Taylor Swift and Gracie Abrams’ friendship was on full display during the third Eras Tour concert in Toronto.
“The Eras Tour has been going on about a year and a half now, and so, a lot of life can happen in the phase of that tour and a lot of art can happen in the course of that tour,” Swift, 34, said during the acoustic section of her Saturday, November 16, show at the Rogers Centre, per social media footage. “I think you’ll remember the genius brilliant young lady you saw earlier tonight, Gracie Abrams. So, storytime, Gracie was opening up for me a year ago on the Eras Tour.”
She continued, “We had so many fun memories during that tour, one of which we were celebrating her getting nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammys, we had, like, eleventy-hundred Cosmos, went back to my house and just started writing a song. The coolest thing ever has just happened, this week, because of you — you guys cared enough about that song when it went out into the world on her album The Secret of Us and you got that song nominated for a Grammy this week.”
Swift and Abrams, 25, received a 2024 Grammy nod in the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category for their “Us.” duet, which dropped this summer.
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“You can’t even imagine, like, the phone call between the two of us when the nominations came out and we saw that song was nominated,” Swift recalled. “It was just screeching. It wasn’t even words, it was just feral screeching for the entire call.”
To celebrate the achievement, Swift and Abrams “wanted to figure out a way to say thank you” to the fans.
“We put together a little something, so, will you please welcome to the stage, Gracie Abrams,” Swift added on Saturday, pointing to the “That’s So True” singer as she strutted toward the microphone stand.
The two musicians delighted fans with a guitar mash-up of “Us.” and Swift’s 1989 song “Out of the Woods.” They concluded the number with a sweet hug before Swift went on to combine “You’re On Your Own, Kid” and “Long Story Short” for her piano selection.
Swift and Abrams have been friends since 2022 when the Tortured Poets Department artist invited the latter to be one of the opening acts for her Eras Tour when it launched the next year.
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“It’s a real masterclass to watch her do what she does,” Abrams said on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in May. “I felt like I was at college for this job. I watched every single one of her shows that I was lucky enough to open. I watched from every place possible in each stadium, just trying to pick up on how she’s able to do what she does.”
Swift and Abrams have previously performed together twice on the Eras stage. In July 2023, they sang Abrams’ “I Miss You, I’m Sorry” together one year before they debuted “Us.” in London.
Abrams will open for all of Swift’s remaining Eras Tour dates in Canada, which wraps on December 8.