If seeing Taylor Swift overjoyed with Kendrick Lamar's big night at the 2025 Grammys has you confused, then you clearly need to jog your memory and revisit the duo's friendship.
If you are not a fan of either (or just one), seeing the names of Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar next to each other might seem like an odd pairing, but the “Fortnight” singer has been openly an admirer of the Compton rapper for over a decade. Their paths, however, have crossed more than once, blooming into a full-on friendship and expanding into an intricate web of collaborators.
Below, see Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar's complete friendship timeline — from the first time they spoke about each other to their first collaboration and their latest linkup.
2014: Taylor Swift starts professing her admiration of Kendrick Lamar publicly — and he reciprocates it
The origins of Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar's friendship can be traced back to 2014. Before she even publicly spoke about Lamar, Swift was notably seen rocking out to Lamar's performance at the Grammys the January before, where he performed a mashup of "m.A.A.d city" and “Radioactive” alongside Imagine Dragons. (She loves dancing at the Grammys, okay?)
A few months later, in September, Swift admitted Lamar's 2012 track “Backseat Freestyle," off his acclaimed sophomore album good kid, m.A.A.d city, was her “go-to” jam in an interview with Rolling Stone.
Lamar swiftly reciprocated the love during a public appearance that same month. "I appreciate Taylor Swift for supporting not only my music but just the hip-hop culture,” he reportedly said at the time. “There’s really no gap. It’s music and it feels good. Some people always try to lock it down and categorize it for one particular listener, but it moves all, even people from other genres.”
To prove “Backseat Freestyle" was really her favorite song and acknowledge the shoutout, Swift then posted a video of herself lipsyncing to celebrate her fifth studio album, 1989, reaching number one and breaking sales records. (Sadly, the original post has since been deleted, but the internet always keeps receipts!)
In November, Lamar then talked about Swift in an interview with The Fader. “Shout out to Taylor Swift,” he said. “You can’t put great music in different genres. I enjoy great music outside of my own music all the time, so I definitely can see where she’s coming from when she says that she listens to the record, and it’s a great thing for her to acknowledge that and put that good energy out into the world like that.”
In the same interview, Lamar admitted he really “loved” Swift's song “Shake It Off,” which he later freestyle over in a radio interview.
In December, Swift mentioned Lamar once again in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “I really wish I was best friends with Kendrick Lamar, and I’m not, and it makes me sad daily,” she said at the time.
2015: Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar start hinting at a collaboration
Lamar reacted to Swift's comments saying she wishes she was friends with him in an interview with Billboard, talking about a potential collaboration for the first time. “She’s passionate about her craft. When you put two people in the studio we all have to have the same type of passion for the music in order for it to be right. You gotta make sense," he said. "It’s really not just about the names; it’s about where we at sonically and creatively to push out the best music….Can the music be great?”
The answer was clearly positive because Lamar hopped on the remix of Swift's song “Bad Blood” just a couple of months later. Swift reportedly personally reached out to Lamar for the feature.
2016: Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar reunite at the Grammys
After the release of “Bad Blood,” Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar reunited at the 2016 Grammys and took the time to pose for pictures together during the ceremony.
The two stars had a great night, with Swift bagging her second AOTY award (she has since won twice more) while Lamar was the most awarded artist of the night, with five trophies in total. He was also the most nominated artist. The duo won Best Music Video for “Bad Blood.”
2023: Taylor Swift reveals Kendrick Lamar re-recorded his verses on “Bad Blood” for her own masters
Though it was a bit quiet on the public front for years, it looks like Lamar and Swift still kept in contact. The singer took to her Instagram account in October to reveal Lamar had agreed to re-record the “Bad Blood” remix for the deluxe edition of 1989 (Taylor's Version), taking the opportunity to wax poetic about her collaborator.
“Watching [Kendrick Lamar] create and record his verses on the Bad Blood remix was one of the most inspiring experiences of my life,” Swift wrote. “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. 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 re-record ‘Bad Blood’ so that I could reclaim and own this work I’m so proud of is surreal and bewildering to me.”
The singer accompanied the note with a throwback picture of the two together, which you can see below:
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2024: Kendrick Lamar reminisces about working with Taylor Swift
Lamar opened up about working with Swift in “Bad Blood” in an interview with Howard Stern, recalling the process of going into the studio with her and how easy the collaboration flowed.
2025: Taylor Swift supports Kendrick Lamar at the 2025 Grammys
Few images have gone as viral as the below photograph of Swift raising her glass as Lamar accepted the Record of the Year award for Drake diss track “Not Like Us” at the 2025 Grammys.
Swift was also seen dancing around while Lamar performed the song during the ceremony alongside her long-time collaborator Jack Antonoff, who was also an instrumental part of Lamar's latest album, GNX. Antonoff executive-produced the album alongside Lamar's go-to producer Sounwave, who, in turn, has also worked with Swift and Antonoff on songs like “London Boy," “Lavender Haze,” “Karma,” and “Glitch.”
Sounwave and Antonoff, alongside Sam Dew, created the synth-pop supergroup Red Hearse in 2019. Antonoff and Lamar first joined forces in 2024 on another Drake diss track, “6:16 in LA,” which was a response to Drake's "Taylor Made Freestyle," whose title is in reference to Swift. (Swift and Drake, meanwhile, have their own friendship history.)
So, there you have it, a really tight-knit friendship! Now, we can only wait and anticipate how Swift will react to Lamar's halftime performance at the Super Bowl, seeing as she will more than likely travel to New Orleans to support her beau Travis Kelce. Expect dancing.
