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Elizabeth Taylor

Single | The Life of a Showgirl (2025)

“Elizabeth Taylor” is track two on Taylor’s twelfth studio album, The Life of a Showgirl (2025). Co-written by Taylor, Max Martin and Shellback, it was released on October 3, 2025, and became the record’s third single in March 2026. It was the first song Taylor wrote for the record.

Background and Recording

In March 2023, Taylor launched “The Eras Tour,” a career-defining project that would span nearly two years and ultimately become the highest-grossing tour in history, establishing her as the wealthiest female musician of all time. Beyond its unprecedented commercial success, the tour marked a period of profound personal change and artistic reinvention. In its early months, Taylor ended her six-year relationship with actor Joe Alwyn and briefly rekindled a past romance with musician Matty Healy. These turbulent events unfolded against the backdrop of her peak global visibility and inspired the writing of her eleventh studio album, THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT, which went on to become the world’s best-selling album of 2024. Much of the record was conceived while she toured the United States in the spring and summer of 2023.

The following year brought a strikingly different creative direction. After meeting NFL player Travis Kelce in July 2024—a relationship that would later lead to their engagement—Taylor entered what she described as “the most infectiously joyful, wild, dramatic place” of her career. This new chapter inspired her twelfth studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, which reflected a brighter, more exuberant sound. To realize this vision, she reunited with Swedish producers Max Martin and Shellback, long-time collaborators who had helped shape the sonic identity of her early pop work on RED (2012), 1989 (2014), and reputation (2017). Taylor revealed that the project began after she reconnected with Max Martin during the Stockholm stop of “The Eras Tour” in May 2024, and in the months that followed she traveled to Sweden between European tour dates to record the album.

Lyrical Theme

Asked why she adores and resonates with Elizabeth Taylor, Taylor told Jimmy Fallon in October 2025:

«The more polarizing people were about her, the more she kept doing even more challenging roles, taking bigger risks. And she was out here, at the height of whatever scrutiny she may have been under and at the height of her fame. She was winning Oscars and not letting anything stop her from doing it for the reasons she'd always done it.»

Taylor Swift

Response from Elizabeth Taylor's Friends

Upon the announcement of the track title, Elizabeth Taylor’s long-time personal assistant and friend told USA Today:

«I don’t think there’s any question that she would've adored Taylor. I think they would’ve been friends. We couldn’t be more thrilled! It’s a huge tribute to Elizabeth, and we couldn’t have asked for anything better to happen as a way of bringing attention to Elizabeth’s legacy to a younger generation.»

Elizabeth Taylor’s Personal Assistant

Lyrics

[Intro]
Elizabeth Taylor
Do you think it’s forever?

[Verse 1]
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”…

[Chorus]
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…
Be my NY whеn Hollywood hates me
You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby
Been numbеr one but I never had two
And I can’t have fun if I can’t have…you

[Verse 2]
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
They 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

[Bridge]
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…

[Outro]
All my white diamonds and lovers are forever
In the papers, on the screen and in your minds
All my white diamonds and lovers are forever
Don’t you ever end up anything but mine…