Gayle knows that everything happens for a reason.

Late last year, the 19-year-old star canceled her North American tour to focus on her mental health. In a new interview with NBC News Now, Gayle shared how the “intimidating” experience ultimately led to something better — opening for Taylor Swift on select dates of her groundbreaking Eras tour. “If I would had gone on the tour, I wouldn’t have been able to meet Taylor, and to have been able to open up for her,” she said. “So I kind of see it as, like, an ugly blessing. It was a big lesson for me to look at myself and understand that taking care of yourself can work out for you in the long run.”

She also reflected on first meeting Swift, joking about how nervous she was in the moment. “She was like, ‘What are you doing next year?’ I was so nervous. I was like, ‘Yes, ma’am, I’m doing music next year.’ And she’s like, ‘OK, do you tour?’ I was like, ‘Yes ma’am, I tour.’ And then she was like, ‘Well, do you open up for people?’ And I don’t know why I said this, […] I was like, ‘I open up for people who ask me to open up for them.’”

Despite her initial interaction with the “Anti-Hero” superstar, the “ABCDEFU” singer said that the Eras tour was an “incredible” experience. “It was the most amazing thing in the whole entire world,” she gushed. “It’s like having a summer fling that you’ll never forget about. Taylor’s stage is almost the length of a football field and it’s crazy that they let you on that stage. I can only ever make it to the middle of the diamond. But the last show, I was like, I’m just gonna do it. And it took me five minutes to run the whole stage.”

Watch Gayle’s full interview with NBC News Now here.