Stevie Nicks Told Katy Perry to End the ‘Bulls***’ Feud With Taylor Swift

Stevie Nicks revealed that she once offered her two cents on one of music’s biggest feuds. While Taylor Swift and Katy Perry were at odds, Nicks shared the insight she’d learned after many years in the music industry. She described the conversation she had with Katy Perry. Here’s how the younger artist reacted to Nicks’ perspective.

Stevie Nicks likes to be around younger artists

Decades into her career, a new crop of musicians have expressed their admiration for Nicks. Nicks has explained that she enjoys spending time with younger musicians because of what they can teach her. 

“I’m inspired that Miley [Cyrus] wants to make music with me,” she told Vogue. “I’m inspired that the Haim girls are my biggest fans — and I theirs. A lot of these kids are making the amazing records I’ve been waiting for them to make.”

She also offers younger artists advice on their careers and lives. Her guidance and care have earned her the title of “rock and roll mama.”

She shared some wisdom with Katy Perry

Nicks explained that she once gave Perry advice about interacting with other artists.

“People get knocked down because of their fame, and the Internet, and all the things that I hate. You keep yourself above that, hopefully,” she told The New Yorker. “I always think of Katy Perry and I having this long talk at the Corinthia Hotel, in London, once, and she said to me — this is probably ten years ago — she said, ‘So, Stevie, who are your rivals?’ And I said, ‘I don’t have rivals.’ And her big blue eyes got bigger and bluer.”

In the early 2010s, Perry and Swift had a lengthy, highly-publicized feud that allegedly began over a backup dancer. By the end of the decade, they had quashed their disagreement, but the fighting lasted for years. Nicks encouraged Perry to put an end to it.

I said, ‘No, Katy, I don’t, and neither do you. You are Katy Perry, you’re who you are, you do what you do and you’re great at it. I’m Stevie Nicks, I do what I do and I’m great at it. We don’t have rivals. That’s just ridiculous,’” Nicks explained. “And she said, ‘Well, there’s, like, the Taylor Swift army and there’s, like, the Katy army and there’s like —’ And I was, like, ‘That’s just bullshit. You have to just walk away from that. Don’t carry that around in your mind because then they’re winning this game.’”

Whether or not Perry had Nicks in mind when she offered the olive branch to Swift is unknown. 

Stevie Nicks explained how she navigates fame

Nicks shared that the pressures of fame can lead to feuds, but she hopes that other artists don’t let this wear on them. She believes that focusing on her art has allowed her to remain in the public eye for so long.

“People reach a point where they’re, like, ‘I just don’t want to do this anymore.’ And it really never occurred to me, because I definitely still want to — I want to sing,” she said. “But there are so many other creative things that give me a happy state of mind when I need it, that are in the future for me, that I really am excited about. So that’s really what fame allows you.”

When things became too overwhelming, Nicks says she reminded herself of all she still wanted to accomplish.

“There were points when I thought, Well, what if you don’t survive it? And then I’d go, like, ‘Oh, no, no, no, you’re going to survive. Because you still have lots of cool stuff left to do.’”