Taylor Swift has by no means been delicate about her Easter eggs, however “Elizabeth Taylor,” the second observe on The Lifetime of a Showgirl (runtime 3:28), is perhaps her most intricate homage but.
It’s not only a name-drop; it’s a three-and-a-half-minute meditation on what it means to stay and love below relentless scrutiny.
Swift really contacted Elizabeth Taylor’s property earlier than releasing the track. “In the event that they’re actual folks… we go to their household and her property and allow them to know,” Swift advised Scott Mills on BBC Radio 2. “They had been beautiful about it.”
It’s a small gesture, however it speaks to how significantly Swift takes this parallel. She’s not simply borrowing Taylor’s iconography for aesthetic functions.
The track features as what Swift referred to as “form of half cosplay, half singing from your individual perspective” in a radio interview.
She’s entering into Taylor’s footwear whereas concurrently analyzing her personal relationship with fame, and extra particularly, whether or not love can survive it.
The References Run Deep
Swift didn’t simply skim a Wikipedia web page. The lyrical particulars are exact:
“That view of Portofino was on my thoughts” references the Italian coastal village the place Richard Burton proposed to Elizabeth Taylor in 1964, one of the crucial photographed celeb moments of that period.
“Whenever you referred to as me on the Plaza Athénée” nods to the Parisian resort the place Taylor and Burton stayed throughout their tempestuous romance.
“I’d cry my eyes violet” is a double reference: each to Taylor’s famously violet-colored eyes (brought on by low melanin ranges in her irises) and to “Violet Eyes,” one in all her fragrance names.
“I’d commerce the Cartier for somebody to belief (simply kidding)” acknowledges Taylor’s legendary jewellery assortment whereas including a characteristically Swift-ian wink. The parenthetical “simply kidding” is peak 2025 Taylor, self-aware about her personal mythology.
“We hit one of the best sales space at Musso & Frank’s” locations us on the outdated Hollywood restaurant the place Taylor was identified to dine, grounding the track in particular Los Angeles geography.
“All my white diamonds and lovers are eternally” references White Diamonds, the perfume line Taylor launched that grew to become a large enterprise empire, proving she was greater than only a stunning face.
What Swift Is Actually Asking
However right here’s the place the track will get fascinating. It’s structured round a query Swift retains asking: “Do you suppose it’s eternally?” She’s not simply questioning about romantic permanence. She’s interrogating whether or not something lasts once you’re this well-known.
The track addresses considerations about whether or not love can endure intense public scrutiny, with Swift repeatedly questioning “do you suppose it’s eternally?” reasonably than claiming certainty.
Swift has described the observe as being about “fame, consideration, love, notoriety, [and] anxiousness that this isn’t going to be eternally.” That anxiousness permeates each refrain.
The road “Been primary, however I by no means had two” has sparked intense fan debate. Some learn it as chart commentary twisted into relationship concern.
She’s been on the high of the Billboard Scorching 100, however by no means had that essential “quantity two,” her individual. Others see it as a reference to Taylor Swift by no means having discovered that one companion who stays.
Swift references considerations about whether or not her relationships can face up to her stage of fame, repeatedly asking if love will final below the highlight.
Why Elizabeth Taylor?
Elizabeth Taylor married eight occasions to seven completely different males (she married Richard Burton twice). A number of of these marriages had been scandalous.
She had an affair with Eddie Fisher that ended his marriage to Debbie Reynolds, then later left Fisher for Burton. The tabloids had been vicious. Sound acquainted?
Swift explicitly said she consulted with Taylor’s household and property earlier than releasing the track, they usually responded positively to the tribute.
That session suggests Swift sees this as greater than intelligent wordplay. It’s a real reckoning with what Taylor represented.
This isn’t even Swift’s first Elizabeth Taylor reference. On Repute‘s “…Prepared For It?”, she sang “You will be my jailer, Burton to this Taylor.” However the place that 2017 line was swaggering and assured, “Elizabeth Taylor” in 2025 is weak, nearly pleading.
The manufacturing, dealt with by Swift alongside Max Martin and Shellback, helps this emotional arc. The verses sit low and conversational, the pre-chorus tightens, then the refrain opens with vivid syllables and layered backing vocals, a signature Martin/Shellback method. It’s lush with out being overcrowded, giving Swift’s questions room to breathe.
Swift referred to as this observe “one in all my favourite songs” from the album and described it as “equally luxurious and female after which goes actually arduous and actually robust within the refrain.”
That duality, the glamorous floor and the tougher emotional fact beneath, is strictly what makes the Elizabeth Taylor comparability work.
In the long run, “Elizabeth Taylor” isn’t asking whether or not Swift can survive fame. She’s already achieved that. It’s asking whether or not love can survive alongside it, and whether or not she’ll nonetheless be asking that very same query many years from now.
