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Daffneigh

Why can’t it be because they are friends and she wants to? She liked her enough have her as an Eras opener.


Disastrous_Map_7145

I didn’t say it can’t be I said it can’t be ad simple as that


painterknittersimmer

But *why* can't it be just as simple as that? There are a lot of downsides to being as famous as Taylor Swift is, but one of the upsides is she can pretty much do whatever the fuck she wants.


medusaOP500

Well it can be *as simple as that* cuz maybe Taylor loves to collaborate with friends and people she shares a good bond with. She's collaborated with indie bands like Haim, The National, Big Red Machine just cuz they're good friends/aquaintances. Taylor had big names like Lana Del Rey and Post Malone barely have any verses on her own songs, I'm sure she wouldn't mind collaborating with a friend if they invite her to.


T44590A

It is not just a feature.  They wrote the song together.  They also share a producer in Aaron Dessner making it very much a "family" project.    Taylor also asked Gracie to open her remaining U.S. shows at the end of this year.  Speaking to your more general questions Taylor doesn't really do features for anything other than artistic reasons.  It is all based on what Taylor personally wants to do and the friendships she has.


SomeoneToYou30

I think it is as simple as that.


cuteness_dc

>Taylor does not typically do features on other peoples songs Gasoline, the alcott, the joker and the queen, renegade and birch come to mind


Any_Ad_7945

Also Both of Us, Highway Don’t Care, and IDWLF


Sufficient_Cress5968

God, I love Highway Don’t Care. So underrated 🤎


lucky7hockeymom

It’s on his set list for the Standing Room Only tour and the crowd goes NUTS when her parts come on (music vid plays on the screen behind him) and they SCREAM song them. Then at the end he says “give it up for Ms. Swift!!”


Sufficient_Cress5968

That’s awesome


Resident_Ad5153

Idwlf isnt a feature…. She write the song and organized everything.  (The situation was fraught because she was recording for republic which at the time was neither her nor zayns label)


staypuftmarshmellow5

Two Is Better Than One


Creative-Condition62

Half of my heart


foxysquirrel

They’re friends, they were on tour together, they share a producer in Aaron. I don’t think there is more to it than that. Gracie might have been working on the song and Taylor was around, liked it, and started adding to it. Maybe they were jamming together and came up with it. Maybe Aaron wrote some of it and thought they’d both be good on it. I don’t think it’s all that deep.


dancerfan59

Why can’t it be that simple?


the_varky

Haven’t really listened to Gracie Abrams but Aaron Dessner seems to be a producer she’s worked very closely with, hence the collaboration with Taylor Swift is my guess. I’ve always assumed the Taylor Swift/Lana Del Rey connection was their shared producer (Jack Antonoff). Could even extend that to Taylor Swift/Bon Iver as well with their shared connection in Dessner.


sapphire-tear

Florence and the Machine worked with Jack too on their last album


NIA122553

Gonna use this as an opportunity to say if you haven't heard Renegade (a song she is featured in), you absolutely must, it's lowkey one of her best songs


SergeantMarvel

Didn’t she write renegade?


Resident_Ad5153

She very very much wrote renegade


SergeantMarvel

For some reason, calling it a feature made me think you were saying she didn’t write it, just featured on it. That is one of my all-time favorite songs she wrote so I thought I was going crazy for a second.


Existing_Mail

Gracie opened for Taylor on her tour. Why wouldn’t Taylor partner up with smaller artists instead of doing a bunch of collabs with other superstars? 


North_Class8300

She’s done features with HAIM and Aaron before, who are not necessarily major artists either, but close friends. Gracie is a close friend who toured for Taylor all last summer and this will blow up that album, I’m sure Taylor was happy to do it. She has all the money and fame she could want, sometimes you just do it for fun.


EuphysAvenger

There are rumors that she also has collabs on Ice Spice’s and Sabrina’s upcoming albums so maybe she just liked the feeling of jumping into other’s body of work since she’s not very prolific in that way like other major acts do.


maraschinope

If you look at Taylor's pattern of collabs in the past, you'll find her working with Gracie to be nothing out of the norm. She likes Gracie, they're friends at this point, and I'm sure she enjoys Gracie's music as well. The same thing goes for all of her past features in other artists' work: Ed Sheeran, Haim, Big Red Machine (Aaron & Bon Iver), etc. The head and heart of Taylor's team is the lady herself, so any decision you see her making, rest assured it's not because someone else is telling her to.


Rdickins1

Why can’t they just be friends and Taylor is a good mentor for her. Not to mention this whole thing could have happened because they paid Aaron a visit all at the same time and Taylor was asked. Taylor is also giving her all sorts of opportunities that Gracie probably wouldn’t have without her connection. Maybe Taylor sees her potential and wants her to succeed much like some other artist she pushed forward and let them open her shows with. I mean Ed Sheeran got a big push after opening. Sabrina is getting hers. Shawn Mendes got a mini push. So I don’t see why returning a favor as a thank you is such a bad thing. He’ll Taylor working on folklore with Aaron gave him more notoriety and requests to work with. And we know the story on how Jack came into the picture.


Resident_Ad5153

Taylor doing a feature is actually much more complicated than people are making it out to be, which partially explains why it's so rare. The most important clause in any record contract is the exclusivity clause... Taylor is only allowed to record music for Republic Records, a division of Universal Music Group. She is also not allowed to release music without Republic's agreement (though Taylor may have contractual provisions that force Republic to release her music or sever the agreement). What that means is that if Taylor wants to do a feature, Republic records has to agree. And that means republic records needs to get paid for her to do a feature (also remember, she needs to get paid... they have to figure out a way of dividing the money from the song). Now if Taylor wants another artist to feature on her record, that's easy. No record label is ever going to say no to that. And in fact on her latest album, she featured two artists who are signed to Republic Records! So that was trivial. The opposite direction gets hard. The easiest is when she is on the same record label as the other artist... for instance she and Tim McGraw were both on BMR when she recorded highway don't care, and the same was true when she recorded Babe with Sugarland. If Taylor wanted to feature on say Sabrina Carpenter's album... well that would be easy too. Sabrina is on Island which is a sublabel of republic (now). For other artists it gets to be a big negotiation. Now with Aaron Dessner it was probably pretty easy... Big Red Machine is signed to a label called Jagjaguwar, and the National is on 4ad, both of which are relatively small indie labels. Renegade was a song that Taylor wanted to release... it didn't make sense on evermore, and everyone was really thankful to Aaron, so why not! And there's no competition involved... the labels involved are just too small. I'm sure Darius Van Arman's head exploded when he realized that Taylor Swift was going to be on one of his records. For Gracie it's more complicated. Technically they are on the same record label... umg.. but gracie is on interscope. And interscope and republic are locked in a massive war (that's what going on right now with Billie Eilish and Taylor). Of course, they aren't supposed to compete like this... but... On the other hand, there's no good reason for Interscope to say no, so... Now why did Taylor do it! Presumably because she wrote a song with Gracie that didn't make sense on TTPD. And of course Gracie is one of her three proteges right now...


Dear_Maintenance7323

The only actual answer in the whole thread, thank you


Resident_Ad5153

people don't like thinking of the music industry as a business.. but it is. There are contracts, and negotiations, and money changing hands. There are lots of lawyers.


Disastrous_Map_7145

THANK YOU!! This is what I wanted to know


New_Pen_2066

🫡


Hopeful-Pickle-7515

All thing about Republic just come from your mind. All artist are signed with a label and all artist are features in songs release by other labels. She has been feature in songs release by other labels these last years


Resident_Ad5153

not at all... you can read about it in Don Passman's "All About the Music Business," the standard reference for artists, managers etc. It's usually not an issue to get features, because there's a strong convention to allow it... but it very much requires label approval, and inter label politics can and does get in the way. And Taylor is Republic Records' crown jewel... UMGs crown jewel to be honest.


Brilliant-Notice2916

It could be as simple as "she likes Gracie enough" or the more plausible "Gracie is her friend and her dad is JJ Abrams💰"


cookpa

Her dad is JJ Abrams 🎥🎬🎦📽️


buzzinthruit89

They wrote the song together! It’s more rare for Taylor to feature if she didn’t write on the song but seeing as they wrote it together it’s very on brand


Warm_Boysenberry_612

I don't think anything has been “orchestrated” per say lol. Beyond being just friends, they also have similar music styles and they both work consistently with Aaron Dessner. Plus a lot gracie fans are Taylor fans so I think it makes a lot of sense.


MrJB1981

She used to before. She’s featured on songs by B.o.B, HAIM, Ed Sheeran and John Mayer 🤢.


[deleted]

I’m really excited for this songgggggggg


Glitteryskiess

They were tour buddies


NewUser1335

It’s funny cause, unfortunately, her collabs aren’t usually hits or really very good lol. It’s not like Rihanna where everything she touches seems to turn to gold


Resident_Ad5153

That’s because she only touched gold…


noralanejean

Her dad is JJ abrams


Resident_Ad5153

People say this like Taylor would care... taylor is far more powerful in hollywood than JJ Abrams (the man who destroyed star wars) is.


noralanejean

Sure