Taylor Swift‘s BFF duets continue on her 1989 tour, and her guest on Tuesday, July 13 was rather . . . royal. Swift’s bestie Lorde flew 19 hours from New Zealand to Washington, D.C.’s Nationals Park to surprise her friend — and a sold-out crowd — by performing “Royals.”
“When your friend flies across the world to surprise your crowd with ‘Royals’ because she’s a wondrous angel,” Swift, 25, Instagrammed after the show along with a photo of the pair on stage.
Lorde, 18, was more than happy to make the trip, and was equally as overcome by their duet. “Looking over at my girl like ‘Can you believe this is the kind of fun stuff we get to do for a living?'” Lorde wrote on Instagram Monday night, along with a similar stage shot. “Thanks Tay and D.C. Getting to sing for you tonight ruled!”
Swift’s D.C. performance wasn’t without kinks, however. Shortly after Lorde brought the house down, Swift’s stage had a bit of a malfunction that kept Swift stalling for time while high above the arena. “They just told me in my ear that I might be stuck up here forever. This thing is broken,” Swift told fans of a mechanical extendable stage that stopped working.
But that didn’t deter Swift from giving fans their money’s worth. “I’ll just be here forever. Stuck up here, unless I choose to jump down. We’re just gonna have to re-choreograph the entire show. It’s fine,” the night’s leading lady mused, before segueing into her performance of “Clean.” “Whatever. It’s gonna be a unique show D.C.!”
Lorde is just the latest in Swift’s posse of A-list pals to join her on the 1989 tour. Since her tour’s kickoff on May 5, Swift has invited Nick Jonas, Gigi Hadid, the Women’s U.S. World Cup champion soccer players, Mariska Hargitay, Lena Dunham, and others to appear, and often duet, on the road.
