Taylor Swift and Hayley Williams have been friends for over a decade, and apparently, they have Mama Swift to thank for it. While visiting The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Thursday (Oct. 5) to promote Paramore‘s new This Is Why remix album, Williams revealed that it was actually the “Anti-Hero” singer’s mom, Andrea, who helped them become friends.
“We kind of both got started around the same time and the same age,” the frontwoman recalled to the comedian of meeting Swift. “Me and Taylor met because both of us — Paramore and Taylor — were nominated for best new artist the same year at the Grammys. We were at some Grammy party — it was actually Timbaland’s Grammy party. Huge. I was very nervous.”
“But a woman came up to me,” Williams continued. “And she said, ‘I’m Taylor Swift’s mom and Taylor doesn’t have a lot of friends her age that do music, and I would love to introduce you guys or get your number. So Andrea, the legend that she is … she connected us.”
Williams and bandmates Taylor York and Zac Farro are slated to support Swift’s Eras Tour when the trek makes its way to Europe next year. In March, Paramore opened for the pop star’s kickoff dates in Glendale, Ariz., which was temporarily named “Swift City” in honor of the shows.
The “Simmer” artist was also featured on one of Swift’s Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) vault tracks, “Castles Crumbling.” “Taylor was the first industry friend I ever made and hung out with outside of work things,” Williams said following the collaboration’s announcement in June. “When Speak Now dropped, I bought my friend’s record (as you do!) and listened to the whole thing in my first car, sitting still in the driveway. It’s my favorite Taylor Swift album for so many reasons.”
While speaking with Fallon, Williams also poked fun at her and Swift’s signature pose in photos: a thumbs-up. “Every photo of us that’s on the internet, one or both of us is like … I don’t know why,” she joked, adding sarcastically, “It’s just to show how cool we are.”
Watch Hayley Williams recall meeting Taylor Swift on The Tonight Show above.
