The second season of Netflix’s hit coming-of-age series “Heartstopper” features an unexpected musical moment from Taylor Swift. Her dreamy song “Seven” soundtracks a touching scene in the Season 2 finale, but how did the gentle folk ballad end up in the LGBTQ+ teen drama?
After much anticipation, “Heartstopper” returned for its second season on August 3, continuing the stories of sweet teen couple Charlie Spring (Joe Locke) and Nick Nelson (Kit Connor). This batch of episodes sees them navigate new relationship challenges amid school pressures.
The season culminates with the LGBTQ+ friend group enjoying wholesome bonding time at a beach house, playing games and dancing together without judgment. Over this montage, Taylor Swift’s song “Seven” from her 2020 album “Folklore” begins to play.
Showrunner Alice Oseman told Entertainment Weekly this was a deliberate song choice. “Seven” reflects the innocence of being seven years old, paralleling the friends’ childlike happiness in the moment.
“I just love ‘Seven’ — it’s nostalgic and sweet,” Oseman said. “The song choice came after the edit, but it fits so perfectly.”
Fans of Swift, known as “Swifties,” immediately picked up on the significant needle drop. Many took to Twitter to express their excitement over the “beautiful” use of “Seven” in the emotional scene.
“This friendship, seven by Taylor Swift in the background, this scene UGH chefs kiss,” one user wrote. Another fan tweeted, “We NEED to talk about this BEAUTIFUL scene of everyone enjoying the time together and dancing with ‘Seven’ by Taylor Swift.”
Some questioned how the show secured rights to the Swift song, speculating “Heartstopper” paid big bucks. However, music supervisor Matt Biffa clarified on Twitter that Swift approved the use after reading the scene description.
“She just thought the scene was beautiful and we were then able to make it work,” Biffa explained.
In an interview with Elle, executive producer Patrick Walters shed more light on the process of pitching Swift to use “Seven.”
He said the creative team knew Swift’s youthful song would perfectly complement the montage of friends bonding and being their true selves.
“We were like, ‘Oh my god, we need Taylor Swift to let us have the song,’” Walters recalled.
They sent Swift’s team letters passionately explaining the importance of placing “Seven” over the scene. Walters said Swift was “very receptive” to the request.
“I think she could see how emotional it was going to be, and she wanted to support that,” he told Elle.
Beyond just being a pretty, nostalgic song, the lyrics of “Seven” hold significance for the themes of “Heartstopper.”
In the ballad, Swift sings about childhood joys like “running wild” and climbing trees with her friend named Seven. This captures the innocence of the teen friend group before they have to grow up and face adulthood.
The song choice seems to imply they should hold onto this childlike freedom and joy for as long as they can. Fittingly, the scene directly follows the high school characters deciding not to attend prom and instead have their own fun together away from school social pressures.
Showrunner Oseman, who identifies as aromantic and asexual, has been praised for the diversity of LGBTQ+ experiences depicted in “Heartstopper.”
In this case, Swift’s song scoring a meaningful scene shows how music can powerfully complement queer stories. Having an LGBTQ+-affirming pop anthem like “Seven” in a breakout series helps foster representation and acceptance.
“The younger generation… they need to see people like them in the media they consume, and they need to see happy endings,” Oseman told EW.
With Swift’s blessing, the song choice helps the show further that mission in a touching way fans won’t soon forget. The pairing of “Seven” with the tender “Heartstopper” montage makes for an emotional high note to end Season 2 on.
