Fans have been wondering whether Taylor Swift is friends with Kendrick Lamar. This was after a video showing the former celebrating the latter’s Grammy win for “Not Like Us” went viral on the internet. This curiosity is only enhanced by the fact that both are prominent artists within the music industry.
So, is Kendrick Lamar one of Taylor Swift’s friends? Here is their friendship history explored.
Is Taylor Swift friends with Kendrick Lamar?
Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar are peers in the music industry. Although they may not be friends in the traditional sense, both have expressed deep admiration and respect for one another.
This admiration and respect reportedly began in 2014. The Eras Tour artist once jammed to Lamar’s Grammy performance in January 2014. The rapper famously performed a mashup of m.A.A.D. City and Radioactive with Imagine Dragons.
She later admitted in a Rolling Stone interview several months later that Lamar’s Backseat Freestyle was her “go-to” song if she ever felt “victimized” and wanted to feel “awesome” instead. She later uploaded a video online of herself jamming to the song while in her car to celebrate 1989’s success. At that time, she also expressed her wish that she was best friends with the “All the Stars” rapper and that she was sad every day when she realized she wasn’t.
Lamar later responded to Swift’s admiration in an interview with The Fader. Here, he not only praised her craft but also recited a few lines from one of her songs. He said, “You can’t put great music in different genres. I enjoy great music outside of my own music all the time. So, I definitely can see where she’s coming from when she says that she listens to the record. And it’s a great thing for her to acknowledge that and put that good energy out into the world like that.”
Lamar and Swift then collaborated on “Bad Blood,” which was released in May 2015.
In 2023, Kendrick Lamar re-recorded his verses for “Bad Blood” for the Deluxe Edition of Swift’s 1989. Swift confirmed this via Instagram, expressing gratitude. “The reality that Kendrick would go back in and re-record Bad Blood so that I could reclaim and own this work I’m so proud of is surreal and bewildering to me,” she wrote.
