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Taylor Swift secretly co-wrote Calvin Harris and Rihanna hit 'This Is What You Came For'

Swift penned the song under the Swedish pseudonym Nils Sjoberg, her rep has confirmed

Jess Denham
Wednesday 13 July 2016 16:56 BST
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Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift (Getty)

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Taylor Swift has been confirmed as the co-writer of Calvin Harris’ recent hit with Rihanna, “This Is What You Came For”.

The chart-topping pop singer was widely rumoured to have penned the song for the Scottish DJ, who she dated for 15 months before they broke up in early June.

Swift’s representative told The Independent that the 26-year-old is listed as a co-writer under a Swedish alias: “Taylor Swift wrote “This Is What You Came For” under the pseudonym Nils Sjoberg,” she said.

It remains unknown why the “Blank Space” singer decided to hide her real name from the credits, but TMZ reports that the former couple chose not to release the track as a couple for fear of their celebrity distracting from the music.

The celebrity news site also claims that Swift sent Harris a demo of the song on her iPhone before they recorded a full version in the studio together.

Harris was asked whether he would consider working with his then-girlfriend during an interview with Ryan Seacrest in April but dismissed the idea, saying: “You know, we haven’t even spoken about it. I can’t see it happening though.” Some gossip sites are suggesting that this was a reason for their unexpected break-up, but this has not been confirmed by either Swift or Harris.


Harris has shared a string of tweets on his official account, blasting Swift for “trying to tear him down”. “She sings on a little bit of it too. Amazing lyric writer and she smashed it as usual,” he wrote, before criticising her team for “going so far out of their way” to try and “make him look bad”.


Harris has released a song with a girlfriend before, “I Will Never Let You Down” with Rita Ora, but that collaboration also ended sourly when he prevented her from performing the hit at the 2014 Teen Choice Awards following their split.

Ora said at the time that Harris had refused to let her sing their song on stage, only for Harris to respond on Twitter saying that he had a “damn good reason” for doing so.


Harris’ representatives did not immediately respond to our request for comment.

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