Taylor Swift turned the lyric video for “Cleveland!” into something much more personal than a collection of words on a screen. Mixed into the visuals are clips from a trip she took through Travis Kelce’s hometown, with her husband appearing behind the wheel as she filmed from the passenger seat.
The footage shows Kelce smiling toward the camera during the drive, along with glimpses of the city and the neighborhoods that shaped his childhood. Swift also appears on camera later in the video, giving fans an unusually casual look at the couple away from stadium suites, red carpets and other public appearances.
The video arrived alongside “Cleveland!,” one of four new songs added to The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore. The track has a direct connection to Kelce, who grew up in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, before playing college football at the University of Cincinnati and beginning his NFL career.
As PEOPLE reported, the lyric video includes footage of the couple driving into Cleveland along with views of the skyline and other images tied to the city.
Kelce Takes Swift Through the Place Where He Grew Up
The road-trip clips begin with Kelce driving while Swift holds the camera. He wears a striped blue shirt, dark baseball cap and gold chain, and flashes a broad smile when he realizes she is filming him. A highway sign establishes where they are headed before the camera turns back toward Swift in the passenger seat.
The video traces Kelce’s Cleveland Heights upbringing through tree-lined streets, a local shopping area and Cleveland Heights High School, where he played football before continuing at the University of Cincinnati and eventually joining the Kansas City Chiefs.
The official “Cleveland!” lyric video also includes a house connected to Kelce’s childhood as the song references the home where he grew up. Swift uses footage from the trip rather than reconstructing the locations for a conventional music video.
A White Dress Is Not the One Swift Wore at Her Wedding
Another shot is timed to the song’s reference to wearing white. A woman who appears to be Swift is seen in a white dress, an image that could invite comparisons to her July wedding to Kelce.
A source told Page Six that the dress shown in the lyric video is not the wedding dress Swift wore when she and Kelce married at Madison Square Garden on July 3.
The video includes another Swift-specific detail through a pair of roller skates decorated with 13 hearts, connecting the Cleveland footage with her longtime attachment to the number 13.
‘Cleveland!’ Came From Swift’s Return to the Studio With Max Martin and Shellback
Swift returned to Sweden with Max Martin and Shellback after the success of The Life of a Showgirl, initially intending to celebrate the album they had made together. With a studio nearby, the three collaborators ended up writing again.
Those sessions produced four tracks for The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore: “Patient Zero,” “Cleveland!,” “Pink Clouding” and “Babylon.” Pitchfork reported that all four were written with Martin and Shellback after Swift visited them in Sweden to celebrate the original album’s success.
Swift described the new songs as being born from gratitude for the response to The Life of a Showgirl. The expanded edition was released Sept. 25, adding the four tracks to the original album.
“Cleveland!” draws directly from Kelce’s personal history, with references to Cleveland Heights and the house where he grew up. The lyric video puts Kelce behind the wheel for the trip through his hometown while Swift documents it from the passenger seat.