Taylor Swift, Ice Spice Perform ‘Karma’ Live, Debut Music Video at Concert

Taylor Swift said as she trained for her epic Eras Tour earlier this year, the artist whose music helped her get ready for the close to four-hour shows was Ice Spice.

She said at the same time, the Bronx rapper reached out to see if the pop star was interested in doing a song together — And the “Karma” remix was born, which the pair performed Friday night in surprise form.

“I want to explain how this came about because it just felt like karma or fate or something,” Swift said during her first of three nights at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. “I got reached out to by Ice Spice … what she didn’t know at the time is that … I was listening to pretty much exclusively just her music every single day, all day and getting in the zone to tour.”

“And so I said, ‘Absolutely. When can we do it?’ So we immediately went in the studio … I just not only fell in love with her but just decided she’s the entire future,” she continued. “I’ve been around so many artists and so many artists that are starting out, but I’ve never been around someone who is that prepared and curious and focused on what she wants. So I was absolutely blown away.”

Spice and Swift closed the show as fans screamed loudly during the performance. Spice has had a breakthrough year, recently reaching the Top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with the hits “Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2” with PinkPantheress and “Princess Diana” with Nicki Minaj.

The “Karma” remix was released Friday, the same day Swift released a deluxe edition of Midnights.

Before the surprise performance, Swift debuted the song’s music video in front of 70,000 fans.

“Here’s the thing: no one’s seen it. … I’ve never done this before, but I was thinking for a couple minutes we can turn this stadium show into a world premiere of a music video,” she said. “I was thinking, ‘Where can we find a screen big enough?’ And then I thought, ‘Oh, that’s a very big screen. We could just watch it there.’ This isn’t like a movie premiere where you have to be quiet. I want you to feel your feelings, always.”

During the show, Swift played multiple songs from her recent album, including the No.1 smash “Anti-Hero.” She also performed hits like “Shake It Off,” “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” “You Belong With Me,” “Willow,” “Cardigan,” “You Need to Calm Down” and “Look What You Made Me Do.”

Singer-songwriter-producer Jack Antonoff, who frequently collaborates with Swift, joined the singer for an acoustic version of “Getaway Car.” Phoebe Bridgers, one of the opening acts on the tour along with “abcdefu” singer-songwriter GAYLE, performed “Nothing New” with the pop star.

Swift has released four albums — Lover, Folklore, Evermore and Midnights — since her last tour, which took place in 2018. She said while she was home during the pandemic when the concert business shut down and the music industry questioned if live performances would recover, she decided to write and record a ton of music.

“Will artists get to connect in that way on that scale ever again?” she said the industry wondered.

“There were a lot more important conversations going on culturally, so I just did not think about those [concert] conversations. And also it was too sad. I was just like, ‘I’m not going to think about not seeing [my fans] in this way,’” she continued. 

“Because I’ve been playing songs and playing them live since I was 12 and this is the way that I process stuff. I make music and then I sing it with you, and when you sing along I feel better.”