Being friends with Taylor Swift is like 'having a friend with an autoimmune disease' says Lorde

Her friendship with Katy Perry may have hit the ropes in recent years, but one pop star that's still willing to fight Taylor Swift's corner is Lorde.

The New Zealand pop star, who released her new album 'Melodrama' last Friday, was discussing what it's like to maintain a friendship with someone like Swift in an interview with The Guardian. The pair has been firm friends over the last few years and Lorde has become a member of Swift's so-called 'squad'.

"It’s like having a friend with very specific allergies,” she said.“There are certain places you can’t go together. Certain things you can’t do. There are these different sets of considerations within the friendship. It’s like having a friend with an autoimmune disease.”

Of her 'squad' membership, she said: “It’s an element of wanting to stick together. Because it can be so scary to do this. These friendships, they’re about having a hand put on your shoulder by someone who knows. They’re about hearing, ‘I’ve done it, too’. And it’s never a bad thing to have someone who can empathise with what you’re going through. It’s an element that doesn’t need to be at the core of every friendship, but it definitely doesn’t hurt.”

*UPDATE*

Lorde has apologised for the comments that she made in relation to her friendship with Taylor Swift.

As other media outlets began to pick up on the comments and they were shared around online, Lorde - real name Ella Yelich-O'Connor - took to Twitter to apologise for being 'insensitive'.

See below for her apology and some of the criticism that she came up against: