Taylor Swift never fails to surprise Swifties. While visiting Chicago’s Soldier Field over the weekend (June 3), the pop phenomenon invited country hitmaker Maren Morris on stage to deliver their duet from the vault “You All Over Me.”
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The appearance came during the “surprise songs” portion of the concert and marked the track’s live debut. “You All Over Me” lives on her re-recorded album, Fearless (Taylor’s Version), released in 2021.
“Tonight I’m gonna play a song that I’ve never played live before, so that’s fun,” said Swift to the rowdy crowd. “When I was a teenager, that was when I decided it was really important for me to own my art, work and my music. By definition a passion project. That’s something an artist does because it’s personal to them. What I do when I re-record these albums is I put these songs on the album that almost made the album, songs recorded at that time that were supposed to be on the album.”
Swift continued to explain the recording process and vision. “When I was doing Fearless as a re-record, I thought it would be really cool to have one of my favorite artists sing on one of the songs ‘From the Vault.’ We are so lucky, Chicago, so incredibly lucky, because not only did that artist say, ‘Yes.’ But Maren Morris is actually here tonight.”
When Morris took to the spotlight, they immediately dove into the acoustic-soaked melody. While Swift tackled the first verse, Morris joined in on the chorus. Following applause, Swift stopped singing to admire Morris’ country-pop sound.
Swift penned the ballad alongside Scooter Carusoe in 2005 and worked with Aaron Dessner in 2021 to produce the reimaged rendition. The lyrics serve as a reminder to move on from a romantic relationship. Swifties have speculated that her then-boyfriend Joe Jonas inspired the country-leaning anthem. The two started dating in the summer of 2008, right before she dropped her second studio album.
“You All Over Me” peaked at No. 6 on the Hot Country Songs chart and No. 51 on Billboard’s Hot 100 upon release. This is not the first time Morris and Swift joined forces on stage, as the “Circles Around This Town” singer made a guest appearance on Swift’s Reputation Tour in 2018.
“We finally got to play “You All Over Me,” and I won’t ever be shutting up about it,” wrote Morris following the memorable evening. “Love you @taylorswift and love you always, Chicago.”
Swift kicked off her Chicago run with a bang, celebrating Pride Month. The LGBTQ+ ally stressed that her shows are a “safe space” for all.
“This is a safe space for you. This is a celebratory space for you. And one of the things that makes me feel so prideful is getting to be with you, and watching you interact with each other, and being so loving, and so thoughtful, and so caring,” said the 33-year-old.
“Being with you during Pride Month, getting to sing the words to ‘You Need To Calm Down’ where there are lyrics like, Can you just not step on his gown? or, Shade never made anybody less gay, and you guys are screaming those lyrics. Such solidarity. Such support of one another and such encouraging, beautiful acceptance and peace and safety. And I wish that every place was safe and beautiful for people of the LGBTQ+ community.”
Swift will appear next in Detroit, Michigan, on June 10 at Ford Field.
Photo by Scott Eisen/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
