Though she badly fumbled a dialogue with Nicki Minaj over sexism in media, Taylor Swift has used 2015 to exert herself as a power player in the entertainment industry. After last year writing a Wall Street Journal op-ed about music sales (to lukewarm reception), Swift has doubled down, first pulling her entire catalog from digital streaming leader Spotify, then criticizing Apple Music for withholding royalties from artists. The latter move forced the corporate giant's hand, as it reversed its policy almost immediately. And, finally, she's overcome impossible odds to become friends with Kanye West. The two appeared to be friendly on the floor at the Grammys this January--yes, the same Grammys where Taylor apparently asked Jay Z to brunch. In an excerpt from her forthcoming Vanity Fair cover story, she says it was Hov who orchestrated the burgeoning friendship (and maybe collaboration) between the two super stars.

“I feel like I wasn’t ready to be friends with [West] until I felt like he had some sort of respect for me," the 1989 singer tells the magazine. "He wasn’t ready to be friends with me until he had some sort of respect for me—so it was the same issue, and we both reached the same place at the same time.” It was easier to move through the room with the less vulture-ish one at first, Swift says. “I became friends with Jay Z, and I think it was important, for Jay Z, for Kanye and I to get along." She says that she and Kanye have "reached a place where he would say really nice things about my music and what I’ve accomplished, and I could ask him how his kid’s doing.”

More From XXL