Inside Flavor Flav and Taylor Swift's Unexpected Yet Delightful Friendship

Flavor Flav is in his Swiftie era. The rapper has formed a surprising yet wholesome bond with Taylor Swift, cheering her on through one of her busiest years to date. Their budding friendship seems to date back to March, when Flav attended the 2023 iHeartRadio Music Awards proudly wearing a shirt that read, "I come back stronger than a '90s trend," in reference to Swift's "Willow" lyrics. When asked about his outfit choice on the red carpet, he told Billboard, "Love me some Taylor Swift, man, always did." The pair wound up crossing paths later that evening and captured the selfie seen 'round the world. They've been charming the internet ever since.

Flav has consistently shown support for Swift following their first in-person meetup. He spent a not-so-cruel summer attending two of her Eras Tour concerts — and yes, he dressed up in on-theme outfits and traded friendship bracelets with fellow Swifties. He even met Swift's parents, Scott and Andrea, during one of her Los Angeles shows in August, and her dad chose Flav to hand out guitar picks to other fans.

The hip-hop star knows his Swiftie status may seem random to outsiders, but he's genuinely fond of her music. "A lot of people thought it was kind of weird seeing me at a Taylor Swift concert, I guess because of my age, but when it comes down to music, it has no age," he told TMZ in June. "One thing that I always loved about Taylor Swift is her records are real, from her personal experiences. Not only that, but she keeps it real with her people."

After Flav cemented himself as a true Swift fan, she returned the love by inviting him to the the world premiere of her Eras Tour concert movie in Los Angeles in October. He hit the red carpet in a custom T-shirt inspired by her song "Look What You Made Me Do" and again hung out with Swift's parents and her younger brother, Austin. Later that month, Swift surprised Flav with a special gift to celebrate the release of "1989 (Taylor's Version)," sending him the vinyl record and an official light-blue cardigan. He repped the merch soon after at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, styling it with a custom clock necklace bedazzled with blue rhinestones.

We can probably all agree Swift and Flav's friendship was not on our collective bingo card for 2023, but we're more than happy it's here. A collaboration between the two music stars would just be the cherry on top. Look back on the most endearing moments from their relationship so far below, and join us in crossing our fingers they hit the studio together soon.