Ice Spice Recalls “Hysterically Crying” After Taylor Swift Asked For Collab
Ice Spice recounts crying “hysterically” after Taylor Swift asked her to collaborate on a remix of “Karma.” The rapper, reflecting on the moment in an interview with Rolling Stone, said she was overwhelmed when the “Love Story” singer invited her to feature on the track, which dropped in May 2023.
“I was living in my first apartment in Jersey, and (producer) Riot was there recording me,” Ice Spice said. “I remember my manager called me, and he usually texts, but he called, and he’s like, ‘You ready for this one?’ And I’m thinking it’s going to be some bad news or something.”
To her surprise, her manager delivered unexpected news. “He’s like, ‘Taylor Swift has a record for you to get on from her album.’ I’m playing it cool on the phone. I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s cool. Super cool.’ And then I hang up the phone and I’m hysterically crying,” Ice recounted.
At the time of the call, Ice Spice was in her walk-in closet, grappling with the gravity of the moment. “I’m in my walk-in closet, and I’m like, ‘Bro, this is not real life,’” the “Barbie World” artist recalled. “Riot definitely filmed it. That’ll probably be in a documentary one day.”
Swift, whom Ice Spice regards as her “closest celebrity friend,” praised the rapper’s dedication to her craft. “I love when I meet a new artist who takes a keen interest in not just the music but the music industry and how it works,” Taylor said during the interview. “I’ve seen how our industry tries to convince artists that they’re better off just being creative and making music and letting the labels and the management do the rest.”
Swift added, “Seeing Ice lean into the strategic, financial, and business aspects of her career is really exciting for me. The more artists learn about the inner workings of the music industry, the more power they can have in their creative world.”