Taylor Swift’s Dating History Before Meeting Travis Kelce: A Complete Timeline

Taylor Swift is one of the biggest stars on the planet. With her chart-bursting The Eras Tour, and the eponymous concert film, Swift continuously manages to reach heights that most did not believe existed. She has achieved astronomical success in her professional life, and also seems to be in a good place in her personal life. Recently, Swift took the athletic world by storm by being regularly present at football games supporting her new beau Kansas City Chiefs tight end, Travis Kelce. However, before meeting Kelce, Swift has almost always been in a whirlwind of romances.

Swift’s personal life, particularly her tumultuous romantic affairs, has often been tabloid fodder. The All Too Well singer writes from personal experiences; alluding to her relationships and sometimes directly name-dropping her boyfriends, and ends up feeding the fire of speculation through her songs.

Swift’s discography serves as the best way to know her romantic history. But it doesn’t always clue you into who the celebrated songwriter is referring to. Here is a guide to Taylor Swift’s romantic history before The Alchemy between her and Kelce worked its magic on the couple.

Mr. Perfectly Fine Joe Jonas

Joe Jonas was Taylor Swift’s first public boyfriend.

Taylor Swift and Joe Jonas are ancient history now. The couple dated only for four months in 2008. They first sparked dating rumors when Swift joined the Jonas brothers in a couple of their shows. However, they both denied being together at first. As Swift told People Magazine at the time:

He’s an amazing guy and anybody would be lucky to be dating him.

Jonas felt the same way about Swift:

She’s a great girl … I think anybody would love to go on a date with her.

Their relationship was fairly under the radar, and the details of their time together were scant. But the split was the polar opposite. Their break up was easily one of the most dramatic moments of both the stars’ careers. In an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in November 2008, Swift revealed that Jonas broke up with her on the phone, (via YouTube):

Some day, I’m gonna find somebody really, really, really great, who’s right for me… When I find that person that is right for me, he’ll be wonderful and when I look at that person, I’m not even gonna be able to remember the boy who broke up with me over the phone in 25 seconds when I was 18.

Years later, Swift apologised about putting Jonas on blast after their break up.

The act of publicly dragging Joe Jonas did not stop there. Swift also included some lines about the singer in her Saturday Night Live opening monologue in 2009.

You might think I’d bring up Joe, that guy who broke up with me on the phone. But I’m not going to mention him in my monologue. Hey, Joe! I’m doing real well and I’m hosting SNL—but I’m not going to write about that in my monologue.

Seems like that was a tough time to be Joe Jonas.

The couple split shortly before the release of Swift’s second studio album Fearless. But the Cruel Summer singer did manage to fit in a song inspired by the breakup on the album. Forever & Always off the Fearless album is about Jonas. Not only are the lyrics very telling, but so is Swift’s explanation of the song (via People Magazine).

[It’s] a song about watching somebody completely fade away in a relationship and wondering what you did wrong.

Furthermore, some other songs on Swift’s other albums, like Holy Ground from RED are believed to be about Jonas. Another song about this summer romance is one of the vault tracks, Mr. Perfectly Fine from Fearless (Taylor’s Version).

Both stars are on amicable terms now and are sometimes spotted mingling at award shows.

Lucas Till Did Not Belong with Taylor Swift

Swift’s fling with Lucas Till is the shortest of all her romantic endeavors.

Lucas Till played Swift’s love interest in the music video for her hit single from the Fearless album, You Belong With Me. The chemistry on screen translated into real life and the two got involved romantically. However, their romance was short-lived, lasting only from about March to April of 2009.

The pair were friends and had worked together on Hannah Montana: The Movie a year previous. The Spy Next Door actor confirmed to MTV that the two of them were going out for a while (via Harper’s Bazaar):

We dated for a little bit. But there was no friction because we were too nice. We just really both liked each other…[but] most relationships work out ’cause you get along and then you don’t, and then you make up and it’s passionate, and with us, I really just liked her as a friend. That’s the only reason that didn’t work out.

As Till pointed out, Swift and him weren’t particularly passionate. There seems to be no song written about him.

Going Back To December for Taylor Lautner

Taylor Lautner is famously the best boyfriend the Karma singer has had.

The Fall of 2009 saw the emergence of “Taylor Squared” a term coined by Swifties for the former couple Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner. The Twilight alum and the Grammy Award winner allegedly first met on the set of the romantic comedy Valentine’s Day, playing on-screen lovers. Not long after, the pair were involved in a romance of their own.

They were spotted on dates to hockey games and in her aforementioned SNL monologue, Swift included the line:

If you’re wondering if I might / Be dating the werewolf from Twilight … I’m not going to comment on that in my monologue.

However, she did blow a kiss to the camera and mouthed “Hi, Taylor”.

Lautner is possibly the most revered of Swift’s ex-boyfriends. Mainly due to the nature of the song Swift wrote for him. Back to December from the Speak Now album is largely believed to be about Lautner. And as the song suggests, the couple parted ways sometime around December.

The two of them continue to be on good terms, Lautner starred in the music video for I Can See You, a vault track from Swift’s rerelease of Speak Now. And also joined Swift on stage on one of the shows at The Eras Tour.

Dear John Mayer

This is the one relationship that had everyone side-eyeing due to the brow-raising age gap.

John Mayer and Taylor Swift’s romantic stint of a few months (December 2009 to February 2010) started with a song collaboration. In May 2009, the XO singer tweeted about wanting to collaborate with Taylor Swift. And the pair did end up making the track Half of My Heart together.

Following their collaboration, both artists spoke positively about each other. However, the dating rumors solidified when they performed at the Jingle Ball together in December 2009. The two were also spotted going out to dinners a month later. Neither of the stars confirmed the relationship.

In February 2010, rumors of a breakup were in full swing. However, Mayer was the one who inducted Swift into the Hall of Fame of Songwriters that June, and the two seemed comfortable around each other.

The alleged relationship was controversial as Mayer was thirteen years Swift’s senior. Things only got worse when Swift released one of her most heartbreaking songs Dear John which is widely believed to be based on her break-up with the musician.

Mayer certainly believed it was written about him and commented on the matter in a 2012 interview with Rolling Stone.

I never got an email. I never got a phone call. I was really caught off guard, and it really humiliated me at a time when I’d already been dressed down. I mean, how would you feel if at the lowest you’ve ever been, someone kicked you even lower?

However, Swift explained what the song is about but chose not to comment on who the song is based on (via People):

A lot of times when people’s relationships end, they write an email to that person and say everything that they wish they would have said. A lot of times they don’t push send. Putting it (the song) on the album was pushing send.

On the other hand, Mayer’s song Paper Doll is a break-up track that was considered to be about Swift. And Mayer too, denied these speculations on his Instagram Live Show Current Mood with John Mayer (via People):

When ‘Paper Doll’ came out, 100 percent of the people believed it was about somebody, and the person that they thought it was about brought a certain amount of a superficial pop culture back and forth about it that I think kind of shat on the song. But the song is not about that person and I could never tell anybody that’s not true because then I would be breaking my rule that songwriters don’t say who the songs are about or not.

One of the songs on Swift’s album Midnights (3 am edition), titled Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve, is also believed to be about Mayer.

Things were All Too Well with Jake Gyllenhaal

Continuing the questionable age-gap streak is Swift’s three-month-long relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal, from October 2010 to January 2011.

Swift’s relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal started when the two of them were set up by Gwyneth Paltrow at a dinner party at her house. As the actress told USA Today (via Harper’s Bazaar):

I’ve just known Jake for a long time, and he’s a great guy, and [her then-husband] Chris has a friendship with Taylor.

They were first spotted together in October 2012, hanging out backstage at Saturday Night Live. The Grammy Winner and the Brokeback Mountain first made headlines when they were spotted walking around New York City in October 2010. They famously spent Thanksgiving together and were photographed spending time with Gyllenhaal’s sister and her children.

The couple probably split up before their December birthdays as they celebrated without each other. Swift, who turned 21 that year alludes to this in her magnum opus All Too Well (10-minute version) (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault) with the lyrics:

You who charmed my dad with self-effacing jokes
Sippin’ coffee like you’re on a late-night show
But then he watched me watch the front door all night, willin’ you to come
And he said, “It’s supposed to be fun turning twenty-one”

Much of Swift’s songs on the album RED seem to be inspired by her relationship with Gyllenhaal, giving rise to the theory that her song Maroon (a darker shade of red) from her album Midnights is about Gyllenhaal as well.

Conor Kennedy Brought Starlight

Swift was first linked to Conor Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s son in the summer of 2012 when she was spotted at the Kennedy Compound on the 4th of July. Her friendship with the Kennedys began when Rory Kennedy first contacted her for concert tickets a year previous. Swift also attended the screening of Ethel, Rory’s HBO documentary about her mom and Conor’s grandmother Ethel Kennedy. Rory Kennedy was the one to introduce the former couple to each other, per US Weekly.

The couple were papped getting cuddly and intimate together a few times before calling it quits on their relationship in October of that year. The distance was cited as the reason for the split. As reported by E!: “totally amicable and down to the distance between them”.

Swift’s song Begin Again is speculated to be inspired by her relationship with Kennedy. Another one of her songs Starlight is believed to be about Ethel Kennedy’s romance with the 64th United States Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, which Swift learned of through her association with the family.

Making it Out of the Woods with Harry Styles

Swift’s and the One Direction alum’s relationship was one their most high-profile affairs for both the stars at the time. They were together from November 2012 to January 2013.

Another one of Swift’s high-profile relationships is her brief romance with Harry Styles. “Haylor” as fans called them was one power couple of pop. The Grammy Award winners first met backstage at the Kids Choice Awards in November 2012.

Rumors started to fly high when the British singer paid Swift a visit at rehearsals ahead of her X-Factor performance. Swift was also spotted wearing Styles’ airplane necklace, fueling the rumors. The couple went public in December when they were photographed walking hand in hand around the Central Park Zoo.

After a couple more spotting the same week, a vacation to St. John in the U.S Virgin Islands, Swift returned home alone. Their time together involved a car accident, some injuries, and Swift in a blue dress on a boat alone. All of this is described at length in various songs like Style, Out of the Woods, etc. from her 1989 album and the from the vault tracks of the rerelease.

However, there seems to be no bad blood between the stars as they were seen chatting during the 65th Grammy Awards.

Sorry, Calvin Harris- We Forgot You Existed

Calvin Harris was probably Swift’s first serious relationship.

There just seems to be a collective amnesia over the fact that Taylor Swift once was in a relationship with Scottish DJ Calvin Harris.

They were introduced by mutual friend Ellie Goulding at the Elle Style Awards in London in February 2015 and immediately hit it off. A few months later Harris confirmed the relationship rumors by posting a photo of Swift’s cats Meredith and Olivia. The relationship seemed like a good one, filled with PDA at Award ceremonies and appreciative social media posts (which have since been deleted). But the aftermath that followed what was reported as an amicable breakup was messy.

Harris ended the relationship after 15 months of dating. During their time together, the couple worked on a song together This is What You Came For which Harris released in April 2016. It credited someone called Nils Sjöberg as a co-writer on the song, which was later revealed to be the pseudonym, Swift chose to work on the song. However, after the romance ended, Swift’s team made it known about her involvement in the song. This resulted in some angry and mildly disrespectful tweets from Harris.

Addressing the break up in September 2016, Harris commented in a GQ interview (via US Weekly):

It’s very difficult when something I consider so personal plays out very publicly. The aftermath of the relationship was way more heavily publicized than the relationship itself.

High Infidelity on Midnights is believed to be written about Harris.

Tom Hiddleston- The Getaway Car

Tom Hiddleston has earned a reputation for being a rebound among the Swifties. Swift has alluded to this in the songs she wrote about him. They were together for the summer of 2016.

Not long after her split from Harris, Swift started dating British actor Tom Hiddleston after they were dancing together at the Met Gala. In mid-June, the duo was photographed getting cuddly and romantic in Rhode Island. The relationship involved dates around the globe and meeting each other’s families. Three months into the relationship, Hiddleston and Swift were spotted in Nashville, where Hiddleston met Swift’s parents. And not long after the duo flew out to his native England. They were photographed on dates in Rome, Australia, and several other places.

Fans doubted the authenticity of the relationship, but a statement from the Loki actor shut down such speculations in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

The truth is that Taylor Swift and I are together, and we’re very happy. Thanks for asking. That’s the truth. It’s not a publicity stunt.

The worldwide romance was rather short-lived, coming to an end in September 2016.

Swift’s song Getaway Car, in which she confesses to getting into a rebound after a relationship ended, is largely perceived to be about her summer romance with Hiddleston.

Lover Joe Alwyn

Swift’s relationship with Joe Alwyn was her longest. The couple was together for six years.

British actor Joe Alwyn and Swift are believed to have first met at the Met Gala in 2016, due to the lyrics “Flashback to when you met me, your buzz cut and my hair bleached” from her song Dress.

The news of them being “the real deal” was reported by British tabloid The Sun. Swift was staying in London at the time spending time with Alwyn. However, they were first publicly photographed in September 2018, sneaking into Alwyn’s movie premiere The Favourite.

This relationship unlike Swift’s previous romantic endeavors largely flew under the radar. It wasn’t until after 2020 that the couple started publicly mentioning their relationship.

Jaylor was seemingly the most serious and certainly, the longest relationship Swift has been in. Most of her songs from Reputation, Lover, Folklore, Evermore, and Midnights songs are written about Alwyn. The British actor even contributed to a few songs on Swift’s albums Folklore and Evermore with the pseudonym William Bowrey.

The news of the couple’s split was reported in April 2023, which explained Alwyn’s absence on The Eras Tour.

Is Matty Healy The Smallest Man Who Lived?

Only a month after the news of her break up with Alwyn had hit the world, Swift’s romantic involvement was reported with The 1975 frontman Matty Healy in May 2023.

The musician flew out from the Philippines to Nashville to see Swift perform at The Eras Tour only two days later. He even performed at a few of the shows along with Phoebe Bridgers.

However, there was a lot of backlash on Swift going out with Healy due to his years-old controversial comments about Swift and the problematic things he said about Ice Spice. The romance seemed to fizzle out as soon as it began, with the news of the alleged relationship coming to an end emerging in June 2023.

Furthermore, fans believe the song titled The Smallest Man Who Lived from Swift’s latest album The Tortured Poets Department to be about Healy.

The Alchemy with Travis Kelce

Swift’s current relationship with Travis Kelce has fans gushing over all the wholesome PDA it is giving.

NFL player Travis Kelce attended Swift’s concert when she was performing at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. And it was not just to see Swift perform. The Kansas City tight end revealed this on an episode of his New Heights podcast (via Cosmopolitan):

If you’re up on Taylor Swift concerts, there are friendship bracelets, and I received a bunch of them being there, but I wanted to give Taylor Swift one with my number on it.

Swift confirmed the relationship in her December 2023 Person of the Year interview with TIME:

This all started when Travis very adorably put me on blast on his podcast, which I thought was metal as hell. We started hanging out right after that. So we actually had a significant amount of time that no one knew, which I’m grateful for, because we got to get to know each other. By the time I went to that first game, we were a couple.

It has since been a string of Taylor Swift at the VIP box of Kansas City games, and them attending events together. Unsurprisingly, Kelce too has gotten songs written about him, which the NFL player has said he’s thrilled about. So High School, But Daddy I Love Him, Alchemy and The Albatross are believed to be about Swift’s current relationship.

The relationship seems to be going well. Perhaps Swifties have romantic songs with football references to look forward to.