Taylor Swift is reported to be getting married this Friday at Madison Square Garden, just weeks after she was there cheering on the Knicks at Game 4 of the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n
Swift will likely be exchanging more than just paper rings<\/a> when she says \u201cI do\u201d to Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.<\/p>\n But her football playing-beau isn\u2019t the only one she\u2019s enchanted<\/a> with. A tangled web of not-so-invisible string<\/a> ties Swift to her adopted hometown: New York City.<\/p>\n The love story<\/a> dates back to at least 2003, when a tweenaged Taylor Swift, wearing an orange off-the-shoulder shirt, strummed her guitar at a Knicks talent show. The NBA recently shared a snippet on social media of her first known performance at Madison Square Garden, where she sang \u201cLucky You.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI love you, New York!\u201d she hooted at the crowd, a smile beaming across her face.<\/p>\n Six years later, Swift played her first sold-out shows in the famed arena during her \u201cFearless<\/a>\u201d tour. Tickets disappeared in about a minute, according to news reports from the time.<\/p>\n The singer-songwriter stayed in Nashville a while longer as she kept cranking out country hits. But by the time she released \u201cRed<\/a>,\u201d New York had become a character in more of her music.<\/p>\n The city appears in songs like \u201cHoly Ground<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBack to a first-glance feeling on New York time Back when you fit in my poems like a perfect rhyme\u201d<\/p>\n And \u201cCome Back\u2026Be Here<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThis is falling for you and you are worlds away In New York, be here But you’re in London, and I break down\u201d<\/p>\n Swift went searching for a sound she hadn\u2019t heard before<\/a> when she moved to New York City in 2014, just in time for her poppiest album yet, \u201c1989.\u201d In the opening track<\/a>, she officially kicked off her New York era.<\/p>\n \u201cWelcome to New York, it’s been waitin’ for you<\/p>\n Welcome to New York, welcome to New York<\/p>\n It’s a new soundtrack, I could dance to this beat, beat forevermore<\/p>\n The lights are so bright, but they never blind me.\u201d<\/p>\n That same year, New York City\u2019s official tourism organization declared Swift a global welcome ambassador<\/a>. As part of the publicity campaign, she recorded cheeky videos<\/a> about New York vocabulary, defining words like \u201cbodega\u201d and \u201cstoop.\u201d Some accused Swift of being an uninformed transplant.<\/p>\n Taylor Swift, Este Haim, and Alana Haim react after Game Four of the 2026 NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on June 10, 2026 in New York City.<\/p>\n Photo by Dustin Satloff\/Getty Images<\/p>\n But Swift shook off<\/a> the haters in her \u201cReputation\u201d era, as she crooned about a \u201cdive bar on the East Side\u201d in \u201cDelicate<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Her next album, \u201cLover<\/a>,\u201d was sprinkled with scenes of her life in the city. She sang about a \u201cgolden\u201d love in \u201cDaylight<\/a>…\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I can still see it all (in my head) Back and forth from New York (sneaking in your bed)\u201d<\/p>\n As well as the challenges of a transatlantic relationship in \u201cFalse God<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I can’t talk to you when you’re like this The song \u201cCornelia Street<\/a>\u201d made Swift\u2019s former West Village home into a pilgrimage site for fans.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018I rent a place on Cornelia Street,’ I say casually in the car\u201d<\/p>\n Maddie Bessada of Atlanta visits Swift\u2019s past home on Cornelia Street during a trip to New York City this week.<\/p>\n Samantha Max \/ Gothamist<\/p>\n Since her Cornelia Street days, Swift and New York City have become increasingly intertwined.<\/p>\n She\u2019s made a more permanent home for herself in Tribeca. She\u2019s recorded multiple albums at Electric Lady Studios in Greenwich Village. She\u2019s been spotted with celebrity besties at Monkey Bar, Via Carota and The Corner Store.<\/p>\n Housing Works\u2019 SoHo bookstore makes a cameo in the closing scene of \u201cAll Too Well: The Short Film<\/a>.\u201d Swift\u2019s songs also continue to reference the Big Apple, from a walk on the High Line in \u201cCardigan<\/a>\u201d:<\/p>\n \u201cI knew you Your heartbeat on the High Line Once in 20 lifetimes\u201d<\/p>\n To a Brooklyn beach day in \u201cConey Island<\/a>\u201d:<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I’m sitting on a bench in Coney Island wondering where did my baby go? The fast times, the bright lights, the merry go\u201d<\/p>\n And a blissful weekend in Central Park in \u201cThe Bolter<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it’s all roses, portrait poses Central Park Lake in tiny rowboats What a charming Saturday\u201d<\/p>\n In 2022, one of the city\u2019s most renowned institutions officially adopted Swift as one of its own. NYU awarded Swift an honorary doctorate, and she delivered the commencement speech<\/a>, at Yankee Stadium, dressed in a dark purple robe and a tasseled cap.<\/p>\n US singer Taylor Swift delivers the commencement address to New Yor University graduates, in New York on May 18, 2022.<\/p>\n Photo by ANGELA WEISS\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cLast time I was in a stadium this size, I was dancing in heels and wearing a glittery leotard,\u201d she said. \u201cThis outfit is much more comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n Swift advised her fellow graduates to never be ashamed of trying, to embrace mistakes and to live alongside \u201ccringe.\u201d She also had a message for all the loved ones who had supported them along the way.<\/p>\n \u201cLet me say to you now: Welcome to New York. It\u2019s been waiting for you,\u201d she said, prompting the crowd to roar.<\/p>\n
Staring out the window like I’m not your favorite town
I’m New York City, I still do it for you, babe\u201d<\/p>\n