It was another big weekend for the Taylor Swift-verse.
Not only did Swift, 33, watch her new paramour Travis Kelce win another NFL game, but two of her close friends teamed up for a memorable performance at Baltimore’s All Things Go Fest. As Lana Del Rey, one of the festival’s headliners, took to the stage on Sunday, October 1, she had a very special guest for a pair of songs: Jack Antonoff, frontman for Bleachers and Swift’s longtime creative partner.
The crowd erupted into cheers as Antonoff, 39, plugged in his guitar, and Del Rey, 38, tried to speak over the noise and the feedback. “He’s here with his beautiful wife, Margaret [Qualley],” she said before launching into “Margaret,” a song from her recent album, Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. Antonoff produced the album, and the track — which features Antonoff’s band — was inspired by his and Qualley’s love.
“Lana and I have known each other through a great deal of relationships at this point,” Antonoff told Rolling Stone earlier this year. “She’s seen shifts in me.”
Antonoff claimed Del Rey was writing a song about him and Qualley that they could play at their wedding. “That song was born the same way a lot of her songs are born, which is her and I singing at each other,” he recalled. “Except this time, she said, ‘No, you have to sing the second verse.’ I would say that song is the closest thing that I’ve heard to what it’s like to just be in a room chatting with her on a friend level.”
After performing the song at All Things Go, the duo transitioned into “Venice Bitch,” taken from her 2019 album, Norman F—king Rockwell! Antonoff worked alongside Del Rey to produce NFR! and the subsequent album Chemtrails over the Country Club, as well as the spoken word adaptation of her book, Violet Bent Backwards over the Grass.
Del Rey and Swift, meanwhile, collaborated on the latter’s Midnights album on the track “Snow On The Beach.” Swift said Del Rey was “one of the best musical artists ever” when first announcing the collab. “The fact that I get to exist at the same as her is an honor and a privilege. The fact that she would be so generous as to collaborate with us on this song is something I’m going to be grateful for for life. Absolutely love her,” she noted via Instagram in October 2022. (A special version with more of Del Rey’s vocals was later released on Midnights (The Til Dawn Edition) in May.)
While Del Rey and Antonoff were performing in Baltimore, Swift was in New Jersey watching the Kansas City Chiefs hold off the New York Jets in a thrilling 23-20 victory. It was the second NFL game that Swift attended after sparking her romance with Kelce. Swift brought along an entourage of A-listers to her private viewing suite, including Sophie Turner, Blake Lively, and Ryan Reynolds. During the game, Swift and Kelce’s mother, Donna Kelce, embraced each other warmly while watching Travis out on the field.
The Chiefs’ next game will see them travel to Minneapolis on Sunday, October 8, to take on the Minnesota Vikings.
