Taylor Swift reflects on friendships in the public eye: ‘Life is short’

Taylor Swift is reflecting on the importance of not sweating the small stuff.

Swift, whose public appearances often draw cameras, revealed that she doesn’t “have the time or bandwidth to get pressed about things that don’t matter.”

“Yes, if I go out to dinner, there’s going to be a whole chaotic situation outside the restaurant. But I still want to go to dinner with my friends,” she told Time in an interview celebrating her 2023 Person of the Year honor.

Compared to six years ago — around the time of the public backlash she experienced tied to Kim Kardashian and Kanye West — she’s “more trusting now,” she said.

“Life is short. Have adventures. Me locking myself away in my house for a lot of years—I’ll never get that time back," she said.

Swift often steps out with friends like Selena Gomez, Blake Lively and recently, Emma Stone, for the premiere of her new movie “Poor Things.”

Swift's friends, including longtime bestie Gomez, also recently celebrated another achievement after Swift was named Apple Music's artist of the year.

“I think it’s pretty obvious why Taylor is the artist of the year. She has done so much for her community and fans,” Gomez says in a video Apple Music posted Dec. 1 on Instagram in connection with an upcoming Taylor Swift experience in New York City.

“She really has been the soundtrack to me and my friends’ lives. Those albums are poetry,” adds singer Camila Cabello.

The video includes comments from musicians Gracie Abrams, Sabrina Carpenter, Girl in Red and Muna, who have all opened for Swift on her record-breaking “Eras Tour.”

“She’s made magic. Kind of end of story,” gushes Abrams.

Carpenter jokes of the “Anti-Hero” singer, “She struggles to do anything that isn’t iconic.”

Though she's currently making headlines for her romance with NFL star Travis Kelce, Swift is just as well known for her tight-knit — and ever-expanding — girl squad.

On Nov. 4, the 12-time Grammy winner was photographed during a star-studded girls night out in New York City that included some of the current members of her friend group.

The “Is It Over Now?” singer was spotted leaving dinner linked arm in arm with Gomez while holding hands with Brittany Mahomes. Gigi Hadid and Sophie Turner were seen walking behind the group as they were leaving a restaurant.

Swift and Brittany Mahomes, the wife of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, have been photographed grabbing dinner and cheering on the Chiefs together since Swift began her now-confirmed romance with Kelce, who's one of the team's tight ends.

Her new friendship with Brittany Mahomes comes at a time when the singer is looking back on the importance of her female friendships.

In a prologue to “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” Swift reflected on the role of her friends and called out the sexualization of her relationships.

“If I only hung out with my female friends, people couldn’t sensationalize or sexualize that, right? I would learn later on that people could and people would,” she said in the prologue, in part.

She also thanked fans for seeing through “slut shaming” and supporting her endeavor into pop with “1989.”

“You, who knew that maybe a girl who surrounds herself with female friends in adulthood is making up for a lack of them in childhood (not starting a tyrannical hot girl cult),” she joked in the message, addressing fans.

Swift's recent public appearances aligned perfectly with the release of “1989 (Taylor’s Version).”

When the original album came out in 2014, she was often seen out and about with her celebrity friends including Gomez, Karlie Kloss, Emma Stone and more. In the weeks leading up to the rerecording, which dropped Oct. 27, she seemed to be reliving an era filled with friends, fun and plenty of Polaroid pictures.

Here’s a guide to some of the people who were seen with Swift this year.

Selena Gomez

Arguably one of Swift’s most prominent friendships, their bond is no secret. Recently, Gomez shared two selfies with her best friend quoting Saweetie’s song “Best Friend” in the caption, “That’s my best frien -she a real bad.”

The two first met around 2008. On Sept. 1, when asked how she met Swift, Gomez told MYfm that they “both dated the Jonas Brothers.”

At the time, Swift was dating Joe Jonas, and Gomez was dating Nick Jonas.

Now, nearly 15 years later, Swift's best friend showed support at multiple “Eras Tour” dates, and even attended shows with her 10-year-old sister, Gracie Teefey.

They were also photographed at this year’s VMAs, where Gomez cheered her best friend on as she tied the record for most VMA wins in one night.

Zoë Kravitz

Swift and the “Big Little Lies” star were spotted at a sushi restaurant in West Hollywood, California, along with Gomez, on Oct. 19. It’s the latest bonding moment for Kravitz and Swift, who spent some time together in the beginning of the pandemic, when both were in London. Swift was there with then-boyfriend Joe Alwyn, while Kravitz was shooting “The Batman.”

“She was my pod,” Kravitz told GQ in 2022. “She was a very important part of being in London, just having a friend that I could see and that would make me home-cooked meals and dinner on my birthday.”

Swift, in turn, gushed about Kravitz.

“Zoë’s sense of self is what makes her such an exciting artist, and such an incredible friend,” she told GQ. “She has this very honest inner compass, and the result is art and life without compromising who she is.”

The pair also managed to work together, with Kravitz receiving a writing credit and singing background vocals on “Lavender Haze,” from Swift’s massively successful “Midnights” album.

Blake Lively

Swift recently stepped out with longtime friend Blake Lively Oct. 26 in New York City. Earlier in the month, Lively and husband Ryan Reynolds attended the Chiefs-Jets game with Swift in New Jersey. Swift and Lively were also photographed arriving at a New York restaurant together in September.

Their friendship dates back to roughly 2015. Not long after ending her relationship with Alwyn, Swift and Lively were seen strolling around New York City — sometimes with Lively’s husband.

In her 2020 album “Folklore,” Swift mentions three of Lively’s childrens’ names in her track “Betty” — and reveals the name of Lively and Reynolds’ third child. Lively's older two childrens’ names, James and Inez, also pop up in the lyrics.

The two have worked together as well. Lively directed the music video for “I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor’s Version)”— released in November 2021. The project marked Lively’s debut as a director, and it was co-produced by Swift's brother, Austin.

Gigi Hadid

Swift’s friendship with Hadid dates back almost 10 years to the original “1989” era. The model appeared in the singer’s star-studded music video for “Bad Blood,” and the two stayed close over the years.

In 2017, Swift gushed to Harper’s Bazaar about her relationship with Hadid.

“As a friend, Gigi is one of the first people I go to for advice. She has this incredible ability to see all sides of a situation and simplify it for you, to see the complexity of people," she said. "Gigi’s No. 1 rule is to treat people the way she’d want to be treated, so she’s on time (or early) to work, says hello to everyone on set, asks them how they are, and actually listens to their response.”

Hadid attended Swift's "Eras Tour" stop in Santa Clara and appeared in a hilarious behind-the-scenes video with Swift and her dad, Scott, captured on TikTok. In the video, Swift filmed her dad riding a Segway backstage while she and Hadid rode on a cart.

The Haim sisters

The Haim sisters — Este, Danielle and Alana — recently appeared with Swift in Polaroid pics from the singer's Fourth of July party.

They’ve also collaborated with Swift on multiple projects, including a feature on “No Body, No Crime” from the “Evermore” album. Swift in turn was featured on Haim’s 2020 track, “Gasoline.”

In 2022, the sisters, along with Laura Dern, also starred in Swift’s “Bejeweled” music video, playing the stepsisters to Swift's Cinderella in her spin on the fairytale.

“The thing I love about Taylor is, as a director, she loves having us improv,” the sisters shared with “E!” at the 2022 Glamour Women of the Year Awards. “To be able to work with your friends like that, it was really really cool.”

This year, the group served as the opening act for several stops on “The Eras Tour,” a follow-up to their stint on the “1989 World Tour” in 2015.

Jack Antonoff

Jack Antonoff and Taylor Swift’s friendship is no secret. The two first met in 2012, and Antonoff has since served as a producer on several of her albums.

Swift was the first artist who let Antonoff produce a song, he revealed on a 2018 appearance on “The Plug With Neil Griffiths” podcast.

The first project the two worked on was in 2013, when Antonoff produced Swift’s song “Sweeter Than Fiction.” Their collaboration and friendship has since spanned more than a decade.

Most recently, on Aug. 19, Swift attended Antonoff’s wedding to actor Margaret Qualley.

Antonoff also performed with Swift during her New Jersey stop on “The Eras Tour.” On May 26, he made a surprise appearance onstage to sing an acoustic version of “Getaway Car” with her. The song, from her sixth album, “Reputation,” was written and produced by the duo.

Sophie Turner

A seemingly new public friendship, Swift and “Game of Thrones” actor Sophie Turner were spotted grabbing dinner together in New York in September, not long after Turner and Joe Jonas announced their divorce.

Turner was also photographed at Swift's Sept. 30 and Nov. 4 dinners in New York.

Before this year, the last time Swift and Turner were photographed together was at “The Graham Norton Show” in 2020 — but Turner has been open about being a fan of the singer.

In 2022, Turner said on an Instagram live that "1989" is her favorite album, “hands down.”

In her last post with Joe Jonas before announcing their divorce, Turner shared a photo from the Jonas Brothers’ show at Yankee Stadium and was wearing an arm full of friendship bracelets — a common accessory for Swift’s “Eras Tour.”

One bracelet read “Mr. Perfectly Fine," referring to one of the vault tracks from “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)," which is rumored to be about Swift’s 2008 relationship with Joe Jonas.

After four years of marriage, the couple announced their divorce in a joint statement on Sept. 6.

Brittany Mahomes

While Swift’s relationship with Kelce has been the source of media speculation and fan fascination, it seems she has also struck a bond with Brittany Mahomes, wife of Kansas City Chiefs superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

Brittany Mahomes was among the celebrities at dinner with Swift at Emilio’s Ballato in New York Sept. 30. The star-studded dinner occurred the night before the Chiefs played the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium Oct. 1.

She again appeared at dinner with Swift on Nov. 4.

The “Blank Space” singer and Brittany Mahomes have also attended Chiefs games together. During the game against the Denver Broncos on Oct. 12 at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium, the pair cheered as the Chiefs rolled to a 19-8 victory.

The singer also attended the Chiefs' home game Oct. 22. against the Los Angeles Chargers and again cheered as the quarterback's wife held her baby.

Swift has now attended four of the Chiefs' last five games, starting with their Sept. 24 home win against the Chicago Bears, which incited a media frenzy when she was spotted watching in a suite.

Before their second New York City dinner together, Brittany Mahomes received a sweet gift from her new pal — the official cardigan created for “1989.”

The NFL wife shared a picture of the blue accessory to her Instagram story and tagged the singer in her post. A note from Swift that starts, “Oh hi!” is visible in the corner of her snap.

“#Taylor’sversion,” Brittany Mahomes wrote over her post.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com