Taylor Swift Gave Early Endorsement of Joe Keery’s ‘End of Beginning’

Joe Keery got a confidence boost from one of the best possible sources when Taylor Swift praised his song “End of Beginning.”

Keery, 32, recalled running into the pop superstar at the Electric Lady recording studio in New York City in an episode of the “Spout Podcast” released Monday, May 20.

“I just happened to be there the day that she was there,” Keery said. “And she’s really nice. I mean, I’ve met her a couple of times. Before anything happened with this track, she said, ‘Hey, I really love that track of yours, ‘End of Beginning.’ She just said that she had heard the song and, you know, obviously I’m like, ‘What? You heard that song? How the hell did you hear that song?’”

When Keery thought about it more, he said that it began to make sense that Swift, 34, had heard his music.

“But she’s like a music lover, really. And she’s also so hip to new music and things that are coming out,” he added. “And so, I guess it’s not shocking to me because she’s, like, a big fan of music and just digs around and finds stuff. So, somehow it came across her desk, and she listened to it and then said that she liked it. Really, really nice of her.”

Keery added in an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that before he realized Swift was also at the Electric Lady, the throng of fans outside the studio had confused him.

“I walked out the door, and it was like 1,000 people were standing out there,” he said. “People looked at me expecting Taylor, and were like, ‘Who’s this guy?’”

At least some Swifties in the crowd likely recognized Keery, who is best known for playing Steve Harrington on the Netflix series Stranger Things. While on “Spout,” Keery wasn’t able to share much about Stranger Things’ fifth and final season, which began filming in January. He did, however, reflect on the series that has become one of the most successful shows in Netflix history since its 2016 debut.

​​“It doesn’t necessarily feel like the impending end every day or anything like that,” he said. “I’m sure once we get a little further along, the reality will kind of, like, sort of sink in, but for right now, business as usual. We’re just plunking away and trying to serve these scripts that these guys have written and do our best job because once again they’ve like come through in a cool way and written some unbelievable stuff, so just trying to do the material justice.”

Stranger Things season five still has several months of production ahead and is slated for a 2025 release.