Taylor Swift sent fans into a frenzy when she performed ‘Anti-Hero’ for the first time at The 1975’s London concert.
Matty Healy and co headlined The O2 arena on Thursday night (12.01.23) for their first of two consecutive nights at the venue, and they had a very unexpected treat in store.
In a move no-one anticipated, the 33-year-old US pop megastar appeared on stage in a shiny silver sequin gown and performed the track from her latest LP ‘Midnights’, and she also did a cover of The 1975’s track ‘The City’.
The surprise appearance comes after Matty claimed The 1975 “worked on” a version of ‘Midnights’ that didn’t come to fruition.
In November, the ‘I’m In Love With You’ hitmakers appeared on Kroq’s ‘DTS Sound Space’ to be interviewed in front of a live audience and Matty was asked if he got to hear the album before it was released, to which he let slip: “Yeah. We actually worked a bit on that. But then [that] version of it never came out.”
His response was met with boos, but he swiftly explained: “No, no, no – that’s not how it works. It [didn’t work out] for reasons that are not to be criticised. She’s amazing.”
The month prior to October’s ‘Midnights’ being released, a fake track-listing leaked online with The 1975 listed as a featured artist on the track ‘In My Dreams’.
However, Matty insisted it wasn’t real and that they hadn’t worked with the ‘Karma’ hitmaker, though they’d like to.
He said at the time: “We’d love to … love to work with Taylor Swift.
“[I] love Taylor Swift … think she’s one of the best songwriters. Yeah, no … we haven’t done that. We’d love to though, wouldn’t we?”
Drummer George Daniel added: “Yes please.”
And Matty joked that Taylor was probably at home watching the interview and “pining” to appear on one of the pop rock band’s songs.
He quipped: “She’s probably sat there watching this, pining for a feature on a 1975 track.”
The 1975 released their fifth record ‘Being Funny in a Foreign Language’ the same month as Taylor, and the ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’ singer thought their LP was “so funny”.
Matty previously revealed he missed an opportunity to ask Taylor to collaborate with him – but believes “she will do it” eventually.
The 33-year-old star was inches away from the US superstar at the NME Awards in 2020, but admitted he didn’t have the nerve to “pitch his post-rock Joni Mitchell project” to her.