The two joined Taylor Swift on stage for the June 23 show in London.

“It was the best time,” Gracie Abrams told “The Morning Mash Up” on SiriusXM Hits 1 about writing her song “us.” with Taylor Swift. “It was super spontaneous, and so that part just made it 10 times more fun and also less stressful.”

The Secret of Us

Gracie’s second studio album, “The Secret of Us,” dropped on June 21, 2024. While most songs on the 13-track album feature Gracie, Aaron Dessner, and Audrey Hobert as writers and producers, “us.” includes Taylor, Gracie’s longtime influence, as a featured artist, writer, and producer.

“I think if I had ever known going into any day of my life that, like, ‘Oh, we’re gonna sit down and write together,’ I would probably clam up or something, get freaked, just solely because I have admired her writing the most for my entire life,” Gracie said of Taylor.

In a video shared to Instagram, Gracie gave everyone a hilarious peek into what a night of songwriting with Taylor looks like: putting out a kitchen fire.

“Writing this entire song from 2am to 6am was some of the most fun I’ve ever had in my life,” Gracie wrote in the caption. “@taylorswift now we know how to use a fire extinguisher. I love you.”

Seeing the Full Picture

Speaking with “The Morning Mash Up,” Gracie continued, “[Taylor] said this thing that I’ve not ever articulated before but is real — that when you get to write with someone, you kind of see the whole thing. You see the full picture of who they are, and she is — her enthusiasm and her passion that is associated with every single lyric has set the bar extra, extra high for me now, having been able to experience it firsthand.”

Gracie described writing “us.” with Taylor as “the best time,” explaining that the song was “a product of … a really long dinner conversation.”

“At the core of this record, the whole thing, it’s kind of just based in relationships that I really value and trust and these people that I rely on and who are way cooler and better than I am at something,” Gracie said. “I’m like, that I just get to learn and observe and doing it at her house was — we just had the greatest time.”

The Eras Tour

After opening for The Eras Tour last year, Gracie recently got to share the stage with Taylor again in London’s Wembley Stadium for a surprise performance of “us.” featuring Taylor on guitar, Gracie on piano, and Paul McCartney in the audience.

“The thing is, is it’s just a community of really supportive people,” she said of The Eras Tour. “Truly, everyone, whether you’re in the tent or in the top row in the stadium, it’s like everyone is there because there is such deep joy and feeling associated with all of the music that she’s put out over the past 18 years and it’s like, I don’t know. It’s a really magical thing.”

The night of Gracie’s surprise performance also coincided with Travis Kelce’s surprise appearance during “The Tortured Poets Department” segment.

“Before we both went on, we were in the tent, and he was like — he went on right before I did, like, I think two songs or something. He’s like, ‘I’ll mess up so you look really good,’” Gracie revealed.

“The Morning Mash Up,” hosted by Nicole Ryan, Ryan Sampson, and Stanley T, airs weekday mornings on SiriusXM Hits 1 (Ch. 2).