Travis Kelce aced a karaoke contest on Thursday, July 11, proving he can hold his own musically next to girlfriend Taylor Swift.
Kelce, 34, attended the 35th Annual American Century Championship golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, California, on Thursday, where he even participated in a round of karaoke. According to social media footage, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end belted Whitesnake’s “Here I Go Again,” which helped him collect a win.
“Taylor, this is for you,” Kelce quipped at the mic, pretending to burst into tears, while holding up a microphone-shaped glass trophy. “I love you guys.”
One of the event announcers further proclaimed that Kelce was “so happy” to win the award, adding, “This is the best thing that’s happened to him this year.” (The pop star was absent on Thursday as she kicks off her Milan concerts this weekend.)
Kelce has been dating Swift, 34, since summer 2023 after attending her Eras Tour show in Kansas City last July.
Taylor Swift VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images
“It was an unbelievable show. Kansas City showed out. … Everybody was dressed in pink and purple, going crazy for her,” Kelce said during an episode of his “New Heights” podcast at the time, noting he wanted to meet Swift and exchange phone numbers.
He added at the time: “I was disappointed that she doesn’t talk before or after her shows because she has to save her voice for the 44 songs that she sings. I received a bunch of them being there, but I wanted to give Taylor Swift one with my number on it.”
Travis Kelce Leon Bennett/Getty Images
While Kelce was unable to meet Swift backstage, she ultimately heard his “metal as hell” podcast pleas and privately reached out to connect. They started dating “right away,” as she told TIME in December 2023. The pair took their romance public in September 2023 when Swift attended Kelce’s Chiefs game for the first time.
Swift has supported Kelce at 13 NFL games — including February’s Super Bowl LVIII, which his Chiefs won — and the pro athlete has returned the favor. In between his athletic commitments, Kelce jetted off to catch many of Swift’s international Eras Tour concerts this summer. In June, he even made his official stage debut during Swift’s third concert at London’s Wembley Stadium.
“It’s very unlike me. I’m not big, I don’t like going on stages. There were a lot of people out there, really didn’t feel at home,” Kelce said on his podcast earlier this month. “I initially mentioned to Tay, I was like, ‘How funny would it be if I just rolled out on one of the bikes during the 1989 [set]?’ She started laughing, she was like, ‘Would you seriously be up for doing something like that?’”
Kelce continued, “I was like, ‘I would love to do that, are you kidding me?’ I’ve seen the show enough, might as well put me to work here. And sure enough, she found the perfect part of the show for me to come in.”
Instead of biking around the stage while Swift sang “Blank Space,” Kelce joined dancers Kam Saunders and Jan Ravnik for the Tortured Poets Department transition. The three men, dressed in matching morning suits and top hats, pretended to revive Swift in between “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” and “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart.”
A source later told Us Weekly that the pair planned Kelce’s cameo to mark their first anniversary.
“It was a special moment to mark their relationship milestone,” the insider exclusively told Us in July. “Travis’ schedule is getting crazy again soon [and they] wanted to do something cool while he was there [and] create something memorable for fans.”