Taylor Swift tops PEOPLE’s 2023 Most Intriguing People of the Year list, and in this week’s cover story, the Grammy winner’s friends, collaborators and tour openers share what she’s like offstage and out of the spotlight.

Swift known the rock act Haim — composed of sisters Este, 37, Danielle, 34, and Alana Haim, 31, who collaborated with her on “No Body, No Crime” in 2020 — for nearly a decade.

“She’s incredibly prolific,” says Danielle. “Every time we all get together, we get so excited because we know she’s going to play us something new and groundbreaking. Her heart is always open, and you can hear it in her songs.”

Taylor Swifth and Haim performing together in Seattle in July 2023.
And despite her breakneck schedule, Swift always shows up.

“She has always put her friends before herself in every situation,” Alana says. “She’s the kind of friend that checks up on us for weeks after a tough breakup and is a shoulder to lean on.”

Indeed, Swift met her longtime friend Hayley Williams, frontwoman of Paramore, when they were both up for the best new artist Grammy in 2008.

Maren Morris and Taylor Swift in Los Angeles in March 2019. Above all, Williams says, Swift is “forever an artist’s artist.” The pals recorded the Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) vault track “Castles Crumbling” together — though Swift first had other plans.”When Taylor asked me to feature on Speak Now TV, she originally suggested another song, and I was honest with her that though the song may have been closer to what a casual Paramore fan would expect me to feature on, I didn’t relate to that sound as much,” Williams recalls. “She then, within minutes, sent me ‘Castles Crumbling,’ and not only did it feel more like a fit, I related to it lyrically on a deeper level … She respected my gut feelings and still pushed me to stay in it with her.”https://youtu.be/V80A8qN4fR8
Swift has worked closely with music producer Aaron Dessner, 47, since collaborating on her pandemic projects Folklore and Evermore, who says, “She’s legitimately just a very down to earth and hardworking person” in the time that he’s known her.

“She is an absolute genius,” Dessner adds, “and thankfully also a truly wonderful human being.”