Taylor Swift is a certified stadium slayer, but there’s one thing that can lift her live show to the next level, and that’s a collab with Robbie Williams on his megahit “Angels”. The one-time bad boy of pop dropped into Swift’s Wembley Stadium show, and the chemistry the two stars had onstage took the set to the next level.
Swift kicked off the song by singing the opening verse and accompanying herself on piano, showing off an impressive low register that we don’t often hear from her. The crowd were already loving this, but the energy in the stadium turned electric when Williams appeared from a lift in the middle of the stage and finished off the verse. You can see the duet for yourself in the video below, which has clocked 1.7 million views on YouTube.
Swift had a grin on her face like all her Christmases had come at once when she saw the crowd’s reaction to Williams’ appearance. The pair performed their duet on Swift’s second Wembley Stadium show on her Reputation tour, and the Robster showed off his Swiftie colours by proudly displaying a Taylor Swift Reputation tour t-shirt.
Swift is famous for being a top flight entertainer onstage, but she sat back for the opening two minutes, letting Williams hold the floor and boy he didn’t disappoint. The veteran English pop star really showed himself to be the man with the golden voice as he took the lead vocal, sounding exactly like the studio version. Back in the day, Williams did another memorable performance of “Angels” at the Brit Awards with Joss Stone, and you can check that out below.
The Wembley Stadium crowd gave a riotous reception for England’s favourite son when he appeared onstage, singing along to every word and putting up a huge cheer. Fans online also loved to see the two stars together, adding comments such as “I got to witness this live and let me tell you, you could not hear either of them because the crowd was screaming along! It was insane!” and “imagine writing a song that is so good, that everyone at someone else’s concert knows the lyrics.”
Clearly Swift and Williams are a great match musically, although this is their only collaboration so far. The English singer did discuss the possibility of working with Swift during an interview with Grazia Magazine, saying “Of course I would collaborate with Taylor. She writes a really good song, she’s a really good popstar, she sets the bar for pop especially with that last album. Song after song after song, she’s like seven singles deep and they all sounded like the first song off the record. She’s incredible and a phenomenon.”
“Angels” was Williams’ breakthrough solo single from his 1997 debut album Life thru a Lens. The first three singles enjoyed moderate chart success, but it was the fourth single “Angels” that took off internationally in a big way, making the Englishman a star in his own right following his exit from boy band Take That.