Taylor Swift Remembers When She Felt She & Sam Smith Would Be BFFs--and May Have Ariana Grande to Thank for It!

How did Taylor Swift and Sam Smith become BFFs? Well, it appears Ariana Grande played a large part.

Several months after the 25-year-old "Shake It Off" singer and 22-year-old British crooner Sam Smith, 22, met and performed together, they sat next to each other at the 2014 American Music Awards, which took place in November in Los Angeles.

The two were seen dancing side by side and cheering on several performers, including Grande, who sang a medley of her songs as well as "Bang Bang" with collaborators Jessie J and Nicki Minaj. Grande was seen doing a sexy little shimmy during her solo.

"We were front row watching Ariana Grande, loving her performance," Swift told Rolling Stone in an interview posted on Wednesday and is featured in the magazine's Feb. 12, 2015 issue, which features Smith on the cover.

"We're both pretty animated when we're watching other artists," she said. "At the end of her performance, she did some dance move that was so sexy and so cool, and at the same time, Sam and I both screamed out "YAS BITCH YAS!!" and then looked at each other and died laughing. I had this feeling that we'll be friends for life."

Smith echoed the same statement to Swift on Twitter on Dec. 5.

The following week, Smith joined several celebs at Swift's 25th birthday party, held at her New York City apartment.

The two had met in early 2014. Swift had discovered Smith's music through a British DJ, who tweeted about him. She then invited him to perform as her guest at a concert at the O2 Arena in London that February.

"I learned that he was a brand-new artist who hadn't even been launched in the U.S. yet, but I felt this strange inclination to introduce my fans to him out at the O2," she told Rolling Stone. "When I love something immediately, they usually react the same way."

"Tonight at the O2, @samsmithworld sang my new favorite song "Money On My Mind" and smashed it!" Swift had tweeted after the concert. "You need this song/artist in your life!"

Swift said Smith rendered her breathless when she first heard his voice at a sound check, before the concert.

"Everyone just stopped what they were doing and looked at me like 'Wait a second...' We were all completely stunned that this person sounded even better live than he did on his soulful, extraordinary recordings," she said. "The effortlessness of Sam's singing is what absolutely took our breath away. And that night, he had the same effect on the crowd."

In October, Smith posted a (naughty) tweet praising Swift on her own music, her then-new and first all-pop album, 1989, which became a smash hit.

Smith released his debut studio album, In the Lonely Hour, last May. He is nominated for six Grammys for the upcoming 2015 ceremony, which takes place on Feb. 8, while Swift received three nods. She has already won a total of seven throughout her career.

In a recent interview with GQ magazine, Smith called Swift a "role model."

"I really respect her," he said. "And she manages to sell a lot of records and make a lot of people happy financially, but also to keep that soulfulness, that honesty."