Country Stars Reunite: Rice Thanks Swift for Early Support of “Cruise” at Nashville Event

At Nashville's Brooklyn Bowl, Chase Rice met up with Taylor Swift. He used the chance to express thanks for her early support of "Cruise." The brief but meaningful exchange took place on June 24, 2025.

"We wrote 'Cruise' 14 years ago and Taylor tweeted about it, the rest was history," Rice said in an interview. "Most likely woulda been a big old song anyways, but her recognizing it sure didn't hurt."

The stars met at Tight End University, a camp that Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce helps run. Swift came to see Kelce while making stops at music spots around town.

Social media lit up with Rice's posts of their meeting. One clip caught Swift singing as Rice played "Cruise." In another sweet moment, Swift picked up Rice's guitar to strum "Shake It Off."

"Cruise" changed the game back in 2012. Rice wrote it with Florida Georgia Line's Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley, plus Joey Moi and Jesse Rice. The band put it on their first album, Here's to the Good Times.

When Nelly jumped on the remix the next year, the song soared even higher. It stands with hits like "This Is How We Roll," "Stay," and "H.O.L.Y." as one of the band's biggest tracks.

Swift didn't stop there during her Nashville trip. She dropped by Jason Aldean's spot and gave folks at Brooklyn Bowl an off-the-cuff show.

For Rice, who started with his 2011 album "Friday Nights & Sunday Mornings," this meet-up brought things around full circle. Before hitting it big on stage, he wrote songs behind the scenes, crafting hits for others to sing.