“There were definitely people she knew that knew who I was, in her corner [who said]: ‘Yo! Did you know he was coming?’ I had somebody playing Cupid,” the 34-year-old athlete said in a new interview, published on Monday, November 20.

Travis then was shocked to see a message from the singer, 33, herself, via his phone. “She told me exactly what was going on and how I got lucky enough we had already kind of been talking, so I knew we could have a nice dinner and, like, a conversation, and what goes from there will go from there,” he continued, noting that he wasn’t nervous — but his family and loved ones hoped he didn’t mess up this opportunity.

Travis, who called the Grammy winner “hilarious” and a “genius,” said the pop star is unlike any of his previous girlfriends. But at the same time, I’m not running away from any of it …. The scrutiny she gets, how much she has a magnifying glass on her, every single day, paparazzi outside her house, outside every restaurant she goes to, after every flight she gets off, and she’s just living, enjoying life. When she acts like that I better not be the one acting all strange.