[Taylor Swift music Taylor Swift – Blank Space]
YOU’RE MOST DEFINITELY FAMILIAR WITH THE MUSIC OF WORLDWIDE POP SENSATION TAYLOR SWIFT.
[Chiefs Kansas City Chiefs Tomahawk Chop – Loudest Crowd in the World (Guinness World Record)]
BUT DOES THAT SOUND FAMILIAR? YOU MIGHT RECOGNIZE THAT SOUND AS THE CHEERING AT A ROWDY FOOTBALL GAME. SPECIFICALLY, THAT EXCITEMENT COMES FROM ARROWHEAD STADIUM IN KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.
UNLESS YOU’VE BEEN LIVING UNDER A ROCK, YOU’VE ALSO HEARD BY NOW THAT SINGER/SONGWRITER TAYLOR SWIFT IS INDEED DATING KANSAS CITY CHIEFS TIGHT END TRAVIS KELCE.
KLENZ: I’m a huge fan of the relationship because he’s so public. I just seem so like, not wholesome, but like, he treats her well, and you can tell she’s so excited and he’s so excited. It just seems like a really good thing.
THAT WAS FRESHMAN ANNALISE KLENZ. KLENZ HAS BEEN A SELF-DESCRIBED “HUGE SWIFTIE” SINCE SHE WAS SIX YEARS OLD, AND SWIFT’S NEW RELATIONSHIP GETS HER STAMP OF APPROVAL.
KLENZ: She’s very publicly supporting him at the games, like sitting in the booth with his mom, and you know, they haven’t really been hiding from the paparazzi. Like we all know that Taylor can hide from the paparazzi, so she clearly doesn’t want to with him. And I’ve seen a ton of people overanalyze his body language and how he holds her hand. And so it just seems like because they’re so in the public eye, people are so obsessed with it.
INDEED, MAJOR NEWS OUTLETS HAVE BEEN CLOSELY COVERING EVEN THEIR MOST MINOR INTERACTIONS. THE WORLD’S REACTION HAS BEEN NOTHING SHORT OF ENORMOUS: SWIFT FANS TAILGATING AT CHIEFS GAMES, MEMES AND PHOTOS FLOODING SOCIAL MEDIA, AND PEOPLE EVEN ATTENDING SWIFT’S NEW FILM, “THE ERAS TOUR” DRESSED AS TRAVIS KELCE.
HOWEVER, BOTH SWIFT AND KELCE HAVE YEARS OF FAME UNDER THEIR BELTS, AND BOTH HAVE DATED HIGH-PROFILE PEOPLE BEFORE. SO WHY IS EVERYBODY SO OBSESSED? WHY DO WE CARE SO MUCH?
FRESHMAN ANNIE FINGERSH, A KANSAS CITY NATIVE, WEIGHED IN ON THE TOPIC FROM A LOCAL PERSPECTIVE.
Fingersh: I feel like it’s like the biggest news Kansas City has had in the realm of superstars and popularity, things like that, in a really long time. Like we have some famous people from Kansas City, but kind of our only claim to fame is the Chiefs right now. So to have Taylor as a connection to Kansas City…It’s very exciting.
FINGERSH DISCUSSED HOW THE NEWS HAS STRUCK A CHORD WITH THE MIDWESTERN COMMUNITY.
Fingersh: So a lot of my friends from Kansas City… they’re not super huge Taylor fans, but even they’re excited about this. Like oh my god, someone famous is coming to Kansas City…I’ve seen people make Chiefs jerseys that say “swiftie” on the back, you know, like people who are Chiefs fans and Taylor fans are very excited about this combo.
KANSAS CITY IS CLEARLY BUZZING WITH EXCITEMENT.
BUT, I HOPED TO FIND OUT WHY THIS PHENOMENON FEELS MORE SIGNIFICANT THAN YOUR AVERAGE INTERNET OBSESSION. I TALKED TO FRESHMAN MACKENZIE KIRKWOOD. KIRKWOOD SAYS HE KEEPS UP WITH SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS BUT DOES NOT IDENTIFY AS A BIG SWIFT FAN OR KELCE FAN.
Kirkwood: I don’t get the hype. But I think it’s kind of cool watching two different worlds collide. That is kind of interesting. These two worlds coming together…I think is what’s creating this huge, huge audience.
I PROBED KIRKWOOD ON HIS THOUGHTS ON THE RELENTLESS NEWS COVERAGE OF THE COUPLE.
Kirkwood: I think it’s interesting how much time we put on to, like, these people that really don’t have that much impact in our daily lives. There’s a ton of other issues and other big stories that are happening in the news that we just aren’t paying attention to. So I think it’s also interesting that the news organizations know that we don’t care about these more important topics and they know that we will obsess over something like Travis and Taylor.
BUT HE ACKNOWLEDGED THAT ALTHOUGH THE SWIFT-KELCE RELATIONSHIP IS NEW, THIS PHENOMENON ISN’T.
Kirkwood: But again, I don’t think it’s surprising. That for years and years and years, this is what our society has done. We are always fixating on celebrities and who they really are. Who are they dating? Are they getting bigger? Are they getting smaller? I think it’s kind of toxic and I can’t imagine it’s helpful for them.
ACCORDING TO KIRKWOOD, PEOPLE ARE SIMPLY INTRIGUED BY GOSSIP, BUT HE ADMITS THAT THIS LEVEL OF POPULARITY DOES SEEM LIKE AN ODDITY IN A WORLD OF CONSTANTLY CHANGING TRENDS.
OVERALL, IF YOU’RE A SWIFT FAN OR A KELCE FAN, YOU’RE IN LUCK. JUST LAST WEEK, THE PAIR ATTENDED A “SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE” SHOW TOGETHER, WHAT THE INTERNET IS CALLING THEIR OFFICIAL “HARD LAUNCH.”
[SNL audio SNL 40 Open sm]
IN ALL SERIOUSNESS, A CROSSOVER BETWEEN ONE OF AMERICA’S MOST BELOVED SPORTS INSTITUTIONS AND THE ONE WHO MANY CALL ‘THE ARTIST OF OUR GENERATION’ IS NO DOUBT SIGNIFICANT. BUT SHOULD THE NEWS BE FOCUSING ON OTHER, MORE PRESSING ISSUES? THAT’S UP FOR YOU TO DECIDE, BUT I THINK WE CAN ALL AGREE THAT THIS COUPLE WILL BE HOLDING WORLD’S ATTENTION FOR THE TIME BEING.
FOR WNUR NEWS, I’M MARY AMELIA WEISS.
[Taylor Swift music Taylor Swift – Style]
