Elizabeth Taylor

Album

The Life of a Showgirl

Label

Republic Records

Genre

Synth-popxxx

Composer(s)

Karl Johan Schuster;Karl Martin Sandberg;Taylor Alison Swift

Entered Chart

Oct 18, 2025

Peak Date

Oct 18, 2025

Released

October 3, 2025

Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011) was one of the most iconic actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age, renowned for her exceptional beauty and powerful screen presence. Her tumultuous personal life included eight marriages to seven different men, most notably twice to actor Richard Burton. "Elizabeth Taylor" is Taylor Swift's homage to the Hollywood screen legend. The song intertwines Swift's reflections on fame and romance with references to Elizabeth Taylor's famously scrutinized personal life. Swift uses the song as an allegory for her own experiences under intense public and media attention, as well as her search for lasting love. Swift opens the song with a wink and a question: Elizabeth Taylor, do you think it's forever? It's both invocation and mirror, the same fascination with a permanence that's been haunting her lyrics since she sang "So it's gonna be forever, or it's gonna go down in flames" on "Blank Space." Across the verses, Swift stitches together fragments of Elizabeth Taylor's legend - the diamonds, the jet-setting, the string of marriages - until they shimmer into a larger meditation on the price of living life under a microscope. The details are deliciously Swiftian. "I'd cry my eyes violet," she sings, referencing Elizabeth Taylor's striking violet eyes. "All my white diamonds and lovers are forever" nods to the Hollywood legend's perfume empire and her devotion to beauty that lasts. There's a mention of Portofino, on the Italian Riviera, where Richard Burton proposed on a wisteria-covered terrace, and the Plaza Athénée in Paris, another location Elizabeth Taylor frequently visited. Fun fact: There was a 1,329% increase in Google searches for the luxury coastal town of Portofino within hours of the song's release. Swift previously referenced Elizabeth Taylor in "...Ready For It?" from Reputation. You can be my jailer, Burton to this Taylor Every love I've known in comparison is a failure When she wrote "...Ready For It," Swift was in the honeymoon period of her relationship with Joe Alwyn. A British actor like Elizabeth Taylor's husband Richard Burton, Alwyn was Swift's boyfriend from late 2016 to 2023. Taylor Swift wrote "Elizabeth Taylor" with Max Martin and Shellback. The trio composed all 12 tracks for the pop princess' The Life of a Showgirl album, marking their first collaboration since the Reputation era. On "Elizabeth Taylor," they drape Swift's reflections in lush pop production, sweeping strings, a cinematic synth swell, and piercing chorus harmonies. "In the time that we kind of took a break from working together, we were all out there honing powers of different types, and one of the things that I was really playing with in our time away was writing in character, and kind of developing these characters and these character arcs and things – and that is present on this record," Swift told BBC Radio 1's Greg James. "Even though it's about my life, sometimes you cosplay, like, this is a love song through the lens of Elizabeth Taylor's life." "Elizabeth Taylor" fits squarely within The Life of a Showgirl's overarching themes: navigating public scrutiny, surviving heartbreak, and finding "real" love. In interviews, Swift explained she regarded Elizabeth Taylor not just as an icon, but as a kindred spirit. "She handled being under a microscope with humor," Swift told Amazon, "and she just kept making incredible art." It's not hard to see the parallel: both women mastered the art of turning personal chaos into creative gold, surviving the very glare that tried to consume them. Another reason Taylor Swift connects with Elizabeth Taylor is the Hollywood icon's razor-sharp wit. "She was so funny," Swift told Jimmy Fallon. "She used humor as a device against anybody, any of her detractors or whatever. I've done that with songs like 'Blank Space' when people are like [adopting a whiny, sing-song voice] 'Are you a man-eating serial dater?' I just feel like, 'let me write a song from that perspective. That's hilarious.' I think you have to be able to combat negativity with humor. That's my favorite thing about her. I just wanted to make a song that felt as luxurious and glamorous as she was. We had a harp – we pulled all the stops for her. Everybody should be obsessed with Elizabeth Taylor." Elizabeth Taylor's son, Christoper Wilding, was quite pleased with this song. He had this to say about it: "Taylor and my mom do seem like kindred spirits. They were both the very embodiment of female empowerment."

Elizabeth Taylor
Do you think it's forever?

That view of Portofino was on my mind
When you called me at the Plaza Athénée
Ooh, oftentimes it doesn't feel so glamorous to be me
All the right guys promised they'd stay
Under bright lights, they withered away
But you bloom
Portofino was on my mind
And I think you know why

And if your letters ever said, "Goodbye"

I'd cry my eyes violet, Elizabeth Taylor
Tell me for real, do you think it's forever?
Been number one, but I never had two
And I can't have fun if I can't have (uh)
Be my NY when Hollywood hates me
You're only as hot as your last hit, baby
Been number one, but I never had two
And I can't have fun if I can't have you


Hey, what could you possibly get
For the girl who has everything and nothing all at once?
Babe, I would trade the Cartier for someone to trust (just kidding)
We hit the best booth at Musso & Frank's
You say I'm bad news, I just say, "Thanks"
And you look at me like you're hypnotized
And I think you know why

And if you ever leave me high and dry

I'd cry my eyes violet, Elizabeth Taylor
Tell me for real, do you think it's forever?
Been number one, but I never had two
And I can't have fun if I can't have (uh)
Be my NY when Hollywood hates me
You're only as hot as your last hit, baby
Been number one, but I never had two
And I can't have fun if I can't have (uh) you

Elizabeth Taylor
Do you think it's forever?
If I can't have you


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

I'd cry my eyes violet, Elizabeth Taylor
Tell me for real, do you think it's forever?
Been number one, but I never had two
And I can't have fun if I can't have you (uh)
Be my NY when Hollywood hates me
You're only as hot as your last hit, baby
Been number one, but I never had two
And I can't have fun if I can't have-

All my white diamonds and lovers are forever (Elizabeth Taylor)
In the papers, on the screen, and in their minds (do you think it's forever?)
All my white diamonds and lovers are forever
Don't you ever end up anything but mine
Oh