15 Years Ago, Taylor Swift & Paramore’s Hayley Williams Met In This Unexpected Way

When Taylor Swift kicks off the European leg of her Eras Tour next summer, her opening act will be the rock band Paramore, whose lead singer, Hayley Williams, is a longtime friend of Swift’s. During an Oct. 6 interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Williams revealed the wholesome way the collaborators first met: through Swift’s mother, Andrea.

As she explained to Fallon, both musicians got started in the Nashville music industry “around the same time and around the same age.” At the 2008 Grammy Awards, both Paramore and Swift were nominated for Best New Artist — the late Amy Winehouse ultimately won in the category — and attended Timbaland’s after-party.

“A woman came up to me, and she said, ‘I’m Taylor Swift’s mom and, you know, Taylor doesn’t have a lot of friends her age that do music. I would love to, like, you know, introduce you guys or get your number,’” Williams said. “So Andrea, the legend that she is, she connected us.”

Fallon held up a throwback photo of them, which Williams poked fun at. “Every photo of us on the internet, one or both of us is like *thumbs up,*” she said, laughing. “It’s our thing. It’s just to show how cool we are.”

The Grammys have played a fun part in their friendship over the years. In a separate interview with Rolling Stone, Williams revealed that Swift was the first person to tell her Paramore won their first Grammy in 2015, taking home Best Rock Song for “Ain’t It Fun.”

“I was in Europe when I found out that we got nominated — could not believe it,” she said. “And then when we won it, we didn’t go. I got a text from Taylor Swift and [bandmate] Taylor York in the same 30 seconds. Taylor, she just texted me a bunch of capital letters, like ‘[random noises] so excited for you!’ I was so shocked.”

In addition to rooting each other on, they’ve also collaborated on music. Earlier this year, Paramore opened for the first two shows of the Eras Tour, and Williams and Swift duetted on “Castles Crumbling,” — a “From the Vault” track from Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).

“Since Speak Now was all about my songwriting, I decided to go to the artists who I feel influenced me most powerfully as a lyricist at that time and ask them to sing on the album,” Swift wrote on X (formerly Twitter) in June. “They’re so cool and generous for agreeing to support my version.”