Music
Twitter Is In A Lavender Haze Over Taylor Swift’s Surprise London Performance
Bon Iver invited the singer on stage to perform their joint hit “Exile.”
Talk about a pinch-yourself moment. At Bon Iver’s second show at London’s Wembley Arena on Oct. 26, lucky punters were treated to a surprise appearance from none other than Taylor Swift. The pop star joined Justin Vernon and his band for the first ever live performance of their collaboration “Exile,” which appeared on her 2020 album Folklore.
Doubling the reunion vibes, The National’s Aaron Dessner, who co-produced Swift’s albums Folklore and Evermore, joined Bon Iver’s live band for the song. During the appearance, Swift called the pair, who also contributed to her new album Midnights, “the most talented men in the world.” Though Bon Iver started out as a stripped back project, founder and lead singer Justin Vernon has gradually become more experimental over the years, collaborating with the likes of Swift, Beck, and James Blake.
A lover of an unannounced cameo, Swift popped up at Haim’s London show back in July, hopping on vocals for her best mates’ song “Gasoline,” and throwing in a throwback performance of her own “Love Story” for good measure.
As of 2021, Swift and Vernon hadn’t actually met in-person, though they collaborated together virtually on her two 2020 folk-pop albums Folklore and Evermore. When Swift won a Grammy for the latter last year, she shouted out Bon Iver’s ringleader Vernon in her acceptance speech, saying: “I’m so excited to meet you someday.” Though the pair have previously performed a virtual rendition of “Exile” before, last night’s live performance was a first for lucky fans.
Those jammy enough to be at Bon Iver’s Wembley show have had a long wait. The i,i tour originally went on sale pre-lockdown to mark the release of Vernon’s fourth album, long before he’d even collaborated with Swift on her folk records, and most of the audience had been hanging onto their precious tickets for almost three years. Some things really do happen for a reason.
Predictably the internet is losing it over the unexpected collaboration. See our pick of the best online reactions, below.
