FILE - Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce walks with Taylor Swift following the AFC Championship NFL football game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Kansas City Chiefs in Baltimore on Jan. 28, 2024. The Chiefs won 17-10. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Ever-present on the lips of Taylor Swift and the uniforms of both Super Bowl teams. In streetwear and along the Gucci runway. Amid the sea of Valentine’s Day goods and in bright, dopamine home decor.

The color red has gone boom as loud as TNT.

Not that TNT. We’re talking TNT as in Taylor and Trav. The phenom that is Taylor Swift at boyfriend Travis Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs games was a red-hued wonder of a lead-up to Super Bowl LVIII. Media feast barely covers it.

The Chiefs and their opponents, the San Francisco 49ers, sport red during the regular season, just as they did ahead of their 2020 Super Bowl matchup. But this time around, it’s the Tay factor that’s been a score for classic red and other hues in its family.

Power, passion, seduction. Luxurious and royal. Red is one of those colors that’s both aspirational and proletarian at the same time.

It can also symbolize anger or danger.

It’s a color Kelce’s paramour is intimately familiar with. We’ve got Swift’s albums “Red” and “Red (Taylor’s Version),” of course, and her weekslong game-day Chiefs gear, and we’ve always had her signature and remarkably immovable red lip color. Which lip brands she wears she usually keeps to herself, but we’re looking at you Pat McGrath Labs.

FOOTBALL AS A

PLATFORM FOR RED

That aside, color experts consider football a perfect place for red.

“Red in sport, no surprise. It’s speed, it’s energy, it’s confidence building, it’s power. So who wouldn’t want that, especially if you’re playing in the Super Bowl?” said Laurie Pressman, vice president of the Pantone Color Institute, a consulting service that keeps a sharp eye on trends.

But red is so much more, and has been since the dawn of red-blooded humankind and their big brains.

Because of its sharpness, our eyes pick up on red more quickly than they do other colors, said Stuart Semple, a British artist who creates and sells his own line of paint.

“We’re hardwired to look out for danger in our environment. At the moment, we’re seeing red just about everywhere.”

THE RED VS. RED

SUPER BOWL

The 49ers have some skin in the red fashion game, too, in running back Christian McCaffrey’s fiancee, Olivia Culpo, and in Kristin Juszczyk, fullback Kyle Juszczyk’s wife.

Kristin, a designer, landed an NFL licensing deal to use league logos on apparel after creating a custom Chiefs puffer for Swift.

“Ahead of the red vs. red Super Bowl matchup, my eyes are going to be on the fashion we see from the players’ walk-in looks, fans and WAGs,” Jaeger said, using sports speak for wives and girlfriends. “I’m expecting some really fun red-centric looks with hints of black and white.”

RED IN HISTORY

The color is among the oldest natural pigments. Red ochre, an iron oxide, dates to prehistoric times and drawings on cave walls.

Red has been used to adorn the body in many cultures, including the ancient Egyptians, Mayans, Roman generals and during the Renaissance. It is the symbolic color of communism and socialism. In China, India and other Asian countries, red expresses happiness and good fortune.

Goethe, the great German writer, had his own take on red, according to Michel Pastoureau’s book “Red: The History of a Color.”

“A bull becomes furious only if he is presented with a red cloth; a philosopher, on the other hand, goes into a rage as soon as the color is mentioned.”