It’s nearly impossible to avoid absorbing some of the sweeter details about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s romance through scrolling osmosis. The two have been dating only since July 2023, and yet we’ve already got enough intel to fill an hours-long highlight reel. From Swift bending her tour rules so Kelce can swoop in, to the football star being her rock of emotional support. It’s something of a 180 from her long-term, tightly guarded relationship with actor Joe Alwyn, which had the press and fans perpetually guessing what the couple’s next steps are — and guessing wrong.
Swift and Alwyn dated from 2016 to 2023, keeping their relationship incredibly private. This intentional secrecy, briefly noted in her 2020 NetflixdocumentaryMiss Americana, was crucial for Swift’s mental health. Filmmaker Lana Wilson, who directed the project, felt Alwyn didn’t fit into the film’s focus. “Not really. I didn’t even meet him till the very end,” Wilson said of Alwyn during a screening of the doc at New York City’s Museum of Moving Image on Nov. 23.
What Wilson was more fascinated by was Swift’s evolution as an artist and person. Instead of dissecting every lyric of one of her many love songs or breakup anthems, Wilson opted to keep the focus of Miss Americana into Swift’s decision to move from neutral observer to an active advocate. A prime example? Her firm stand against Tennessee Senate candidate Marsha Blackburn during the 2018 midterms.
Blackburn, for context, drew criticism not just for opposing the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act — which extended protections to Native American, LGBTQ, and undocumented survivors — but also for dismissing sexual assault allegations during Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings as a “delay tactic.”
At this point, Swift had received more than her fair share of criticism for remaining quiet about politics all while appearing to lean into a white feminism narrative. “Dad, I just need you to forgive me for doing it, ‘cause I’m doing it,” she declared. Wilson described this moment as a significant turning point.
“I thought she was going through something so profound and powerful, this real change that didn’t really have anything to do with her relationships so it was never something I wanted to film actually. Her relationships have been through the microscope. I didn’t really have any interest in filming that.” Highlighting Swift’s love life when she was going through this transformation, she explained, “felt disrespectful and weird to me. It never occurred to me in a strange way.”
“There’s something about getting to witness someone actually change and evolve in some way that might seem kind of small from the outside,’ she said. “Once you know her whole history and the psychology and all that stuff, it’s actually a really big change for her,” Wilson explained, per Daily Mail.
Swift wasn’t just breaking from tradition — she was finding her footing as an adult with her own code of ethics. And as she was finding her footing in political advocacy, her relationship with Alwyn, which was already purposefully kept very private, remained just that.
At its core, Miss Americana wasn’t the stage for Swift’s romantic drama. Wilson kept the spotlight exactly where it belonged — Swift’s awakening. “She’s been through so much, this should be private,” Wilson emphasized. Maybe the film doesn’t show us the “who” behind Swift’s heart during those years, but it captures the “why” behind her transformation.
Before you go, click here for more documentaries about strong women in music.
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