Is Taylor Swift a Heartstopper fan? The Netflix series’ executive producers think so after she allowed them to use her Folklore song “Seven” in the season 2 finale.
“I have to say her team was so receptive to it. I don’t have any proof of this, but I feel like they’re Heartstopper fans,” executive producer Patrick Waters told Elle in an interview published earlier this month. “Whereas with some artists that I won’t name [made it] tough and we couldn’t get them in the show, Taylor Swift really came through for us.”
Fans may have noticed earlier in the season that there’s a Folklore poster in Tara’s (Corinna Brown) bedroom, but it wasn’t until the end of season 2’s finale episode that a track from the album played. After originally just seeking the rights to the poster, the Heartstopper team sent clips and wrote letters to explain to Swift’s team that “Seven” was important for the moment.
“Lyrically, it’s not a complete perfect match [with Darcy’s story line], but there’s just something about some of the lyrics that made us associate it with Tara and Darcy,” Walters told Elle.
The song plays after the main characters — a.k.a. the Paris Squad — have left prom in favor of hanging out at Nick’s (Kit Connor) house without the prying eyes of their classmates (who were staring at some of the only openly LGBT kids in school). It was a stressful night for Tara, who mistakenly thought she was being stood up at prom only to find out that Darcy (Kizzy Edgell) ran away from home the night prior amid an argument with her homophobic mother.
“Darcy’s character is so strong, and she has such a sense of self that she cannot bear to live that way anymore,” director Euros Lyn added. “As she sees it, the only way to do that is to run away from home, but still she can’t admit that to Tara.”
Tara and Darcy finally open up to each other at Nick’s house when Darcy admits to sleeping in the park rather than going to Tara’s house. She wanted to be the strong one for Tara, revealing that she is not out to her parents. Darcy says Tara has only seen half her life, so she can’t know if she loves her. “I’m a literal disaster,” Darcy says.
“Oh, I know. I actually like how much of a disaster you are,” Tara says. The declaration prompts Darcy to finally say “I love you” to her girlfriend. Cue the Taylor Swift.
“We had this beautiful montage after that [Tara and Darcy] scene of all of the friendship group having the time of their lives away from prom, just being who they are with each other, with no sense of judgment or the world looking in,” Walters recalls. “The song went over that in the most beautiful way, so once we saw that, we were like, ‘Oh my God, we need Taylor Swift to let us have this song.’”
After a sweet kiss, Tara and Darcy share the sweet dance that they didn’t get to have at prom. Their friends — Nick, Charlie (Joe Locke), Elle (Yasmin Finney), Tao (William Gao) and Isaac (Tobie Donovan) — come in to check if they’re OK and then they all play party games, just enjoying being together away from their classmates.
Heartstopper music supervisor Matt Biffa confirmed on X (formerly known as Twitter) that Swift saw the scene in question before agreeing to give clearance. “She just thought the scene was beautiful and we were then able to make it work,” he shared on Thursday, August 3, with a smiling emoticon.
He even hinted that Swift didn’t request a massive fee for the tune. “So you mean THIS heartstopper scene with ‘seven’ by taylor swift in the background that highlights sapphic love and absolute queer joy, she was willing to get less money because she thought it was beautiful and her song would be perfect for it????” one fan tweeted.
Biffa replied on Saturday, August 5, “Sometimes art is more important than $$$.”
Heartstopper has been renewed for season 3.
