A Body Language Expert Analyzes Taylor & Travis’ “Playful” Kiss

On Nov. 11, minutes after Taylor Swift wrapped up her second Buenos Aires show, she and Travis Kelce kissed in public for the first time. Since videos of the sweet moment went viral, Swift and Kelce’s makeout has been watched millions of times. And according to a body language expert, there’s a good reason for fans to be swooning over this kiss.

In the video, Swift ran to Kelce, putting her arms around him and going right into a steamy kiss. “There’s an immediacy of her finishing her performance and going to him. She could have stayed and savored her audience, but what she wanted to do immediately was be with him,” Patti Wood, expert body language analyst, tells Elite Daily. “It wasn’t that she was pretending to run. It was a genuine rush — urgency that went through her whole body.”

Swift also exhibited something Wood calls “up body language,” which is a sign of joy. Before the singer got to Kelce and kissed him, she put her arms up in preparation. “She’s a good eight feet away from him when her arms start to rise up [to hug him]. That kind of up body language usually happens at six feet away. Her doing it so early indicates that she has absolute certainty of a positive response from him.”

Wood, the author of Snap: Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language, and Charisma, also notes how Swift jumped into Kelce’s arms. “It’s like how a little kid jumps into their parents’ arms. She is absolutely certain that he is going to catch her.”

Kelce, for his part, took the moment in stride. “When he lifts her, his arms are locked around her waist, so she feels secure. Then he swings her around, taking her full weight,” Wood says. According to her, his hold on Swift was “not possessive, but secure.” The moment was also very reminiscent of Swift’s lyrics from “Crazier,” which she released in 2009: “You lift my feet off the ground / You spin me around / You make me crazier, crazier.”

As they walked away together, Kelce kept his arm around her — and notably, his thumb was pointed upward. “It’s a sign that he’s feeling happy and joyful,” Wood says. Swift, meanwhile, kept her arm around Kelce’s shoulder, showing “a tiny bit of ownership,” Wood adds.

And the kiss wasn’t the only noteworthy body language of the Nov. 11 show. When Swift performed “Karma,” the last song of her set list, she gave Kelce a shoutout. The original lyrics go: “Karma is the guy on the screen, coming straight home to me.” But Swift changed them to: “Karma is the guy on the Chiefs, coming straight home to me.”

A fan video caught Kelce hearing the line change in real time — and per Wood, he seemed totally OK with the attention. “What’s cute is he has his hands over his face, but it’s joyful embarrassment,” Wood says. “Look at how lifted up his elbows are, they’re almost straight up. When you’re more embarrassed in an ashamed way, you keep your elbows down and tend to move your body backwards.”

Kelce also kept bouncing and dancing after the moment, making it clear that he was having fun with Swift’s shoutout.

All in all, Swift and Kelce’s vibe had a “playful” energy to it. Their body language reflected spontaneous joy, something they’re “on the same page” about, Wood says.