It's Nice To Have A Friend
Lover (2019)
“It’s Nice To Have A Friend” is the seventeenth track on Taylor’s seventh studio album, Lover (2019). Released on August 23, 2019, it was co-written by Taylor, Louis Bell and Adam King Feeney (Frank Dukes). The song follows two childhood friends as their relationship develops over the years, eventually leading to marriage.
“It’s Nice To Have A Friend” features an unexpected collaboration with young musicians from Toronto’s Regent Park School of Music. Their work appears through a sample of “Summer in the South,” created as part of producer Frank Dukes’ Parkscapes project. Royalties from the sample help fund the school’s music programmes, giving the song a connection to the community that extends beyond the recording studio.
Background and Release
Taylor began working on Lover during a week in New York in July 2018 while still on the “reputation Stadium Tour,” before the album’s main recording sessions began after the tour concluded that November. “It’s Nice To Have A Friend” emerged during the making of a record Taylor approached from a markedly different creative place than its predecessor, reputation (2017). In an interview with Vogue in summer 2019, she described Lover as a “new beginning” and a “love letter to love, in all of its maddening, passionate, exciting, enchanting, horrific, tragic, wonderful glory,” recalling that she wrote from an “open, free, romantic, whimsical place.”
“It’s Nice To Have A Friend” was written by Taylor, Louis Bell, and Adam King Feeney (Frank Dukes), with the trio also collaborating on “Afterglow,” “I Forgot That You Existed,” “All Of The Girls You Loved Before” and “Need.” Taylor spoke about the song at a fan event in Tokyo on November 6, 2019, when asked which track on Lover resonated with her most:
“It’s Nice To Have A Friend” was written by Taylor, Louis Bell, and Adam King Feeney (Frank Dukes), with the trio also collaborating on “Afterglow,” “I Forgot That You Existed,” “All Of The Girls You Loved Before” and “Need.” Taylor spoke about the song at a fan event in Tokyo on November 6, 2019, when asked which track on Lover resonated with her most:
«There’s a song on Lover about flashback and childhood. It compares childhood friendships to when you find someone to fall in love with when you’re older, called 'It’s Nice To Have A Friend.' It’s very nostalgic.»
Her comments offered a rare glimpse into the personal significance of a track that had received relatively little attention during the album’s pre-release promotion.
“It’s Nice To Have A Friend” was released on August 23, 2019, as the seventeenth track on Lover. Its recording also brought an unexpected Canadian connection to the album: the song incorporates a sample from “Summer in the South,” a composition created by students at Toronto’s Regent Park School of Music for producer Frank Dukes’ Parkscapes project. The youth choir and student-performed instrumentation became part of Taylor’s finished track, with royalties from the sample helping support the school’s music education programmes. The collaboration gave the song a distinctive place in the album’s credits while directing attention and financial support towards the young musicians whose work helped shape it.
“It’s Nice To Have A Friend” was released on August 23, 2019, as the seventeenth track on Lover. Its recording also brought an unexpected Canadian connection to the album: the song incorporates a sample from “Summer in the South,” a composition created by students at Toronto’s Regent Park School of Music for producer Frank Dukes’ Parkscapes project. The youth choir and student-performed instrumentation became part of Taylor’s finished track, with royalties from the sample helping support the school’s music education programmes. The collaboration gave the song a distinctive place in the album’s credits while directing attention and financial support towards the young musicians whose work helped shape it.
General Information
| Artist | Taylor Swift |
|---|---|
| Album | Lover |
| Written | November 2018-February 2019 |
| Released | August 23, 2019 |
| Studio | Electric Feel (West Hollywood) |
| Genre | Indie Pop |
| Length | 2:31 |
| Label | Republic Records |
| Songwriters |
Taylor Swift Louis Bell Adam King Feeney (Frank Dukes) |
| Producers |
Taylor Swift Louis Bell Adam King Feeney (Frank Dukes) |
Official Audio
Song Artwork
Lyrical Theme
“It’s Nice To Have A Friend” traces a relationship from childhood friendship to young love and, ultimately, marriage, finding romance in the familiarity of growing up alongside someone. Taylor described the song as a nostalgic look at how the connections we seek as adults often begin with the simple companionship we experienced as children. As she explained in an interview with Billboard in 2019:
«With that song, it was more of like a poem, and a story, and a vibe, and a feeling. I love metaphors that kind of have more than one meaning. We all want love, we all want to find somebody to see our sights with, and hear things with, and experience things with. But at the end of the day we’ve been searching for that since we were kids! When you had a friend when you were nine years old, and that friend was all you talked about, and you wanted to have sleepovers, and you wanted to walk down the street together, and sit there drawing pictures together, or be silent together, or be talking all night. We’re just looking for that, but endless sparks, as adults.»
The song’s three verses follow the relationship through distinct stages of life, allowing small details to carry the story forward. Childhood companionship gradually gives way to teenage intimacy, before the final verse introduces church bells and wedding imagery, bringing the pair together as adults. Rather than spelling out every transition, Taylor lets these snapshots do the work, turning an ordinary friendship into a love story through a series of understated moments. She also deliberately avoided a conventional chorus-driven structure, explaining that writing the song was an opportunity to try something different: “It was fun to write a song that was just verses because my whole body and soul wants to make a chorus.” She instead approached it as a poem, reflecting her interest in metaphors that can hold more than one meaning.
The song’s emphasis on friendship has also prompted fans to look for a possible connection to Joe Alwyn, Taylor’s partner at the time of Lover’s release. One theory centres on his surname: some name-meaning sources associate Alwyn with “friend” or “noble friend,” while older name dictionaries give meanings such as “beloved by all.” This has led to speculation that the title may carry a subtle personal reference to Alwyn, although Taylor has never confirmed such a connection. Whether intentional or not, the possibility adds another layer to a song built around the idea that lasting romance can grow from the comfort and companionship of friendship.
The song’s emphasis on friendship has also prompted fans to look for a possible connection to Joe Alwyn, Taylor’s partner at the time of Lover’s release. One theory centres on his surname: some name-meaning sources associate Alwyn with “friend” or “noble friend,” while older name dictionaries give meanings such as “beloved by all.” This has led to speculation that the title may carry a subtle personal reference to Alwyn, although Taylor has never confirmed such a connection. Whether intentional or not, the possibility adds another layer to a song built around the idea that lasting romance can grow from the comfort and companionship of friendship.
Production
With its stripped-down production and dreamy vocals, “It’s Nice To Have A Friend” stands out for its understated sound, incorporating muted trumpet and a sample featuring a Toronto youth choir that evokes the atmosphere of a church wedding. The choir’s contribution comes from the Regent Park School of Music, a community music school in producer Frank Dukes’ hometown of Toronto, whose student-created music was sampled for the track. Dukes’ Parkscapes project directs proceeds from its sample library towards sustaining the school’s music programmes.
Live Performances
“It’s Nice To Have A Friend” remained absent from Taylor’s live set for almost five years after the release of , finally making its live debut during the on June 9, 2024, at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, Scotland. Taylor performed it on acoustic guitar as part of a mashup with “dorothea” from evermore (2020). Before playing the songs, she told the crowd:
«Welcome to the acoustic section of the evening! This is a song I’ve never played live but I really love it, so I hope I’ve done the right thing.»
The pairing with “dorothea” proved especially intriguing because both songs explore the bond between two people, albeit from different perspectives: “It’s Nice to Have a Friend” follows a friendship across the years, while “dorothea” reflects on a childhood friend who has left their hometown behind.
Music & More
It’s Nice To Have A Friend
2 Videos
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Critical Reception and Commercial Performance
“It’s Nice To Have A Friend” stood out on Lover for its unusual sound and understated approach, earning attention as one of Taylor’s more experimental tracks. Pitchfork singled out its steel drums as a rare point of sonic difference on an album it otherwise felt rarely ventured into new territory, describing the song as a “music-box oddball.” The Guardian’s Alexis Petridis was more appreciative, naming it among the album’s more satisfying moments. Its sparse arrangement and unconventional structure made it a departure from the polished pop production elsewhere on Lover, although its subdued nature also meant it was less immediately accessible than the album’s bigger, hook-driven tracks.
The song’s reception has remained somewhat divided: some listeners have embraced it as an overlooked gem for its delicate storytelling and distinctive atmosphere, while others have found its restrained delivery too slight beside the album’s more immediate pop songs. Its use of a student-created composition from Toronto’s Regent Park School of Music also gave the track a story beyond Taylor’s own discography, drawing attention to the young musicians whose work helped shape its sound. In retrospect, “It’s Nice To Have A Friend” feels like one of the album’s more adventurous deep cuts, even if it was never a consensus standout among critics.
Commercially, “It’s Nice to Have a Friend” debuted at No. 92 on the US Billboard Hot 100 for the chart week ending September 7, 2019, following the release of Lover. It spent one week on the chart, as all 18 tracks from the album entered the Hot 100 simultaneously. The song also reached No. 72 in Australia, reflecting the initial interest surrounding the album’s release, though it was not promoted as a single and did not build a sustained chart run.
The song’s reception has remained somewhat divided: some listeners have embraced it as an overlooked gem for its delicate storytelling and distinctive atmosphere, while others have found its restrained delivery too slight beside the album’s more immediate pop songs. Its use of a student-created composition from Toronto’s Regent Park School of Music also gave the track a story beyond Taylor’s own discography, drawing attention to the young musicians whose work helped shape its sound. In retrospect, “It’s Nice To Have A Friend” feels like one of the album’s more adventurous deep cuts, even if it was never a consensus standout among critics.
Commercially, “It’s Nice to Have a Friend” debuted at No. 92 on the US Billboard Hot 100 for the chart week ending September 7, 2019, following the release of Lover. It spent one week on the chart, as all 18 tracks from the album entered the Hot 100 simultaneously. The song also reached No. 72 in Australia, reflecting the initial interest surrounding the album’s release, though it was not promoted as a single and did not build a sustained chart run.
Lyrics
[Intro]
Ooh
Ooh
[Verse 1]
School bell rings
Walk me home
Sidewalk chalk
Covered in snow
Lost my gloves
You give me one
“Wanna hang out?”
“Yeah, sounds like fun.”
Video games
You pass me a note
Sleeping in tents
[Chorus]
It’s nice to have a friend
It’s nice to have a friend
[Verse 2]
Light pink sky
Up on the roof
Sun sinks down
No curfew
20 questions
We tell the truth
You been stressed out lately
Yeah, me too
Something gave you the nerve
To touch my hand
[Chorus]
It’s nice to have a friend
It’s nice to have a friend
[Instrumental Bridge]
[Verse 3]
Church bells ring
Carry me home
Rice on the ground
Looks like snow
Call my bluff
Call you babe
Have my back, yeah
Every day
Feels like home
Stay in bed
The whole weekend
[Chorus]
It’s nice to have a friend
It’s nice to have a friend
It’s nice to have a friend