Nope, Rihanna Will NOT Be Joining Taylor Swift’s Squad
Photo: Wenn
During Taylor Swift‘s 1989 tour, the star dragged pretty much every It-girl (and a few boys) onto the stage, with Karlie Kloss, Lena Dunham, Gigi Hadid, Candace Swanepoel, even Julia Roberts joining Tay’s famous tour #squad.
It’s a winning formula to get the crowd excited and the media talking, but it’s all starting to feel more than a little inauthentic, which is exactly why it’s refreshing to hear Rihanna—the ultimate It-girl—come out and say she’ll never be joining Swift’s crew.
It’s not like RiRi’s just trying to throw shade at Taylor, either—she just doesn’t think it would make sense to align herself with the princess of pop. When asked if she’d join Tay on tour, she told NME magazine: “I don’t think I would. I just don’t think it makes sense.”
She went on to explain that her own brand just doesn’t match with the (presumably edgeless, squeaky-clean) vibe of Swift’s: “I don’t think our brands are the same. I don’t think they match, I don’t think our audiences are the same. In my mind she’s a role model, I’m not.”
To be fair, it makes complete sense: Rihanna’s made it very clear in the past that she has no interest in being a role model, while Taylor takes her clean-cut status seriously.
Back in 2011, RiRi told Vogue: “See, people … they want me to be a role model just because of the life I lead. The things I say in my songs, they expect it of me, and [being a role model] became more of my job than I wanted it to be. But no, I just want to make music. That’s it.”
So, sorry if you were hoping for a Rihanna x Taylor musical collaboration down the line, but the chances of that just fell to zero.
