Lena Dunham And Lorde Dish On The Taylor Swift Girl Power Posse

Taylor Swift paraded her girl-power posse of female friends through her latest video, “Bad Blood,” inviting them to also join her on stage at stops on her current tour. That posse includes Girls mastermind Lena Dunham, and the topic of Taylor Swift and female friendship came up in her interview with Lorde on Dazed, where the two talked about the joys of bonding with other women over more than boy talk. Dunham praised the pop star for her dedication to setting an example of women supporting instead of competing with each other.

“I feel that Taylor (Swift) has really taken control and said, ‘I’m going to get us all together in the same place, I’m gonna make it very clear that friendship is powerful and women are magic and if anybody thinks this is a witches’ coven they might be right.’ She’s just made it her job in a very cool way.”

Of course, the media started taking that quote out of context and accusing Swift of forming a witches’ coven, because, you know, if women are getting together over something other than dishing on guys, they must be witches and certainly up to no good. Or, perhaps, they could also be making a video for Taylor Swift.

Besides Dunham, the “Bad Blood” video stars Taylor Swift besties such as Selena Gomez, Hailee Steinfeld, Zendaya, Karlie Kloss, Jessica Alba, Hayley Williams, Ellie Goulding, Lily Aldridge, Gigi Hadid, Serayah, Cara Delevingne, and Martha Hunt. While Lorde may not have had a part in this grand Swift production, she agreed about the power of female friendship and being a part of Taylor Swift’s “coven.”

“I mean, she definitely brought me into this amazing world of supportive female friendship. For me, someone starts talking about boys and I’m like, ‘I just don’t know what to say.’ I’m useless in that capacity and that was why I thought, ‘Well, I can’t have girl friends (because) I don’t know how to talk about boys.’ But Taylor just glosses over the fact that I’m terrible at that and she’s just like, ‘It’s OK, I’ll love you for your other qualities.'”

Dunham and Lorde talked about how they want their female friendships to meet the “Bechdel test” in the way that Taylor Swift has formed this group of friends surrounding her. The Bechdel test is a standard named for graphic artist Alison Bechdel, determining if a film has well-rounded female characters. In one of Bechdel’s comic strips, a character will only see a film if:

• The movie has to have at least two women in it
• They talk to each other
• They talk about something besides a man

Dunham says the Taylor Swift posse passes the test and that those are the best of female friendships.

“I like it when my friendships pass the Bechdel test. Like, it’s not just two women talking about boys, it’s two women talking about work, female friendship or current events. I love how rich and important that can be.”

One person notably absent from Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” video was Kendall Jenner, and according to OK!, it looks like Jenner may be Swift’s latest celebrity friend turned frenemy, due to Jenner dating Taylor’s ex Harry Styles and getting a bit too cozy with Selena Gomez’s ex Justin Bieber. Jenner reportedly turned down an appearance in Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood,” which seems to have contributed to some bad blood between the former besties.

[Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images]