Why Taylor Swift played Rihanna's ‘This Is What You Came For' as a surprise song
Swift has a connection to the pop song released in 2016.
Taylor Swift continues to surprise her fans during her “Eras Tour” — and her June 14 show was no different.
The pop is known for her surprise songs, which Swifties don’t know which track it could be until show night. During her June 14 concert in Liverpool, England, Swift performed an acoustic version of Rihanna and Calvin Harris’ “This Is What You Came For” mashed with “Gold Rush.”
“I didn’t even know that was an option,” one person tweeted.
While some people might question Swift's decision to cover the song during her show, the singer actually has a very close and personal connection to the 2016 hit.
Read on to learn why Swift sang “This Is What You Came For” during her show.
Calvin Harris and Taylor Swift dated
Swift and Harris dated for 15 months from 2015 to 2016. Swift confirmed her relationship with the DJ in her 2016 Vogue cover story released in April, saying, “I’m in a magical relationship right now. And of course I want it to be ours, and low-key … this is the one thing that’s been mine about my personal life.”
However, by June of that year, the couple had gone their separate ways. The Scottish artist broke his silence on the breakup on then-Twitter.
“The only truth here is that a relationship came to an end & what remains is a huge amount of love and respect,” he wrote in a silence-deleted tweet.
Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris wrote 'This Is What You Came For'
Performed by Harris and Rihanna, “This Is What You Came For” was released in April 2016.
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When the song dropped, Harris was credited at the songwriter alongside a "Nils Sjöberg." Her involvement in the song was kept secret until she revealed her writing credit in a 2020 conversation with Paul McCartney for Rolling Stone.
“I wrote under the name Nils Sjöberg because those are two of the most popular names of Swedish males,” Swift told the former Beatle. “I wrote this song called ‘This Is What You Came For’ that Rihanna ended up singing. And nobody knew for a while.”
She added, “I remembered always hearing that when Prince wrote ‘Manic Monday,’ they didn’t reveal it for a couple of months.”
Swift's usage of a pseudonym, she said, came because of her love of making music.
“I think, when a pseudonym comes in is when you still have a love for making the work and you don’t want the work to become overshadowed by this thing that’s been built around you, based on what people know about you,” Swift explained.
Has Taylor Swift performed 'This Is What You Came For' before?
This isn’t the first time Swift has performed the electro-pop song. In late 2016, she sang “This Is What You Came For” while on the piano during a show at the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Austin.
She also sang it at pre-Super Bowl event in February 2017, according to Billboard.