Taylor Swift has nothing but admiration for Kendrick Lamar following the release of the deluxe edition of her rerecorded 1 989 (Taylor’s Version) album. The pop sensation has been on a mission since 2021 to rerecord her first six albums after the masters to her catalog were sold in a massive multimillion-dollar deal in 2020.
The rerelease of 1989, her fifth studio album, included the original 16-track list as well as five records from the vaults. In an Instagram post celebrating the drop, she took a moment to express thanks to Lamar.
She began, “Watching Kendrick Lamar create and record his verses on the ‘Bad Blood’ remix was one of the most inspiring experiences of my life. I still look back on this collaboration with so much pride and gratitude for the ways Kendrick elevated the song and the way he treats everyone around him.”
The Compton rapper previously spoke about their collaboration in a 2017 interview with Howard Stern. “With this particular record, it was me just vibing and catching her lyrics,” said the Pulitzer Prize recipient. “I didn’t want to get into her head too crazy. I just wanted to have my own inspiration and see where it took it. Fortunately, the vibe was right, and it didn’t take too many takes, and we was really locked in on the chemistry, and we really felt what was going on when I was in the booth,” he added.
In her post, Swift said his verse on the track still resonates with fans, including those who attended her successful “The Eras Tour.” “Every time the crowds on ‘The Eras Tour’ would chant his line, ‘You forgive, you forget, but you never let it… go!’ I smiled. The reality that Kendrick would go back in and rerecord ‘Bad Blood’ so that I could reclaim and own this work I’m so proud of is surreal and bewildering to me.”
Aside from Lamar, the 12-time Grammy Award winner has also found success in collaborating with other hip hop artists such as Future and B.o.B. Most recently, she teamed up with Ice Spice for “Karma.”