While training for her epic Eras Tour earlier this year, Taylor Swift said the artist whose music helped her prepare for the nearly four-hour shows was Ice Spice.
She said at the same time that the Bronx rapper got in touch to see if the pop star was interested in doing a song together — and the “Karma” remix was born, which the pair performed in surprise form Friday night.
“I want to explain how this came about because it just felt like karma or fate or something,” Swift said during her first of three nights at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. “I was approached by Ice Spice…what she didn’t know at the time is that…every day, all day, I listened to her music almost exclusively and got in the zone to tour.”
“And so I said, ‘Absolutely. When can we do it?’ So we went straight into the studio… Not only did I fall in love with her, but I also decided that she is the whole future,” she continued. “I’ve been around so many artists and so many artists starting out, but I’m still never been around someone so prepared and curious and focused on what she wants, so I was completely blown away.”
Spice and Swift closed the show with fans screaming loudly during the performance. Spice has had a breakout year, recently reaching the Top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with the hits ‘Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2” with PinkPantheress and “Princess Diana” with Nicki Minaj.
The “Karma” remix was released Friday, the same day Swift released a deluxe edition of it Midnights.
Prior to the surprise performance, Swift debuted the song’s music video to 70,000 fans.
“Here’s the point: no one saw it. … I’ve never done this before, but I sat for a few minutes thinking that we can turn this stadium show into a world premiere of a music video,” she said. “I thought, ‘Where can we find a big enough screen?’ And then I thought, “Oh, that’s a really big screen. We can just watch it there.” This is not like a movie premiere where you have to be quiet, I want you to feel your feelings, always.”
During the show, Swift performed several songs from her recent album, including the number 1 hit “Anti-Hero”. She also sang hits like “Shake It Off,” “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” “You Belong With Me,” “Willow,” “Cardigan,” “You Need to Calm Down,” and “Look What You Made Me ‘. Doing.”
Singer-songwriter-producer Jack Antonoff, who regularly collaborates with Swift, joined the singer for an acoustic version of “Getaway Car.” Phoebe Bridgers, one of the tour’s opening acts along with “abcdefu” singer-songwriter GAYLE, performed “Nothing New” with the pop star.
Swift has released four albums — Lover, Folklore, Always more And Midnights — since her last tour, which took place in 2018. She said that while she was at home during the pandemic as the concert business shut down and the music industry questioned whether live performance would recover, she decided to write and record a lot of music.
“Will artists ever be able to connect like that again on that scale?” she said the industry wondered.
“There were culturally much more important conversations going on, so I just didn’t think about those (concert) conversations. And it was also too sad. I was like, “I’m not going to think about not seeing (my fans) this way,” she continued.
“Because I’ve been playing songs and playing them live since I was 12 and this is the way I process things. I make music and then I sing it with you, and when you sing along, I feel better.”
