While this will be the pair’s first recorded collaboration, it’s far from their first interaction. Below, find a timeline of Swift and Morris’ friendship and mutual appreciation.
October 2017: Maren Welcomes Taylor Comparisons
In an interview with Coveteur, Morris is asked what she thinks about people comparing her to Swift, another famous female artist who got her start in Nashville. “I certainly welcome it,” she said. “I don’t think they’re comparing our sound, but I think they see in Taylor [that] she’s always been great at blending genres and still making her own sound out of it. You can’t really place her in one category or the other — she’s sort of just an all-encompassing, really great musician and songwriter, so I’m always really flattered when people compare [my career path] to her career path, because I grew up listening to everything.”
October 2018: Taylor Invites Maren Onstage to Perform “The Middle”
“Did we just become best friends?” Morris tweeted, quoting the movie Step Brothers, after Swift invited her onstage during a Reputation Tour stop in Maren’s hometown of Arlington, Texas. “Got to play my hometown stadium with this woman,” the tweet continues, including side-by-side photos of daytime rehearsals in an empty AT&T Stadium and a packed nighttime crowd lighting up the bleachers. Morris performed her top five Billboard Hot 100 smash “The Middle” (with Marshmello and Grey) alongside Swift, who enveloped her fellow singer/songwriter in a massive bear hug at the end of the song.
After their onstage duet, Morris penned a sweet note to her new friend. “Rooted in country, 90s babies, genre-bending, unapologetic,” Morris tweeted at the time. “I look up a whole lot to how you’ve made a career and I hope to someday achieve even a percent of what you’ve so gracefully cultivated @taylorswift13. You know no boundaries, and that’s what music should be about.”
February 2019: Maren Calls Performing With Taylor “Transcendental”
After she had four months to process the performance, Morris opened up to Billboard on the red carpet at Clive Davis’ 2010 pre-Grammy party about what teaming up with Swift meant to her, calling the opportunity “transcendental.”
“We were in my hometown, at the Cowboys stadium in Texas, and I just got to watch her work all day,” Morris recalled. “And I’m obsessed with her. I think she’s such a trailblazer. I love that she so gracefully was this huge country artist and then decided, you know what? I’ve conquered this world. I’m gonna dip my toe in the pop waters, and it’s just so seamless because she’s a superstar.”
March 2019: Maren Presents Taylor With the iHeartRadio Tour of the Year Award
At the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards, Morris presented her friend with the Tour of the Year award, writing afterward, “proud of you, Taylor Swift. it isn’t about ticket sales, it’s not about numbers… you just make it about your fans and how they feel before, during, + after your show. I was honored to present Tour of the Year to you.”
April 2020: Maren’s Husband Drops a Taylor-Approved Cover of “False God”
Maren isn’t the only Swiftie in the family: Morris’ husband, singer/songwriter Ryan Hurd, is also a big fan, covering “Dress” from Reputation on his tour and releasing a Taylor-approved cover of “False God” from Lover on his own 2019 album Platonic. “Thank you @taylorswift13 for the song clinic,” Hurd tweeted along with a live video. “My favorite song off of Lover. We covered this live on Platonic, it felt like a deep dive into someone else’s poetry.” Swift responded with her own tweet: “Love this so much.” The next month, Morris included “False God” — Taylor’s original — on a curated “Maren Morris at Home” Amazon playlist.
May 2020: Maren Tops Taylor’s Chart Record
It looks like the Taylor comparisons early in Maren’s career weren’t off-base: When Morris’ “The Bones” ruled Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart for an 11th week on the list dated May 23, 2020, it became the longest-leading No. 1 ever by a solo female with no additional artists, passing Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” which controlled the chart for 10 weeks beginning in October 2012.
July 2020: Maren Celebrates the Arrival of Taylor’s Folklore
Morris was just as excited as the rest of the Swifties when her friend surprise-dropped a quarantine album in July. “Thank god it’s Friday and thank god TS has new music out,” Morris wrote on her Instagram Story. In a December interview, Morris told Rolling Stone that Folklore was the album she listened to the most in 2020.
December 2020: Maren Sends Birthday Love to Taylor & Asks for 13 New Albums
For Swift’s 31st birthday, Morris sent love to her friend — and put some wishful thinking out into the universe. “Happy 31st, @taylorswift13. I am assuming you’ll be putting out 13 albums this next year?,” she tweeted with a fingers-crossed emoji. It’s not terribly far-fetched: Swift had just surprise-released her second album of 2020, Evermore, two days prior.
March 2021: Maren Calls Taylor an “Overachiever” for Her Two 2020 Albums
At the 2021 Grammys, Morris talked about how impressed she was with the musical output during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially from her prolific pal. “The creativity of my peers here tonight even, what they’ve created in such a bizarre, surreal moment in time is maybe some of their best work,” she told The Associated Press. “I mean Taylor, for instance, putting two records out, she’s, like, [an] overachiever. [Laughs] You see what creatives are capable of when they’re backed up against a wall and can’t share it with an audience.”
March 2020: New Taylor Song Featuring Maren’s Vocals Is Announced
On Wednesday, Swift announced her very first Fearless “From the Vault” song, “You All Over Me,” and it included a familiar face. “I’m really excited to have @MarenMorris singing background vocals on this song!!,” Swift tweeted on Wednesday, with Morris tweeting back around 9 a.m. ET wondering: Was it “too early” for champagne? “You All Over Me (From the Vault)” comes out first thing Friday.
