Taylor Swift’s latest album The Life of a Showgirl that dropped October 2, features a track titled “Elizabeth Taylor.” The song nods to one of Hollywood’s most glamorous and complicated icons, a woman whose love life and career have long fascinated the public.
Elizabeth Taylor and Taylor Swift
This isn’t the first time Swift has referenced Elizabeth Taylor in her music. On her 2017 album Reputation, she name-dropped the star in …Ready For It? with the lyric: “And he can be my jailer / Burton to this Taylor / Every love I’ve known in comparison is a failure…”—a direct reference to Taylor’s famous romance with actor Richard Burton.
The Meaning Behind Taylor Swift’s “Elizabeth Taylor”
In her new song “Elizabeth Taylor,” Swift turns the reference into something more intimate, seemingly addressing the screen legend herself. “Tell me for real / Do you think it’s forever?” The lyric shows Swift’s own longing for lasting love while calling on Taylor as a muse and confidante.
Who Is Elizabeth Taylor?
Elizabeth Taylor rose to international fame in the 1950s and 1960s with starring roles in classics like Cleopatra, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? She won two Academy Awards for Best Actress, but her personal life often overshadowed her work.
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Taylor was married eight times to seven men, most famously to Richard Burton, whom she wed, divorced, then remarried before divorcing again. Their dramatic relationship made constant headlines—similar to how Swift’s own relationships have often been in the spotlight.
The legendary actress also broke ground in other ways when it came to business. Elizabeth was the second celebrity, after Sophia Loren, to launch her own fragrance line. Scents like White Diamonds became a global success—and Swift appears to nod to this legacy in her lyrics:
“All my white diamonds and lovers are forever
In the papers, on the screen, and in their minds
All my white diamonds and lovers are forever
Don’t you ever end up anything but mine.”
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Swift also references Burton’s proposal to the actress in Portofino, Italy saying, “That view of Portofino was on my mind when you called me at the Plaza Athénée.”
Elizabeth Taylor passed away in 2011 from congestive heart failure at the age of 79. True to her signature flair, her private funeral at Forest Lawn Cemetery began 15 minutes late—an intentional detail she requested, so she could be “fashionably late” one last time.
