Lifetime’s ‘Christmas in the Spotlight’ Movie Is Filled With Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce References

The Taylor Swift Lyrical References

The movie pays homage to many of the songs from Taylor’s discography. At one point, Bowyn quotes the song “…Ready for It?” when she says, “Baby, let the games begin.” She also references “You Belong With Me” by saying, “Growing up I was never really the cheerleader type, more of a bleacher girl, kind of a nerd, to be honest.”

The other songs that have lyrics referenced in the movie are: “But Daddy I Love Him,” “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,” “Cassandra,” “Mean,” “thanK you aIMee,” “Wonderland,” “You’re Losing Me,” “All Too Well,” “You Need to Calm Down,” “Teardrops on My Guitar,” “Peter,” “So Long, London,” “Look What You Made Me Do” and “Out of the Woods.”

There’s even a nod to “The Alchemy,” which is one of Taylor’s songs believed to be about Travis. “The alchemy between these two is off the charts,” a television announcer says in the film.

The Plot

The plot of the movie in general mirrors how Taylor and Travis really met when he attended one of her concerts and then decided to publicly shoot his shot with her. In real life, Travis did so by attending the Eras tour with Patrick Mahomes and then talking about how he wanted to give Taylor his phone number at the show afterward but didn’t get a chance to.

In the film, Drew went to the show with his niece and actually got to take a picture with Bowyn backstage. He then tagged her in the photo and invited her to watch his team play in the social media caption, while also publicly declaring during a TV appearance that he wanted to see her again.

The Family Connections

Travis’ brother, Jason Kelce, is also a football player and in the movie, Drew has a brother who plays too. There’s also a sister-in-law character seemingly based off of Jason’s wife Kylie Kelce, although the couple only has one child in the movie and the real-life duo has three daughters – with another on the way!

The Number 13

Any Taylor Swift fan knows that 13 is the singer’s lucky number and it pops up in the film as Drew’s jersey number. It’s also the age at which Bowyn started performing. 

The Exes

Bowyn references her exes at one point in the movie after seeing Drew’s six pack for the first time. She notes that she previously only dated “serious actors and indie rockers,” adding, “Strumming guitars and playing Hamlet don’t exactly create abs like that.”

Travis is Taylor’s first athlete boyfriend after romances with various actors and musicians.

The Edited Tape

In the film, Bowyn is devastated when one of her exes releases an edited recording that features her hinting that she’s only dating Drew for publicity. This mirrors something that Taylor experienced in real life when Kim Kardashian posted an edited version of the singer’s 2016 phone call with Kanye West about the song “Famous,” which seemingly showed her approving of the track, despite never hearing the full set of lyrics about her.

The Friendship Bracelets

Taylor Swift fans love making and trading friendship bracelets at her shows and Travis referenced this phenomenon when he first publicly tried to shoot his shot. Bowyn’s fans partake in the same gestures in the movie and Drew even gets a bracelet from his niece with an abbreviation of some of the singer’s lyrics.

The Fans

Bowyn’s fans in the movie are referred to as Arrowheads, which is a nod to the name of the Kansas City Chiefs’ stadium.