Much like the sun, the incredible power of Taylor Swift’s light tends to reflect on those closest to her, and like the moon, her boyfriend Travis Kelce is glowing all the brighter because of it. Kelce is probably the most famous (American) football player in the world right now, and he’s reaping the benefits of his association with Swift. In the weeks since their romance began, sales for Kelce jerseys have skyrocketed, his podcast New Heights has climbed the charts, and now he even has a #1 song on the iTunes chart.
Why, you may ask, would Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce have a song on iTunes, let alone one that would be worthy of the #1 spot? The song is a collaboration with his brother Jason Kelce, for Jason’s album “A Philly Special Christmas Special.” It’s the second album from The Philly Specials, which consists of Jason and fellow Eagles Jordan Mailata, and Lane Johnson. The trio’s holiday music collections are a charitable effort to raise money for the Children’s Crisis Treatment Center and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (per CBS News).
This year, Jason invited his newly-mega-famous brother to hop on a track called “Fairytale of Philadelphia,” a cover of The Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York.” The parody song includes Philly-based lyrics “Youse a lush/Youse a crum bum/You smell like some old scum/Washed up from the Schuylkill/And rotting away.” The track was released on Wednesday and quickly shot to the top spot of the iTunes charts. “This is incredibly humbling, thank you to all for supporting!!” Jason posted on Twitter/X as the song began to climb, sharing an excited Elf gif when it hit #1.
The Philly Specials have their own loyal fans, and the charitable effort provides a feel-good reason to download and stream, but it’s hard to imagine that they would’ve accomplished this feat if thousands of Swifties hadn’t recently learned who the Kelce brothers are. Indeed, The Swift Effect has touched not just Travis, but the rest of the clan as well. Would Jason have been named one of People’s Sexiest Men of the Year without The Swift Effect? Would their mom, Donna Kelce, have appeared on The Today Show or hung out with Jake from State Farm without The Swift Effect? Donna herself previously observed that the relationship is a cash cow, telling Today that “it’s financially a good decision for a lot of different individuals to jump on the bandwagon right now.”
Yes, Swiftiemania—which has reached a fever pitch unlike almost any pop culture phenomenon before it—has spilled over into Kelcemania, for at least as long as Travis “lets her bejeweled.” Just this week, a number of Travis’ decades-old tweets went viral as people combed over his humorous posts and major brands like Olive Garden and Chipotle used them for self-promotion. The public is ravenous for Taylor/Travis (Tayvis, if you will). At least in this particular instance The Swift Effect is filtering her light through a good cause, and the Children’s Crisis Treatment Center and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia will be the ones that benefit.