam Saunders, one of Swift’s Eras Tour dancers, is the brother of former Chiefs player Khalen Saunders, who won two Super Bowls with Kelce over the years.
Kelce previously hinted to the WSJ. Magazine that he “had somebody playing Cupid” for him before his romance with Swift took off, with some fans believing the Saunders brothers might have been the link.
“Everybody around me [was] telling me: ‘Don’t f—k this up!’ And me sitting here saying: ‘Yeah — got it,'” he said in November 2023.
