All About Taylor Swift’s References in ‘Elizabeth Taylor’

Taylor Swift has a new batch of songs for fans to analyze with The Life of a Showgirl.

The Grammy-winner released her 12th studio album on Oct. 3, which features a song called “Elizabeth Taylor,” named after the late Hollywood icon, Elizabeth Taylor. The song, which is the second track on the album, makes several references and nods to some of Taylor’s famous life, while also seemingly relating them to Swift.

Though this track is her first to directly reference the Oscar-winner, Swift has previously paid homage to Taylor. On her 2017 album Reputation, she sang, “And he can be my jailer, Burton to this Taylor,” on the song “Ready for It?” which was a reference to Taylor’s relationship with Richard Burton.

After releasing her latest album, Swift reflected on her admiration for Taylor and explained the meaning behind the song named after her.

“In this record, there’s a song called ‘Elizabeth Taylor,’ which is sort of my emotions and my issues with fame through the lens of cosplaying the life of Elizabeth Taylor, so you kind of meld the two experiences together,” she said in an interview with Z100’s Elvis Duran Show.

Swift continued of Taylor, “She is always someone that I’ve looked up to as being this very glamorous, very beloved, but for some reason a polarizing figure, which I found myself in that place, too.”

From Elizabeth Taylor’s physical appearance to her love life, here’s everything to know about how Taylor Swift referenced the late Hollywood icon in her song.

“Do you think it’s forever?”

Swift opens the song “Elizabeth Taylor” by directly addressing her.

“Elizabeth Taylor / Do you think it’s forever?” and later adding, “Tell me for real, do you think it’s forever?”

Swift leaves the lyrics ambiguous, but it is possible she is referring to whether the constant scrutiny of fame or her happiness in love will last forever.

Just like the singer, Taylor had both her personal life and her successful career widely scrutinized. Taylor, who died in 2011, was one of the most famous movie stars in the 20th century who won two Oscars and various lifetime achievement awards. However, her love life was also under the microscope, as she was married eight times to seven different men and was at the center of a few scandalous affairs.

Similar to Taylor, Swift’s love life has also been a topic of conversation among the public. Now, Swift has found the one with Travis Kelce, whom she got engaged to in August 2025.

In her song, Swift could be asking Taylor if her relationship with Kelce will last “forever.” On a similar note, Swift could also be asking Taylor about the constant attention and complicated level of fame and wondering if that will also last “forever.”

“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,” she adds in the song.

“That view of Portofino” and the “Plaza Athénée”

One of Swift’s more direct references to Taylor is when she sings, “That view of Portofino was on my mind when you called me at the Plaza Athénée.”

Portofino, Italy, was famously one of Taylor’s favorite places to vacation, and she even spent a number of her honeymoons there. The Italian vacation hub was also where Burton proposed to Taylor for the first time.

The second half of the lyric refers to the Plaza Athénée, a five-star hotel in Paris, where Taylor and Burton lived for six months in 1971.

“Eyes violet”

In another direct callout to Taylor, Swift sings, “I’d cry my eyes violet, Elizabeth Taylor.” From the beginning of her career, Taylor was recognized for her breathtaking eyes, which appeared to have a “violet” hue.

Taylor’s eyes, which were naturally deep blue with gray tints, often appeared to look violet because of her lower levels of melanin in her iris, per Live Science.

“The best booth at Musso & Frank’s”

Another reference to Taylor came in the lyrics, “We hit the best booth at Musso & Frank’s.”

Musso & Frank’s Grill is a restaurant in Los Angeles that has been serving celebrities since 1919. Taylor was a frequent diner and would step away from the spotlight by heading into the restaurant’s “famous Back Room,” per the restaurant’s website.

“My white diamonds”

While Taylor may most famously be known for her on-screen roles, she also made history as one of the first celebrities to introduce her own fragrance line. Her perfume, released in 1991, was called White Diamonds and brought in over $1 billion in sales before her death, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Swift seemingly paid homage to Taylor’s innovation and legacy by adding in the song, “All my white diamonds and lovers are forever.”

“In the papers, on the screen, and in their minds”

Taylor was one of the first major celebrities to have all aspects of her life scrutinized in the press, and Swift shared with host Elvis Duran that she related to Taylor and has thought of her as a “role model” in the midst of her own stardom.

“In the papers, on the screen, and in their minds,” she sings. Of course, in the lyrics, Swift could be referring to any number of things — from people who date her forever being cemented as her partner or ex, to every piece of her life getting written and spoken about.

“She was funny,” Swift said of Taylor. “I think she’s just a fabulous role model and person that I hope my fans will look her up and see how much she went through and how she was making her best art. Even at the midst of people’s outrage over something in her life, she continued being at the top of her game in terms of her artistic output.”

For more on Taylor Swift, pick up PEOPLE’s newly updated special edition Taylor Swift A to Z: A Showgirl’s Life, out now.