Entertainment

Ingrid Michaelson Covers Taylor Swift's "Clean"

by Alyse Whitney

Just when you thought you couldn't possibly love 1989 more, Ingrid Michaelson's cover of Taylor Swift's "Clean" will make you obsess all over again. At the 2014 Billboard Women in Music event on Friday, Michaelson sang a stripped-down version of the emotional song in honor of Swift being given the magazine's Woman of the Year award. "Taylor played me a few of her songs off her new record in her apartment and we danced around and drank wine and had pillow fights. And this one song was just so beautiful that I begged her to send it to me, and she said no," Michaelson recalled. "As soon as it came out, I listened to it over and over again, and I think it shows such depth of writing that Taylor has shown in this new record."

Although I would have preferred to see Swift and Michaelson duet on this — can you imagine the harmonies? — they can save that for one of their next NYC shows or future records. The duo has been friends for a while, dancing on stage together in Central Park and baking at Swift's apartment, and Michaelson was the perfect person to honor Swift before her big award. I'm surprised that some of her other musical BFFs like Selena Gomez and Lorde weren't on hand to cover some of her songs too, but I guess we'll have to wait until her eventual big, 15-minute VMA performance for that. Check out Michaelson's stunning cover below.