Swift does not appear in the video, instead compiling a “supercut” of scenes from the late actress’s films, alongside archive clips and newsreels showing the star being hounded by paparazzi, News.Az reports, citing BBC.
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The clips include shots from films such as Cleopatra, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and the cult classic Boom!, in which Taylor plays a six-times-divorcee who is visited by the angel of death.
Swift previously spoke of her admiration for the star, saying: “Role models are pretty hard to come by, but I would say she is one of mine.”
Born in London in 1932, Taylor was one of the 20th Century’s biggest movie stars, noted for her unique beauty and her portrayals of volatile and strong-willed characters.
At one time the highest-paid actress in the world, she also garnered attention for her tangled love life.
Speaking to the Elvis Duran show last year, Swift explained how she was inspired to write about Taylor on her latest album, The Life of a Showgirl.
“She is always someone that I’ve looked up to as being this very glamorous, very beloved, but for some reason a polarising figure [and] I found myself in that place, too.
“She was under a microscope so, so intense and she handled it with humour and she got along with her life,” she added in a separate interview with Amazon Music.
“She continued to make incredible art and so this is a love song kind of through the lens of the motif of what she had to go through in her life and sort of the parallels that I feel in my own life.”
Lyrics in the song include clear references to Taylor’s life. It opens in Portofino, the Italian town where the actor Richard Burton first proposed to her – and where she spent four of her eight honeymoons.
The lyric, “I’ll cry my eyes violet”, refers to the star’s famously entrancing eyes; and the line “what could you possibly get for the girl who has everything” namechecks one of her films.
Swift received permission from the estate of Taylor, who died in 2011 at the age of 73, to release the song and to use her likeness in the music video.
Royalties earned when the video is streamed will go to the actress’s estate, which oversees her archive and the Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation.
“My family loves the song, and grandma would have loved it, too,” said Taylor’s grandson, Quinn Tivey, when the song came out last year. “I wish she could have heard it.”
He continued: “Taylor Swift not only made a beautiful homage to Elizabeth Taylor, but it feels like she is addressing her directly while invoking her legacy in a way that is dimensional, confessional, honest, and fun.
“It dances across the trappings of fame and the rollercoaster of falling in love and has so many heartfelt references, from the iconic perfume White Diamonds to her jewellery and, of course, her love of love.”
At the end of the video, some eagle-eyed fans spotted that, although the song was first released in October 2025, the credits read “©2024 Taylor Swift” – confirming that she wrote the track while on the road with her blockbuster Eras tour.
