By now, you've heard the news: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are engaged.
Swift, 35, and Kelce, 35, shared the news on August 26 via Instagram. In the slideshow soundtracked by her song, "So High School," we see the Kansas City Chiefs star get down on one knee while proposing to Swift in an idyllic flower garden. A few photos later, she shared a close-up of Swift's massive diamond ring (and a Cartier Santos Demoiselle watch).
"Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married," she captioned the gallery, which—as of time of this writing—has racked up 29.5 million likes in under 24 hours.
But wait—"English teacher?"
Taylor Swift's engagement post reveals 'where she is now as a musician and lyricist'
At first, I found it perplexing that Swift referred to her as an "English teacher" and not a "music teacher." Last year's The Tortured Poets Department smashed practically every single sales and streaming record possible. And I wouldn't be surprised if The Life of a Showgirl replicates that success, despite being only 12 songs.
Why did she refer to herself as if she were someone who spends her nights grading book reports and teenage short stories?
Enter the Swiftian scholar Annie Zaleski, the New York Times best-selling author, journalist, and editor behind Taylor Swift: The Stories Behind The Songs, a deep dive into Swift's expansive body of work, whom I reached out to for comment.
"It was striking to me that Taylor used her 2024 song 'So High School ' in her engagement post," says Zaleski. "She didn't use a song by somebody else that she and Travis might find special, or an older song of hers that spoke of true love, like 'Love Story.' The song spoke more to where she is now as a musician and lyricist—and also where she is now as a person."
"Besides that, the song was rumored to be about how giddy she felt about her romance with Travis, which is all but confirmed now," adds Zaleski. "In the lyrics, she asks someone to do their impression of their dad—and Travis is known for imitating his dad, Ed—and referenced a game of 'kill, marry, kiss.' Years ago, Travis played that game—and said he'd kiss Taylor. 'So High School' is like a love letter to their relationship."
When reading the lyrics to "So High School," the narrator is completely wrapped up in the throes of a new romance. Youthful imagery of Spin the Bottle and games like "Marry, Kiss, Kill," watching American Pie, and playing Grand Theft Auto captures that innocence of being a sixteen-year-old in love.
And in Swift's engagement caption, she and Kelce are still in high school, but in different roles. He teaches gym class and coaches football after school. She's putting together lesson plans about Shakespeare and Octavia Butler. The caption could be the extension of the metaphorical high schoolers in the song (even though both were in their early thirties when they started dating).
Consider the engagement post as a nice "Happily Ever After" to "So High School"...though we'll have to see if there are any new chapters to the story when The Life of a Showgirl drops on Oct. 3.
Many thanks to Annie Zaleski for her wisdom. The second edition of Taylor Swift: The Stories Behind the Songs arrives on Sept. 30. Pre-order here.