Musician Reveals Justin Vernon’s Initial Perception of Taylor Swift During Their First Meeting
Trigger Warning: This article contains mentions of an individual’s death.
Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon says he believes he and Taylor Swift would have gotten along well if they had met when they were younger. In an interview with The New Yorker on Wednesday, October 16, the 43-year-old musician opened up about meeting the Fortnight singer, 34, later in life, after working on two of her covid era albums.
When he met Swift, Vernon revealed he “wasn’t starstruck.” Instead, he saw her as “somebody that I would have been very close friends with in high school,” he told the publication. He recalled thinking to himself about Swift, “You’re real and you’re here.”
Vernon added about the Eras Tour performer: “To think what she’s been up to, the propulsion, the expansion… I don’t know, it’s just like anything anyone’s ever seen. And yet, she was this person who made a lot of sense to me.”
The Flume singer appeared on Swift’s song ‘exile’ from the 2020 album ‘folklore’ and also on the title track of its companion album, ‘evermore.’
Swift also collaborated with Vernon’s band, Big Red Machine, lending her vocals to two songs—Birch and Renegade—featured on their How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last album.
Elsewhere in his The New Yorker interview, Vernon discussed his forthcoming EP SABLE, which will be released today, October 18, saying that the record could pay homage to his 2007 debut disc For Emma, Forever Ago.
Describing the project as “a raw new skin,” homage or not, Vernon explained that he views time as a cylindrical, forward-moving circle, making him feel that everything is new rather than a return to the past.
On Swift’s work front, she is nearing the conclusion of her history-making Eras Tour, which began in March 2023. She kicks off the last leg of the tour today in Miami, where she is expected to pay tribute to Liam Payne, the former One Direction star who tragically passed away on October 16 after falling off the third-floor balcony of his hotel in Buenos Aires.
Swift was close to the late 31-year-old singer, partly due to her brief relationship with his bandmate, Harry Styles.
The Eras Tour ends on December 8 in Vancouver.
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