Gracie Abrams Recalls Travis Kelce Joking He’d ‘Mess Up’ on Stage at Eras Tour to Make Her ‘Look Really Good’

Abrams and Kelce joined Swift onstage at her London show on Monday, June 23

Gracie Abrams, Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift. PHOTO: PASCAL LE SEGRETAIN/GETTY; JC OLIVERA/GETTY; JEFF KRAVITZ/FILMMAGIC

When Gracie Abrams joined Taylor Swift onstage to perform their new collaboration, she didn’t want to “Mess It Up” — so Travis Kelce offered to do it for her.

During an appearance on The Morning Mash Up on SiriusXM Hits 1 on Tuesday, July 2, the “Close to You” singer recalled what Kelce told her before they went onstage for surprise appearances at the Eras Tour show at London’s Wembley Stadium.

“Before we both went on, we were in the tent, and he was like — he went on right before I did, like, I think two songs or something. He’s like, ‘I’ll mess up so you look really good,’” Abrams, 24, revealed.

“The thing is, is it’s just a community of really supportive people,” she continued of the Eras Tour. “Truly, everyone, whether you’re in the tent or in the top row in the stadium, it’s like everyone is there because there is such deep joy and feeling associated with all of the music that she’s put out over the past 18 years and it’s like, I don’t know. It’s a really magical thing.”

Abrams joined Swift onstage for a surprise performance of “Us.,” which is featured on Abrams’ newly-released studio album The Secret of Us, during her surprise song segment.

Meanwhile, Kelce, 34, made his Eras Tour debut that same night when he joined Swift onstage as a backup dancer during the “I Can Do It with a Broken Heart” outfit change.

“I’m still cracking up/swooning over @killatrav’s Eras Tour debut 🥰 Never going to forget these shows,” Swift wrote on Instagram after the performance.

Taylor Swift and Gracie Abrams.TAS2023 VIA GETTY

“They loved being onstage together,” a source told PEOPLE of the moment. “He is confident and fun, and it was one of her tour highlights.”

Meanwhile, in an exclusive clip from an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music on Monday, June 24, Abrams — who opened for Swift during her North American run — told the whole story of the songwriting session that led to “Us.” and a kitchen fire.

That night, Abrams and Swift were discussing their upcoming projects and decided to go back to the “Cruel Summer” singer’s apartment to play songs for each other.

“We opened a bottle of wine and we went song for song in the kitchen and we were being theater kids,” Abrams recalled of the night, adding that they were “running around the center island” in the room and performing for each other.

Then, they began listening to “sketches” of songs that producer Aaron Dessner sent them and heard the beginning guitar strings for their song “Us.,” inspiring them to write an entirely new song.

As for the kitchen fire, luckily Swift had a fire extinguisher at her disposal and they managed to put out the burning candle. Though no one got seriously injured, they both had a cough “for weeks” and got minor burns from the wax.

“But ‘Us.’ came from that night, so that was a really good night,” Abrams said.