For Every Solterona Out There, Taylor Swift’s Engagement Hits Different
Taylor Swift has finally broken the prophecy and is getting the happy ending to her love story with Travis Kelce.
On Tuesday, the couple shared their engagement photos with the world. The caption turned our teenage dreams into a reality. “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married,” the couple wrote on Instagram.
Whether you’re a Swiftie or not, there’s one thing we can all agree on: Swift finally getting the love she deserves is the hope we all needed in this age of fizzing romances. Especially for those of us who are still single and hoping to find our own in our thirties.
While all the buzz is going around about how big the ring was, the insane flower budget, or even how the prenup will pan out, the pop star’s engagement months away from her 35th birthday sends a greater message about the power of choosing ourselves first. Most of all, waiting for the kind of love we deserve, no matter how much society pressures you to have it all figured out before you’re thirty.
A new take on being a solterona
Growing up Latina, the term “solterona” often referred to a tía or a prima who never got married (and frequently never wanted to). It wasn’t a term of endearment. It was a warning to all young women in the family that if they didn’t follow the carefully paved road to the “perfect” relationship. Or if they were too picky, or spent too much time focused on their career, they’d miss the train on marrying someone before the age of thirty.
Then, all hope of you building a family, finding love, and buying a house in the suburbs where you could make tamales and be tortured by your mother-in-law would dwindle. Being a solterona was a curse, and you’d better run in the other direction.
And maybe you didn’t buy into all of that. You grew up answering back and paving your own path. And even though you always wanted to find love, you discovered that after every breakup, there was one love that always saved you: the one you felt for yourself. That being a solterona wasn’t a curse. But something to wear proudly. Because it meant you didn’t settle when you probably had plenty of opportunities to.
Cue in Taylor Swift
Like her or not, we can all agree that the pop star is a powerhouse. She is the most awarded artist of the American Music Awards, Billboard Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, and iHeartRadio Music Awards. Compounded with having the most Album of the Year wins in Grammy history.
Did you know that the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry has recognized her as the Global Recording Artist of the Year more than any other artist in history? Not to mention she single-handedly won back the master rights to all her music last year. And the Eras Tour is still the highest-grossing concert tour of all time.
Still, after her breakup with Joe Alwyn in 2023, despite her widespread success, all anyone could focus on was how unsuccessful she was in love. Despite how much we all love to stream her endlessly. Because if there’s one thing Taylor Swift does, it’s understand heartbreak. Sound familiar?
Now, her engagement two years later to a man who not just loves her, but WORSHIPS her, is proof that Taylor’s patience and commitment to herself weren’t in vain. It shows that staying solterona until you find the love you deserve is worth more than checking off a to-do list of life goals before the age of thirty.
Pushing past the relationship fatigue has its rewards
I get it, dating in 2025 can often feel like a stint in purgatory. Between the dating apps, lack of commitment, polyamory trends, and ghosting, being jaded can feel easier than giving it another try. As someone who’s had her fair share of failed relationships, I know the anguish that comes from losing hope in romance.
At 31, I’ve even taken extended periods of time off dating after my fair share of dating roulette, where even the guy you thought was deeply in love with you turned out not to know what they want. The loads of bullshit are enough to send you running to a convent and swearing off love, but there’s a bigger sense of love and hope that comes after heartbreak. A knowing that one day someone will come along to give you their number using a friendship bracelet and scream through the airways that they want to date you. Until then, keep doing you.
In 2023, I wrote a story about Taylor’s soft launch of her relationship with Travis during the Argentina leg of her Eras Tour. Swift stood on the stage while Kelce watched from the audience as she recited “Karma is the guy on the Chiefs coming straight home to me.”
She could have given up months earlier after her breakup with Alwyn. Imagine if she didn’t give herself another chance at love. If she simply believed she was too old, y se le fue el tren. But she dove deep into it again and finally found the one.
Next time your tía tells you you’re too picky, tell them you’re “Swifting it up” until the lover you’ve dreamed of comes along
I don’t know the state of your corazoncito as you’re reading it, but mine is broken. Fresh off an amicable breakup. But seeing the way Travis holds Taylor, how he’s not afraid to love her, and how much she’s blossomed in this relationship, I still believe that no matter how difficult separations are, they open blank spaces for better things to come into our lives.
Sometimes that comes in the form of new people. Maybe the same person in a healed version, or a chapter of your life you weren’t expecting. No one can take the disappointment of heartbreak, or the desire to have a sweet love from you. But you can give yourself something, I think Taylor has given herself, and we can all take away from: the unspoken value of trusting yourself. Life will life, romances will come and go. But for anything in your life to work, you’ve got to trust yourself.
That’s what I’ve always seen reflected in Taylor Swift
Trust that waiting for someone who treats you how you deserve is worth it. That you’ll know if you’re choosing from a place of lack or a place of worthiness. Trust that even if it doesn’t work out, you can turn your broken heart into art and love again.
So, next time your familia asks you when you’re giving them a nieto or are thinking about giving up your single life, or ¿quien es esa Taylor Swift? Tell them that, however long it takes, Swifting it up is all about taking control of your love life. Because you deserve to be someone’s endgame. No questions asked.