"I’m terrified of comments": Travis Kelce’s ex Kayla Nicole opens up on social media fear over Taylor Swift's subtle diss in "Life of Showgirl" album

Travis Kelce’s fiancee Taylor Swift released her new album on Friday, in which a song called “Opalite” seemed to have a line that was referenced to his ex-girlfriend Kayla Nicole. In the song, Swift sings:

“You couldn’t understand it, why you felt alone / You were in it for real, she was in her phone / And you were just a pose.”

Some listeners connected the lyrics to a clip of Kelce asking Nicole to get off her phone during a dinner date, interpreting the line as Swift referencing Kelce’s past relationship. Nicole and Travis Kelce dated on and off for five years before ending things in 2022. Kelce began dating Swift in 2023.

Nicole talked about the toll online criticism has taken on her during Saturday’s episode of her podcast “The Pre-Game.”

“As someone who obsesses over the fact that I, on a daily basis, am terrified of my comments, terrified of my DMs," she said. "I don’t want to be triggered. I don’t want to care, I don’t want to look.”

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She added that it has affected her mental health but joked that if people must be negative, they should at least comment on her sponsored posts so she can earn money from the engagement.

While Nicole did not mention Swift directly, she said how hard this year has been for her and how public perception has affected her.

“I’m like God, if anybody f–king Googles me, they’re gonna think I’m a crazy person right now,” she said. “I can relate (to) … experiencing adversity, great change in your life, maybe misconceptions of people in public in general.”

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Taylor Swift on how Travis Kelce’s presence in her life has affected her music

Taylor Swift's album is filled with personal lyrics about her love for Travis Kelce and references to his podcast and personality. In “Opalite,” named after Kelce’s birthstone, Swift sings about finding hope again in love, and in “The Fate of Ophelia” hints that Kelce helped pull her out of a dark place:

“You dug me out of my grave and saved my heart from the fate of Ophelia / Keep it one hundred / On the land, the sea, the sky / Pledge allegiance to your hands / Your team, your vibes.”

During a promotional interview for her new album on Friday, Swift talked about how Travis Kelce’s presence in her life has also changed her creative process.

“I do think that someone in your life who fuels you, who makes you more you … everyone in my life is like, ‘You've never been so yourself,’ which is this interesting thing, that you've been you your whole life. But we are different shades and different ourselves at different volume levels.

"And this person came into my life and everybody's like, ‘Yeah, you've never been so you’ and I think that comes through in the music. People who fuel you, they fuel every part of you and they make you walk taller, and they make you present in a more vibrant way and so hopefully that, you know, bleeds into the music too.”

Swift’s songs, often inspired by heartbreak, are now shaped by love.