In her defense, he has great hair! In his new interview with Rolling Stone, The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye) recalled his awkward and hilarious first-time encounter with pop superstar Taylor Swift at a Grammys afterparty this past February.
The “Can’t Feel My Face” chart-topper, 25 — who’s dating model Bella Hadid, sister of Swift squad member Gigi Hadid — was at Sam Smith‘s Grammys bash in some $80 million mansion in Bel-Air. Guests included Ed Sheeran, Swift’s nemesis Katy Perry, and many other industry heavyweights.
“Everyone was hammered,” The Weeknd told the mag. “Sam had just won, like, every Grammy, so he was having the time of his life. [Producer and songwriter] Max Martin actually left because everyone was so drunk. Unfortunately, that was the one month I decided to stop drinking. Everybody was having a great time, all these cool things were happening, and I was shaking, like — ‘F–k, I really want a drink.'”
Then he met 1989 hitmaker Swift, also 25. “She actually schooled me on my own s–t,” he dished of the “Style” songstress. “She was like, ‘I’ve been listening to ‘The Morning’ [from House of Balloons] for years — it’s one of my favorite songs ever!’ I mean, she might have just Googled it. But she seemed genuine.”
The conversation continued — but it wasn’t his only takeaway; he recalled what she said to him too.
“But the whole time she was talking, she was kind of, like, petting my hair?” The Weeknd recalled. “I think she was just drawn to it — she must have been a little gone off a few drinks. And of course I’m not going to be like, ‘Hey, can you stop?’ I mean, it felt good! But when she started petting my hair, that’s when I was like, ‘I definitely need a drink.'” (The two have remained friends since the initial encounter. This past summer, The Weeknd was one of Swift’s many celebrity guests who performed alongside her onstage.)
That wasn’t the only detail The Weeknd shared in his no-holds-barred interview. The R&B singer also revealed how he lost his virginity (at age 16 at a toga party) and opened up about his romance with Hadid.
“I actually asked her to be on the artwork for Beauty Behind the Madness,” The Weeknd said of the statuesque brunette model, 19. “My motive was literally to work with her…. It just kind of fell into my lap. If this had happened two years ago — well… she couldn’t.”
