Taylor Swift’s title track from 2019’s “Lover” has already been a massive single, peaking at number 10 on the Billboard chart and producing a music video that has already garnered 78 million views on YouTube. Writing the song on her own, Swift has performed the ballad at the MTV Music Awards, the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge, NPR’s Tiny Desk Series and on
Saturday Night Live, but now for the first time, Swift is turning her personal love letter into a duet. Dropping the remix this morning, Swift teamed up with her former tourmate and close friend Shawn Mendes for a new version of “Lover.” We didn’t think it was possible to love a different version of “Lover” more than the original, but we were wrong.Swift announced the news on her Instagram page early Wednesday morning, telling fans that it was important to her for Mendes to write his own lines for the song. “He has taken ‘Lover’ and he has rewritten parts of it, which I think is so important because I love him as a writer and I also think that everybody would write a different love letter to their lover,” said Swift, adding “I think his take on it is so beautiful.” Mendes also posted about the song on Instagram, announcing the news with
an image of the album art and writing “Thank you @taylorswift for letting me join you on such a beautiful song.”[video_embed id='-1']Fans still questioning Shawn Mendes’ and Camila Cabello’s relationship[/video_embed]
Posting the remix to YouTube on Wednesday complete with a new lyric video, Mendes’ added verses and vocals create a beautiful back and forth between him and Swift. Possibly taking inspiration from his relationship with girlfriend Camila Cabello, Mendes sings “We can light a bunch of candles and dance around the kitchen, baby/Pictures of when we were young hang on the wall/We’ll sit on the stoop/I’ll sing love songs to you,” before joining Swift in the songs’ dreamy chorus.
Swift’s decision to re-release “Lover” as a duet with Mendes comes somewhat as a surprise. The popstar is not known for featuring artists on her albums, with her list of past collaborators over her seven albums limited to Dixie Chicks, Future, Colbie Caillat, Brandon Urie and Gary Lightbody. Still, Swift’s decision to work with longtime friend Mendes makes sense, with the singer preferring to work with people in her inner circle, having previously hit the studio twice with friend Ed Sheeran, first for 2012’s “Everything Has Changed” and again in 2017 on “End Game.”Mendes has found both a friend and mentor in Taylor Swift, who brought the Canadian singer on tour with her in 2015 for
The 1989 World Tour shortly after Mendes released his debut album
Handwritten. The pair have remained close, often sitting together at award shows and appearing on one another’s
social feeds. Mendes also made a guest appearance during Swift’s
Reputation Tour in May 2018 when Swift performed in Pasadena, California.
[video_embed id='2144294840001']Guy loses it after Taylor Swift touches his hand[/video_embed]
