Wanna know who Tay calls her bestie? Take a crash course on the singer’s closest friends…
By Bianca Guzzo
Whether you’re a fan or not, I think we can all agree that Taylor Swift is the woman of the moment. Her record breaking Eras Tour is the hottest ticket in whatever town it lands in, she’s on a streak with releasing rerecords and new original music, her most recent romantic relationship captured the world’s attention, and her attendance at football games became a hot topic. One thing that has always been constant with Swift is her tight inner circle of friends she’s often seen with either at her infamous Fourth of July parties at her Rhode Island holiday house or as dates to red carpet events. In 2014 during the singer’s 1989 era, she surrounded herself with a tight group of girlfriends (as we all do in our mid-twenties), which was often referred to as her “squad”. It was made up of fellow singers, a few actresses, and a rotation of supermodels including Swift’s estranged bestie Karlie Kloss.
A lot has changed when it comes to Taylor’s public persona since 2014. She still has a tight group that she keeps close, and some of them have been by her side since the squad and beyond. If you’re a new Swiftie,or just wondering who that blonde with the lob was beside her at the Super Bowl, we’ve picked 13 of Swift’s close friends to give you a crash course on the singer’s inner circle.
Abigail Anderson Berard
Longtime Swifties will know Abigail from Taylor mentioning her in Fifteen back in 2009. She’s a pre-fame friend and she’s been Swift’s bestie since they met on their first day of high school. She’s also accompanied Swift to awards shows, been a guest at her Fourth of July, birthday, and New Years Eve parties, and was featured in Swift’s Miss Americana documentary. Swift was the maid of honour at her first wedding and most recently Anderson Berard was seen in the VIP section at The Eras Tour when it made a stop in Nashville, where Swift serenaded her with “Fifteen” during the surprise song section of the show.
Blake Lively
According to People Magazine, Swift’s friendship with actress Blake Lively in 2015 after Lively cheekily used lyrics from Swift’s song “Bad Blood” in an Instagram caption. The two met up soon after in Australia to spend some time together and they’ve been pals ever since. Lively’s daughter (with Ryan Reynolds) was featured in the intro to Swift’s song “Gorgeous” off of her Reputation album in 2017 and Swift even used all three of Lively and Reynolds’s daughter’s names (Betty, James, and Inez) in songs on her 2020 Folklore album (Swift also shot the dreamy album images for Folklore at Lively and Reynolds’s home in upstate New York). The children allegedly consider Taylor to be their aunt and Lively even brought James and Inez to the Eras Tour this past summer to see Auntie Tay in action. Most recently, Lively attended the Super Bowl with Swift in a private box to help cheer on Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Antoni Porowski
In an interview with E! News in 2020, Porowski revealed that he first met Swift when he auditioned for a role in her “Blank Space” music video all the way back in 2014 (pre-Queer Eye). He didn’t land the role but he was featured in Swift’s “You Need To Calm Down” music video in June of 2019 along with the rest of Porowski’s Queer Eye castmates. The two have stayed close as he’s attended many of her parties, including her most recent birthday party in December and he was also spotted attending an NFL regular season game with Swift in a private box this past fall. He publicly supported her new relationship with Travis Kelce, posting a photo of a hat to his Instagram account with “Karma is the guy on the Chiefs” along with Kelce’s number 87 embroidered onto the side of it.
Selena Gomez
Gomez and Swift met while they were both seeing Jonas Brothers all the way back in 2008 and they’ve been close friends ever since. Gomez was featured in Swift’s Bad Blood music video in 2015 and has been an on-stage guest on a couple of Swift’s past tours. They’ve attended a number of awards shows together, gone to each other’s premieres, and were spotted enjoying the Met Gala together. Taylor even appeared via a FaceTime call during an episode of Selena + Chef when Gomez, a novice cook, wanted to show off her finished dish to Swift, a certified foodie. Selena brought her little sister to the Eras Tour where Taylor presented the young fan her with 22 hat. The two always mention each other in interviews and they were famously seen gossiping at the Golden Globes back in January which launched a thousand memes and think pieces online.
Keleigh Teller
Keleigh is the wife of actor Miles Teller. She had been a fan of the singer for years. It’s unclear where or when the two first met, but People reports Keleigh first posted about hanging out with Tay at a show on her 1989 world tour in 2015 and she also posted a photo to her Instagram backstage at the Reputation tour in 2018. In 2019, Swift sent the couple a note and some flowers to congratulate them on their wedding. After she and her husband starred in the I Bet You Think About Me music video in 2021 (directed by pal Blake Lively), the pair became even closer. Since then Keleigh and Taylor have been an inseparable duo. She attended multiple stops on the Eras Tour, they’ve been spotted going out for dinner and heading into the recording studio together by paparazzi, and Keleigh revealed it was her who bought Swift the impressive opal and blue topaz ring for her birthday, which fans had previously thought was from Travis Kelce. In January 2024, Swift brought Teller as her date to the Golden Globe awards. Keleigh and Miles also joined Swift in a private box at the Super Bowl in February 2024. Fans often praise Teller for posting BTS photos and videos of the singer, most notably footage of her and boyfriend Kelce at Super Bowl after parties.
Emma Stone
Swift has been friends with the actor since 2008 after they met at the Young Hollywood Awards. Swift attended the premiere of Easy A with Stone in 2010. They have attended various awards after parties and even the Met Gala together and often publicly support each other’s work. Swift saw Stone perform in Cabaret on Broadway in 2014 and the actor and then boyfriend Andrew Garfeild attended Swift’s famous Fourth of July party that same year. In 2018 Swift attended the premiere of Stone’s film The Favourite, which also featured Swift’s then-boyfriend Joe Alwyn. In July 2023, Swift dropped Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) which contains a vault track called When Emma Falls in Love, which many fans speculate is about Stone. Stone often talks about what a wonderful friend Swift is and was seen attending the Eras Tour during the summer of 2023, and Swift returned the favour, attending the Los Angeles premiere of Stone’s film Poor Things in December 2023. Swift gave her friend a standing ovation at the Golden Globes after she won best actress for her role in Poor Things.
Ashley Avignone
Avignone is a stylist and designer who has been a friend of Swift’s for 15 years. The two met through pal Emma Stone and the three even attended the Easy A premiere together in 2010. In 2012 fans noticed that Swift mentioned Avignone in a secret message in her Red album booklet and the stylist even appeared along Swift’s other friends in her 22 music video from the same album. She’s been in Swift’s inner circle ever since attending a number of her Independence Day and Birthday bashes. Avignone has also been by Swift’s side at a number of football games this past year including sitting right beside her at the Super Bowl in February 2024.
Jack Antonoff
According to Yahoo, Swift and Antonoff first met in November 2012 at the MTV Europe Music Awards. Antonoff was there with his then band FUN and Taylor was promoting her new album Red. A little less than a year later they released their first collaboration, the single Stranger Than Fiction for the soundtrack of One Chance in October 2013. Another year later Swift released her now iconic 1989album which Antonoff produced multiple songs for. You Are In Love from the same album was written about Jack and his then girlfriend Lena Duham, and the pair won multiple Grammys for their work on 1989, including Album of the Year. Since then the two have collaborated on her albums Reputation, Lover, Folklore, Evermore, and her most recent release Midnights. They’ve won multiple awards for their work and have remained close friends through it all. In February 2022 Antonoff publicly came to Swift’s defence when Blur frontman Damon Albarn said she didn’t write her own music. “I don’t care if Damon Albarn or anyone likes or doesn’t like something,But to unequivocally make a statement that isn’t true, that you actually have no idea about, and not to get too deep on it? Isn’t that kind of everything that’s wrong with our world at the moment? People talking about s–t that they have no clue about?” he said on “The What” podcast. Antonoff has even produced some vault tracks for her Taylor’s Version albums and was a special guest at the Eras Tour in his home state of New Jersey. In August of 2023 Swift attended Antonoff’s wedding to actor Margaret Qualley and allegedly gave a 15 minute toast at the reception.
Cara Delevingne
Swift met the model after meeting at the 2013 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Delevingne was part of Swift’s original “girl squad” in the mid-2010s and attended a bunch of her parties. She also appeared in Swift’s music video for Bad Blood along with other squad members like Gigi Hadid and Hailee Steinfeld. She was also a special guest during Style on her 1989 World Tour. Once the squad dissolved Delevingne has popped up at events with Taylor through the years. Delevingne attended Antonoff’s wedding with Swift and she started coming around a lot more during football season when she attended the AFC championship game with Swift. In November of 2023 Delevingne gave her official stamp of approval for Travis Kelce saying she is always rooting for Taylor and is “so, so happy” for her new romance with the football player.
Lana Del Rey
According to Today.com Swift and Del Rey met the same night she met Antonoff at the 2012 MTV Europe Music Awards. Del Rey introduced Swift when she was presented with the Best Female Artist award during the show. Four years later the two of them both attended Lady Gaga’s birthday party and Swift has stated many times over the years that Del Rey is one of her favourite artists and lyricists. In 2022 Antonoff worked on both of their albums Midnights and Did You Know There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd at the same time. Del Rey was featured on Swift’s song Snow on the Beach from Midnights, and after fans complained that there wasn’t enough Lana on the track, she re-released it a few months later with more vocals from Del Rey. In February 2024 Swift brought Lana to the Grammy’s as her date where they were both nominated. Swift dragged her on stage after winning Album of the Year for Midnights and a week later Del Rey was in her Super Bowl suite.
Haim
Swift’s friendship with the Haim sisters actually started online. As stated by umusic.co.uk, the singer followed all of the Haim members on Instagram shortly after they defended her in a now-deleted interview in 2013. Their friendship blossomed over the next year with exchanges on Twitter (Now X) and soon enough they all met up for dinner, which allegedly went on for seven hours. In November of 2014, Haim became officially part of the squad when a picture was posted of them with Swift, Selena Gomez, Lorde, and Karlie Kloss after the American Music Awards. A month later they were photographed at Swift’s star-studded birthday party. A month later they all went on vacation together in Hawaii. Haim opened for Swift on the American leg of her 1989 tour. While on tour they all did backing vocals and a choreographed dance while Nelly performed Hot in Herre during the St.Louis stop on the tour. In 2016 they attended Coachella and the Met Gala together. Through the years they’ve attended countless Fourth of July, Birthday, and New Years Eve parties that Taylor has thrown. They’ve publicly supported and defended each other a number of times, and in 2020 the sisters were featured on No Body, No Crime on Swift’s Evermore album. The song follows the story of a murder mystery and even drops Este’s name in the lyrics. In 2022, Haim made a cameo appearance as bratty step-sisters in Swift’s Cinderella-inspired music video for her song Bejeweled. They once again opened for Taylor during select dates of her Eras Tour and even joined her on stage to sing No Body, No Crime together.
Ice Spice
Yahoo.com says Ice Spice (real name Isis Naija Gaston) first reached out to Swift’s team in 2020 after watching her Miss Americana documentary. Ice Spice told Variety she admired Swift’s work ethic and that it showed her how hard she had to work in the music industry. In 2023 Swift returned the compliment, also telling Variety that “her dedication and focus blew her away”. When Swift announced she had collaborated with the rapper on a remix of her Midnights song Karma, she called Ice “brilliant” and “the one to watch”. Ice Spice called their recording session “amazing” and told interviewer Zane Lowe that Swift was waiting for her outside the studio when she pulled up and was so gracious and humble throughout the entire experience. The remix was released in May 2023 with a music video to match. Ice Spice joined Swift on stage that same month at the New York shows on the Eras Tour to sing the special version of the song. Since then Ice has mentioned a number of times that she chats with Swift often and have remained close. In September of 2023 the pair sat beside each other at the MTV VMA’s and Ice Spice attended the Super Bowl with Swift in her private suite.
Gigi Hadid
Hadid was another member of Swift’s original “Squad”. People reports that the two were first photographed together at the 2024 Vanity Fair Oscars After Party. A year later, Hadid appeared in Swift’s Bad Blood music video, were spotted out together in New York City, and Hadid joined Swift on stage several times as a special guest on her 1989 tour. She’s been a guest at Swift’s Fourth of July, Halloween, and Birthday parties over the years, and in 2019 Hadid publicly came to Swift’s defence over her legal battle to own the masters of her earlier albums. That same year the two celebrated Friendsgiving with mutual pal Antoni Porowski. In 2020 after Hadid welcomed her daughter with ex Zayn Malik, Swift sent over a satin blanket, and a teddy bear both of which were handmade by the singer. In April 2023, Swift and Hadid were spotted going out for dinner with friends Blake Lively and the Haim sisters. Through the summer of 2023 Hadid attended multiple dates of the Eras Tour to support her friend and Swift wore a red sweater from Hadid’s Guest in Residence cashmere brand to a Kansas City Chiefs Game in January 2024. The model was seen with Swift on a night out with friends Selena Gomez, Sophie Turner, Brittany Mahomes, and Cara Delevingne in November 2023 and attended her 34th birthday party a month later.
