Taylor Swift‘s surprise performance at Travis Kelce‘s Tight End University event was truly that: a surprise.
According to the Kansas City Chiefs star, the 14-time Grammy winner’s live showcase of Billboard Hot 100-topper “Shake It Off” with Kane Brown’s band June 24 in Nashville was so last minute, she didn’t even practice beforehand. Speaking to brother and co-host Jason Kelce on their New Heights podcast episode posted Wednesday (July 2), Travis shed some light on how the performance came about, raving, “Tay Tay showed up!”
“We’re in Nashville, she grew up in Nashville — she moved there when she was younger,” the Grotesquerie star explained. “We had this plan for a while that we were going to have some fun with the tight ends.”
“I won’t say when the idea came up, but when we were there at Tight End and Friends, and we knew there was a professional like Kane Brown, who can just, he can figure it out,” Travis continued. “He’s a pro. Tay just kind of went up to him and the band and went, ‘Hey, if you guys are down, I’ll go up there, play a song and see if we can pop the roof off this place.’”
The athlete went on to share that moments before the viral performance, Swift jotted down accompaniment notes for Brown’s band members so that they could perform with her without missing a beat. “She was like in the back doing musical notes,” Travis said with awe. “Sheets of music, she was writing out — I think the high hats, maybe? I don’t know, I’m not a musician. But she was, like, making sure the band and everybody knew.”
“And then just went out there without practicing, and it was pitch-perfect,” Travis added. “[She] just killed it.”
The knockout performance in question happened at the Tight Ends and Friends concert at Music City’s Brooklyn Bowl, with Swift getting the crowd hyped up as she took the stage in a black dress and matching heeled boots. As she strummed her guitar, Brown danced along on stage and added extra percussion by shaking a stick of bells.
The pop star was also present throughout the three-day Tight End University summit, appearing alongside Travis on the red carpet during opening ceremonies and later attending the welcome party with him that night. The Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity? host founded TEU in 2021 with George Kittle and Greg Olsen to foster community among the NFL’s tight ends and help them prepare for the football season ahead.
“She’s so good with just everybody — people and making people feel comfortable,” Travis praised Swift. “Absolutely rocked the stage yet again. It was awesome.”
Watch Travis reflect on Swift’s surprise Tight End University performance below.
