Kayla Nicole reveals the real inspiration behind her ‘He Wasn’t Man Enough’ Halloween look — someone named Taylor

Kayla Nicole’s Toni Braxton Halloween costume went viral on the internet when she debuted the look on social media.

When it comes to Kayla Nicole, not everything has to do with her ex — especially not this year’s Halloween costume.

After the 34-year-old media personality and sports journalist’s “He Wasn’t Man Enough” Toni Braxton-inspired Halloween look nearly broke the internet, many assumed it was shade toward her ex, Travis Kelce, and his fiancée, Taylor Swift. But on her podcast, “The Pregame with Kayla Nicole,” she revealed the real inspiration had nothing to do with either of them.

Nicole’s Halloween tribute to Braxton played out across two posts on Instagram. In the first, she starred in a short, mock music video complete with lip-syncing, choreography, and the purple kaleidoscope backdrop made famous in Braxton’s “He Wasn’t Man Enough” visual. Dressed in a skimpy, bejeweled chain dress with her hair long, sleek, and bone straight, she embodied the R&B icon’s early-2000s glamour. The second post showcased still photos from the shoot alongside behind-the-scenes footage.

While Braxton’s original lyrics are sung from the perspective of a woman telling her ex’s new wife he “wasn’t man enough,” Nicole said her inspiration came from a “very specific” childhood memory.

“I had a white best friend. Her name was Taylor,” she recalled during the episode. “And she [was] the only house I could go over to as a kid because my mom didn’t play them type of games.”

She continued, “I specifically remember driving home from private school in my little uniform in the back of a paddy wagon with Taylor, and her mom was playing this song, playing it at the top of her lungs.”

Nicole said the moment left a lasting impression. 

“I had an ‘ah ha’ moment,” she said. “I remember thinking, wow, white people listen to Black people music as well.”

A model, on-air host, and wellness advocate, Nicole first rose to prominence in the sports world. She later gained notoriety for her on-again, off-again relationship with Kelce, which ended permanently in 2022. But ever since the NFL star began dating Swift a year later, Nicole has found herself unwittingly swept into the ongoing narrative surrounding their romance.

When she spoke to theGrio recently about the evolution of her media and wellness brand, Nicole made it clear where her focus lies now.

“My focus has really just been cultivating community and creating safe spaces for women like me to feel seen and understood, respected, [and providing] places that they can go to learn more about themselves,” she said.