Katy Perry and Taylor Swift made their peace music-video official in Swift's 'You Need to Calm Down' video this morning. But behind the scenes, there was a year-long process leading to the moment the two embraced, dressed like a Moschino hamburger and French fries.

Swift talked about how she and Perry resolved their years-long feud on Capital Breakfast and BBC Radio 1. The literal olive wreath that Perry sent Swift last May ahead of her Reputation World Tour debut was the trigger for the end of their feud. Swift shared that image on her Instagram Story at the time.

'She [Katy] and I have really been on good terms for a while,' Swift explained, via E!. 'She sent me a really nice note and an olive branch to the—like an actual olive branch—to my tour when it started, the Reputation Stadium Tour, a while ago. From that point on we've been on good terms.'

The momentum continued at multiple parties where the two met in person, Swift said. "Then we saw each other at a party and walked up to each other and hugged it out and talked about things, and then we saw each other again and hung out at another party, and it was just like something felt so much lighter about my life when things became really good between us. And, you know, she and I have been fine for a while and really on good terms, but we didn't know if we were ever gonna really tell people about it. We wanted to make sure that was solid between us before we ever made the public aware."

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Swift echoed this in her interview with BBC Radio 1: 'When we saw each other, it was just very clear to both of us that everything was different, that we had grown up, that we had grown past allowing ourselves to be played against each other. It was just really clear that we remembered how much we had in common and so both of us have been in a really good place for a while, but I don’t think either of us knew if we were going to talk about it publicly...'

Swift told BBC Radio 1 that she reached out to Perry about making a cameo in her video. 'When I thought of this concept for the video, and I wrote the treatment, I thought of this idea and was like, I’m just going to ask her if she’d be interested in this, but I would be totally fine if she’d rather keep it private and keep it between us. But I sent it to her and she was like, "I would love for us to be a symbol of redemption and forgiveness." And I feel the same way about it.'

Swift described her initial text to Perry and admitted that the hamburger idea came after Perry went to the Met Gala after party dressed like one. 'So basically [the text to Katy] was like a long synopsis of the video and I didn’t think of the burger and fries costume until she wore the burger—she wore that Jeremy Scott burger to the Met Gala after party and I was like, that is amazing, because it felt very punk rock to me, her wearing that,' Swift said. 'I was like, that’s really cool and funny. And I was thinking, we’re going to have this moment in the video and it’s a bit too on the nose if it’s us wearing normal clothes and hugging—it won’t really fit...because this video is very wacky and very surreal and fun and playful. So I was like, "Can we do a burger and fries as a metaphor for two people who belong together, people who are a perfect pair"? And she thought it was really funny and so we did it. And I think that the metaphor of us searching for someone who you have something in common with, and then seeing them and having it originally represented is funny.'

Swift and Perry made their reconciliation Instagram official earlier this month when Perry posted a photo of the 'Peace at Last' chocolate chip cookies Swift gave her.

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From: ELLE US
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Alyssa Bailey
Senior News and Strategy Editor

Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she's not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take #ootd pics of her, and exploring New York City.