At 5:59 p.m. on Wednesday, there were more than 450,000 people waiting to watch the YouTube video of the latest New Heights podcast.
That’s the Taylor Swift Effect.
Swift, the superstar singer who is dating Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, was the guest on the show. And things started with a recap of Kelce’s attempt to get his phone number (on a friendship bracelet) to Swift when she played a concert at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in 2023.
“This podcast has done a lot for me,” Swift said. “I owe a lot to this podcast. This podcast got me a boyfriend ever since Travis decided to use it as his personal dating app about two years ago.”
In 2023, Kelce said he was hurt that he couldn’t get his number to Swift that night, which he discussed on the podcast a few weeks later.
“He threw a man tantrum,” Swift said. “It’s so funny.”
Swift later added that when she saw the podcast, her first thought was: “This dude didn’t get a meet and greet. He’s making it everyone’s problem.”
But Swift asked her management team if Kelce had ever reached out about setting up a greeting. He did not.
But Kelce’s gesture swept Swift off her feet.
“I was like, if this guy isn’t crazy — which is a big if — this is sort of what I’ve been writing songs about wanting to happen to me since I was a teenager,” Swift said.
Kelce didn’t miss a beat and said: “And I was sitting there at the Eras Tour listening to every single one of those songs like, ‘I that she wants me to do this.’ MEET ME, please!”
Swift jokingly offered her thoughts on what Kelce was thinking.
“I’m upset that you didn’t meet me,” Swift quipped, “even though you didn’t know I wanted to meet you because I didn’t do any proper logistical planning.”
Any concerns about Kelce being a bit off center faded away when Swift talked with him.
“He’s the good kind of crazy,” Swift said. “And I knew that he wasn’t crazy the first couple of times that we talked. I was just like, he’s truly getting to know me in a way that’s very natural, very pure, very normal.
“Also, just the way that he could make me laugh so immediately about normal things. Travis is like, he’s just a vibe booster in everyone’s life that he’s in. He’s like a human exclamation point.”
Kelce said later he had a burning desire to meet Swift because of her performance in that Eras Tour show at Arrowhead.
“If I would have never gone to that show and been mesmerized and just been captivated, and then left with such a desire to want to meet you, I would have never went on here and told everybody how butt hurt I was,” Kelce said. “I had never just been so engulfed in the curiosity of who you were.”