Taylor Swift Explains How Jay Z Helped Her Make Nice With Kanye West

The moment at the 2009 MTV VMA Awards when Kanye West crashed Taylor Swift's acceptance speech is still an often-referenced pop culture moment, but after the two were photographed talking to and looking friendly with each other at the 2015 Grammy Awards, fans assumed that the two stars had buried the hatchet. And in the September 2015 issue of Vanity Fair, Swift explains how it happened.

When West stormed the stage and declared that Beyonce's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" music video should have beaten out Swift's "You Belong With Me," neither he nor Swift could have known that, years later, it would be Beyonce's husband Jay Z who would help mend the rift.

“I became friends with Jay Z, and I think it was important, for Jay Z, for Kanye and I to get along," Swift explains. "And then Kanye and I both reached a place where he would say really nice things about my music and what I’ve accomplished, and I could ask him how his kid’s doing.”

Although Swift doesn't say exactly when the friendliness began, she does say that it was mutual.

“I feel like I wasn’t ready to be friends with [West] until I felt like he had some sort of respect for me, and he wasn’t ready to be friends with me until he had some sort of respect for me," Swift says, "so it was the same issue, and we both reached the same place at the same time."

Shortly after the 2015 Grammy Awards, West even revealed plans to record with Swift, although not much has been said about the collaboration.

Since the 2009 VMA Awards incident, Swift has gone from country to pop, and officially cemented her spot as a global superstar. Her most recent record, 1989, has become the fastest-selling album in more than 10 years, and it's already spawned four No. 1 hits (i.e., every single that's been released from it).

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