Taylor Swift and Gracie Abrams did a duet, “Us,” for Abrams’ new album and literally set Swift’s house on fire while writing it. Abrams posted video proof, days after she told Billboard what happened when the two friends had a late-night writing session at Swift’s New York City apartment.
Abrams recalled the two hearing a candle tipping over earlier in the night, but Swift said it was likely one of her cats just moving around. Hours later, long after they had dinner and drinks, they made their way to the kitchen where flames were ablaze on Swift’s counter. Swift grabbed a fire extinguisher, and Abrams started recording to document one of the wildest moments of their lives.
“She was such a legend—I don’t know how at this hour or in our state she knew what to do,” Abrams told Billboard, six months after the incident. “We both had an insane cough from the fire extinguisher fumes for weeks.”
In the video, Abrams can be heard advising Swift to use the extinguisher instead of water. Swift started by asking, “Wait, what do I do about this? So I cut this [the fire extinguisher] with a knife—I think we’re going to die.”
“No, we’re not going to die,” Abrams assured Swift.
“I think we’re going to die,” Swift repeated.
“But you never put this out with water, you know that?” Abrams said as Swift made her way over to the counter with the extinguisher. “Just press it.”
“I don’t know,” Swift said, at first struggling to use it. “Bitch,” she said to it, before she figured out how to get it to work and successfully put out the fire. “Our purses are ruined and my shoes and the whole room I think,” she said as the extinguisher’s white smoke filled the room.
“Smells really good though,” Abrams quipped. You can watch the scene in the second slide of Abrams’ post. As Abrams put it on Instagram, “Writing this entire song from 2am to 6am was some of the most fun I’ve ever had in my life. @taylorswift now we know how to use a fire extinguisher. I love you.”
Listen to their duet below: