What the Elizabeth Taylor Estate Really Said About Taylor Swift’s Life of a Showgirl

Taylor Swift named a song after Elizabeth Taylor on her new album and, yes, she actually asked permission. The estate said yes — and then went a step further and cashed in on the moment with merch. Because of course they did.

Swift on name-dropping real people: she checks first

On BBC Radio 2's The Breakfast Show, Swift was asked if she has to give people a heads up when they show up in her lyrics. Her answer was basically: when it is a real person, absolutely — and that includes icons who are no longer with us.

"If they are real people, yeah. If it is like Elizabeth Taylor, we go to their family and her estate and let them know. Yeah. They were lovely about it."

The Elizabeth Taylor track and why it fits

Swift's second track on 'The Life of a Showgirl' is named after Elizabeth Taylor, and it is very on theme: fame, pressure, and the spotlight chewing people up. Swift draws a pretty clear line between her experience and Taylor's whirlwind personal life. Taylor — who died in 2011 — was married eight times to seven men, including twice to Richard Burton, and lived under relentless tabloid glare. That is the connective tissue Swift is playing with here.

There is even a lyric that underlines the parallel: "All the right guys promised they’d stay. Under bright lights, they withered away, but you bloom."

The estate's reaction (and the merch pivot)

Not only did Elizabeth Taylor's estate approve the song, they leaned in. They rolled out a limited edition orange crewneck sweater stamped with 'Elizabeth Taylor' — and the shade matches the color Swift has been using across the album's promo run. It is a savvy, very on-brand cross of legacy and modern fandom economies. Slightly inside baseball, but the color-matching detail is one of those coordinated choices you only notice if you pay attention to rollouts.

Swift's promo sprint: socials and a theater drop

Swift released 'The Life of a Showgirl' on Friday, October 3, and has been in full-court press mode since. She has posted behind-the-scenes photos on Instagram, giving fans a peek at how this thing came together. And because this is Swift, there is also a movie: 'Taylor Swift's The Official Release Party of a Showgirl' is a 90-minute, limited-time theatrical event that just topped the global box office with a $46 million opening weekend.

• Album: 'The Life of a Showgirl' — out Friday, October 3
• Second track: named after Elizabeth Taylor, framing the costs of fame
• Podcast note: Swift says she alerts real people (or estates) named in songs
• Estate response: approved and launched an orange 'Elizabeth Taylor' crewneck that mirrors the album's promo color
• Film tie-in: 90-minute release party movie opened to $46M worldwide