Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s upcoming wedding will undoubtedly be straight out of a fairy tale considering the pop star’s penchant for “princesses and pirate ships.”
“On this album, I deal with a lot of fairy tale themes,” Swift told The Boot in 2008 while reflecting on recording Fearless. “Sometimes they turn out good, sometimes they turn out bad. ‘Love Story’ has a really happy ending, [where] you put everything you have into love and it works out. Then, in the song ‘White Horse,’ you put everything you have into love and you get your heart broken.”
Throughout her years in the spotlight, Swift has become known for chronicling the highs and lows of romance in her music.
“I’ve been writing songs about wanting [this] to happen to me since I was a teenager,” Swift said on an August 2025 episode of Kelce’s “New Heights” podcast, recalling the NFL star’s public plea asking for a date after being rejected for an Eras Tour meet-and-greet. “This kind of felt like I was in an ‘80s John Hughes movie and he was just standing outside of my window with a boom box just being like, ‘I want to date you.’”
Hours after Swift made her “New Heights” debut, Kelce popped the question in the backyard of his Kansas City residence, which was decked out with thousands of pink peonies. The pair are now set to tie the knot at New York City’s Madison Square Garden arena during 4th of July weekend in 2026.
Ahead of Swift and Kelce’s nuptials, revisit every time the pop star sang about royalty, castles and fairy tales:
‘Love Story’
“I said Romeo, ‘Take me somewhere we can be alone / I’ll be waiting, all there’s left to do is run / You’ll be the prince and I’ll be the princess / It’s a love story, baby, just say yes.’”
The Fearless song is inspired by William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, which Swift performed on tour in a Renaissance-style ballgown from a balcony. The frock was later on display at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum in 2024 on a similar terrace.
‘The Best Day’
“There is a video I found / From back when I was 3 / You set up a paint set in the kitchen / And you’re talking to me / It’s the age of princesses and pirate ships / And the seven dwarfs / And Daddy’s smart and you’re the prettiest lady in the whole wide world.”
Swift wrote “The Best Day” about her childhood with her parents, Scott and Andrea, and brother Austin.
‘White Horse’
“‘Cause I’m not your princess, this ain’t a fairy tale / I’m not the one you’ll sweep off her feet, lead her up the stairwell / This ain’t Hollywood, this is a small town / I was a dreamer before you went and let me down / Now, it’s too late for you and your white horse / To come around.”
Presumably written about Swift’s breakup with Taylor Lautner, the Fearless ballad documents the demise of a relationship. It seems all was meant to be considering the breakup eventually led Lautner to his wife, Tay, and Swift to Kelce. (The Twilight actor also appeared in Swift’s 2023 music video for “I Can See You,” which coincidentally premiered at the Kansas City Eras concert that Kelce attended.)
‘Today Was a Fairytale’
“Today was a fairy tale / You were the prince, I used to be a damsel in distress / You took me by the hand and you pick me up at six. … Today was a fairy tale / I wore a dress, you wore a dark gray T-shirt / You told me I was pretty when I looked like a mess.”
Swift wrote “Today Was a Fairytale” for the soundtrack of late Garry Marshall’s 2010 movie, Valentine’s Day, where she and Lautner played a teen couple.
‘Best Days of Your Life’
“Life with me was a fairy tale love / I was head over heels till you threw away us / And it’s just too bad you already had the best days / The best days of your life.”
Swift cowrote “Best Days of Your Life” with American Idol alum Kellie Pickler.
‘Long Live’
“I said remember this moment / In the back of my mind / The time we stood with our shaking hands / The crowds in stands went wild / We were the kings and the queens, and they read off our names / The night you danced like you knew our lives / Would never be the same.”
While initially inspired by a past relationship, “Long Live” has since been interpreted as a love letter to Swift’s fans.
‘Castles Crumbling’
“I feel like my castle’s crumbling down / And I watch all my bridges burn to the ground / And you don’t want to know me / I will just let you down / You don’t wanna know me now.”
Swift enlisted Paramore’s Hayley Williams for a duet on her rerecorded version of Speak Now, all about the end of a reign.
Castles also might be a clue to Swift’s wedding to Kelce with TMZ reporting in June 2026 that a fortress and grand staircase would be constructed inside MSG for the big day. Though for Swift and Kelce, it surely won’t crumble at all.
‘Starlight’
“I met Bobby on the boardwalk, summer of ’45 / Picked me up, late one night out the window / We were 17 and crazy, running wild, wild / Can’t remember what song it was playing when we walked in / The night we snuck into a yacht club party / Pretending to be a duchess and a prince.”
‘Blank Space’
“I could show you incredible things / Stolen kisses, pretty lies / You’re the king, baby, I’m your queen / Find out what you want / Be that girl for a month.”
Famously, the 1989 track is Kelce’s favorite song in Swift’s discography.
‘New Romantics’
“Baby, I could build a castle / Out of all the bricks they threw at me / And every day is like a battle / But every night with us is like a dream.”
‘King of My Heart’
“Salute to me, I’m your American queen / And you move to me like I’m a Motown beat / And we rule the kingdom inside my room.”
“And all at once, you are the one I have been waiting for / King of my heart, body and soul, ooh whoa / And all at once, you’re all I want, I’ll never let you go.”
Swift’s Reputation album is primarily inspired by her relationship with British actor Joe Alwyn.
‘Call It What You Want’
“My castle crumbled overnight / I brought a knife to a gunfight / They took the crown, but it’s alright / All the liars are calling me one / Nobody’s heard from me for months / I’m doing better than I ever was.”
‘London Boy’
“Stick with me, I’m your queen / Like a Tennessee Stella McCartney on the Heath / Just wanna be with you.”
Swift wrote the Lover song about now-ex Alwyn and exploring his English hometown together throughout their six-year relationship.
‘The Archer’
“All the king’s horses, all the king’s men / Couldn’t put me together again / ‘Cause all of my enemies started out friends / Help me hold onto you.”
‘Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince’
“It’s you and me, there’s nothing like this / Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince / We’re so sad, we paint the town blue / Voted most likely to run away with you.”
‘You Need to Calm Down’
“We see you over there on the internet / Comparing all the girls who are killing it
But we figured you out / We all know now, we all got crowns / You need to calm down.”
Swift showed her allyship to the LGBTQIA+ community on the Lover tune.
‘It’s Time to Go’
“Now he sits on his throne in his palace of bones / Praying to his greed / He’s got my past frozen behind glass / But I’ve got me.”
A gruesome metaphor, through a throne is commonly found in a palace.
‘Dorothea’
“Ooh, you’re a queen / Selling dreams / Selling makeup and magazines / Ooh, from you I’d buy anything.”
Swift wrote the Evermore track about her BFF Selena Gomez, who is the founder of cosmetics company Rare Beauty.
‘Karma’
“Spider-boy, king of thieves / Weave your little webs of opacity / My pennies made your crown / Trick me once, trick me twice / Don’t you know that cash ain’t the only price? / It’s coming back around.”
“Karma,” from Swift’s album Midnights, now has a Kelce connection ever since the Grammy winner swapped the line “guy on the screen” to “guy on the Chiefs” during her Eras shows in 2024.
‘The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived’
“You hung me on your wall / Stabbed me with your push pins / In public, showed me off / Then sank in stoned oblivion / ‘Cause once your queen had come / You treat her like an also-ran / You didn’t measure up / In any measure of a man.”
Much of The Tortured Poets Department was reportedly inspired by Matty Healy, whom Swift briefly dated in the months before she met Kelce. (Healy is now engaged to Gabbriette Bechtel.)
‘The Alchemy’
“So when I touch down / Call the amateurs and / Cut ’em from the team / Ditch the clowns, get the crown / Baby I’m the one to beat / Cause the sign on your heart / Said it’s still reserved for me / Honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy?”
Chock full of sports metaphors, the TTPD love song is clearly an ode to Kelce and his NFL career.
‘Clara Bow’
“The crown is stained but you’re the real queen / Flesh and blood amongst war machines . You’re the new god we’re worshipping / Promise to be … dazzling.”
Swift wrote “Clara Bow” about the music industry’s pattern of hyping up It Girls — only to tear them down when the next big thing rolls around.
‘The Joker and the Queen’
“I know you could fall for a thousand kings / And hearts that would give you a diamond ring / When I fold, you see the best in me / The joker and the queen.”
“And I know you think that what makes a king / Is gold, a palace, and diamond rings / When I fold, you see the best in mе / The joker and the queen.”
Swift wrote and performed “Joker and the Queen” with BFF Ed Sheeran for his 2021 album, =.
