Taylor Swift set up camp last week at Los Angeles’ venerable Staples Center for a five-night run. Her “1989” tour broke a record for sold-out shows and piled on the celebrity cameos and duets, with the singer inviting Julia Roberts, Sophie Turner, Lena Dunham, and Chris Rock on stage to dance, sing, and model. On Monday night, Swift joined fellow break-up singer Alanis Morissette for a rendition of the latter’s “You Oughta Know,” and she later boosted her indie music red by performing Beck’s “Dreams” with Beck and St. Vincent.
But Entertainment Weekly reports that at her final show in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, Swift decided to share the spotlight with a more obscure artist. She welcomed Phoebe Buffay to the stage, a singer who had only played coffeehouses before (although she did appear in her own music video). The two performed Buffay’s “Smelly Cat,” a sad song about a flatulent, possibly neglected, feline. Although Swift had a little trouble “feeling” the lyrics (a problem she shares with Chrissie Hynde), overall the impromptu duet was a crowd-pleaser.
Here’s a somewhat shaky video of the performance with Taylor Swift and Lisa Kudrow (that’s right, Phoebe Buffay isn’t a real person):