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Why Taylor Swift Name-Dropped Elizabeth Taylor in Her The Life of a Showgirl Track

The song is loaded with references to the late actress and reveals Swift's anxieties about fame and lasting love.
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Why Taylor Swift Name-Dropped Elizabeth Taylor in Her The Life of a Showgirl Track

Taylor Swift has never been subtle about her Easter eggs, but “Elizabeth Taylor,” the second track on The Life of a Showgirl (runtime 3:28), might be her most intricate homage yet. 

It’s not just a name-drop; it’s a three-and-a-half-minute meditation on what it means to live and love under relentless scrutiny.

Swift actually contacted Elizabeth Taylor’s estate before releasing the song. “If they’re real people… we go to their family and her estate and let them know,” Swift told Scott Mills on BBC Radio 2. “They were lovely about it.” 

It’s a small gesture, but it speaks to how seriously Swift takes this parallel. She’s not just borrowing Taylor’s iconography for aesthetic purposes.

The song functions as what Swift called “sort of half cosplay, half singing from your own perspective” in a radio interview. 

She’s stepping into Taylor’s shoes while simultaneously examining her own relationship with fame, and more specifically, whether love can survive it.

The References Run Deep

Swift didn’t just skim a Wikipedia page. The lyrical details are precise:

“That view of Portofino was on my mind” references the Italian coastal village where Richard Burton proposed to Elizabeth Taylor in 1964, one of the most photographed celebrity moments of that era.

“When you called me at the Plaza Athénée” nods to the Parisian hotel where Taylor and Burton stayed during their tempestuous romance.

“I’d cry my eyes violet” is a double reference: both to Taylor’s famously violet-colored eyes (caused by low melanin levels in her irises) and to “Violet Eyes,” one of her perfume names.

“I would trade the Cartier for someone to trust (just kidding)” acknowledges Taylor’s legendary jewelry collection while adding a characteristically Swift-ian wink. The parenthetical “just kidding” is peak 2025 Taylor, self-aware about her own mythology.

“We hit the best booth at Musso & Frank’s” places us at the old Hollywood restaurant where Taylor was known to dine, grounding the song in specific Los Angeles geography.

“All my white diamonds and lovers are forever” references White Diamonds, the fragrance line Taylor launched that became a massive business empire, proving she was more than just a beautiful face.

What Swift Is Really Asking

But here’s where the song gets interesting. It’s structured around a question Swift keeps asking: “Do you think it’s forever?” She’s not just wondering about romantic permanence. She’s interrogating whether anything lasts when you’re this famous.

The song addresses concerns about whether love can endure intense public scrutiny, with Swift repeatedly questioning “do you think it’s forever?” rather than claiming certainty.

Swift has described the track as being about “fame, attention, love, notoriety, [and] anxiety that this isn’t going to be forever.” That anxiety permeates every chorus.

The line “Been number one, but I never had two” has sparked intense fan debate. Some read it as chart commentary twisted into relationship fear.

She’s been at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, but never had that crucial “number two,” her person. Others see it as a reference to Taylor Swift never having found that one partner who stays.

Swift references concerns about whether her relationships can withstand her level of fame, repeatedly asking if love will last under the spotlight.

Why Elizabeth Taylor?

Elizabeth Taylor married eight times to seven different men (she married Richard Burton twice). Several of those marriages were scandalous.

She had an affair with Eddie Fisher that ended his marriage to Debbie Reynolds, then later left Fisher for Burton. The tabloids were vicious. Sound familiar?

Swift explicitly stated she consulted with Taylor’s family and estate before releasing the song, and they responded positively to the tribute.

That consultation suggests Swift sees this as more than clever wordplay. It’s a genuine reckoning with what Taylor represented.

This isn’t even Swift’s first Elizabeth Taylor reference. On Reputation‘s “…Ready For It?”, she sang “You can be my jailer, Burton to this Taylor.” But where that 2017 line was swaggering and confident, “Elizabeth Taylor” in 2025 is vulnerable, almost pleading.

The production, handled by Swift alongside Max Martin and Shellback, supports this emotional arc. The verses sit low and conversational, the pre-chorus tightens, then the chorus opens with bright syllables and layered backing vocals, a signature Martin/Shellback technique. It’s lush without being overcrowded, giving Swift’s questions room to breathe.

Swift called this track “one of my favorite songs” from the album and described it as “equally luxurious and feminine and then goes really hard and really tough in the chorus.” 

That duality, the glamorous surface and the harder emotional truth underneath, is exactly what makes the Elizabeth Taylor comparison work.

In the end, “Elizabeth Taylor” isn’t asking whether Swift can survive fame. She’s already done that. It’s asking whether love can survive alongside it, and whether she’ll still be asking that same question decades from now.

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