Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce have announced their engagement, posting on Instagram images of the proposal with the caption “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married”.

“America’s sweethearts”, the pair have been dating for two years. Now fans are saying this will be America’s version of the royal wedding.

Swift and Kelce’s post has already received over 24 million likes from the pair’s fans.

Swift’s love life has long been in the spotlight – both in her songs and in the news. So fans were perfectly primed for their outpouring of support and love.

But what is it about Swift – and her fans – that encourages such emotional reactions?

To understand the deep affection Swift’s fans have for her, it’s important to understand parasocial relationships.

A parasocial relationship is a one-sided relationship we develop with someone, typically a media figure, where there is no reciprocity. Through the media and artistic output, we develop knowledge and feelings, and begin to encounter the relationship the same way as we would a “real world” or interpersonal relationship – but there is no mutual development.

Every time we see them in the news or on social media, or listen to their songs, that’s a parasocial interaction we have with them. Then those interactions build until we feel as though we........

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