Taylor Swift’s new music video for “Elizabeth Taylor” has sparked a passionate response from Swifties. Some fans are crying their eyes violet over their disappointment, while others are begging critics to get a grip. Of course, all of the discourse is taking place on the lovely, totally non-toxic place that is the internet.
Swift surprise-dropped the visual for her latest The Life of a Showgirl single on Tuesday. The video is somewhat of a departure for the pop superstar in that she doesn’t actually star in it. Instead, Swift pays homage to Taylor with clips from the Hollywood icon’s classic films and archival footage of the A-list actress’ dazzling life in the spotlight. It’s a fitting visual complement to the dramatic track, which draws many parallels between both Taylors.
Even so, some fans online didn’t appreciate the effort and voiced their thoughts on social media. “I’m sorry but this is really disappointing if we wanted to see clips of Elizabeth Taylor we could search them up on our own. This is just lazy,” wrote one X user. Meanwhile, another X user compared the visual to a fan-edit: “Taylor posting an Elizabeth Taylor edit is so real.”
Others were in full denial that the music video was the “official” video for the song. One fan account wrote, “I swear this has to be an April Fools’ joke right?” Another fan praised the “classy” approach, but also believed another video was coming. “This is probably to keep people hooked while they prepare the actual video… I just expected way better than archival footage for this,” they wrote.
“It’s just a montage of elizabeth taylor? THATS the music video? 😭 girl i thought u were excited to do them for this album what happened,” another user wrote on X, referring to Swift’s interview with Heart Radio where she claimed, “I want to make more music videos. I actually have time to do stuff like that.”
Other fans online found the humor in the straight-forward homage by making spoof “music videos” for other Showgirl tracks. One user edited Swift’s “Wood” to a clip of literal redwood trees, while another played “Honey” atop a video of someone harvesting honey from honeycombs.
Some Swifties were into it. “Calling this a fan edit when it’s a very well compiled video from elizabeth taylor archives is so insulting to the editor… it’s still art,” one X user wrote. “The permissions money and time it must’ve taken them to be able to use all of the clips in a music video… i do like that in this way she honors her, essentially the reason for the song even existing, what a tribute,” wrote another.
One fan couldn’t believe that the wave of negativity towards the video. “Wait people are ACTUALLY upset about this? girl log off it’s never that deep and the archival footage of elizabeth taylor is a perfect tribute and fits the song beautifully,” they wrote.
This isn’t the first The Life of the Showgirl sent the internet into a tizzy. When the superstar released her 12th studio album on October 2025, she faced lots of criticism and even some outlandish accusations aimed towards her latest project. A data analysis from research firm GUDEA found that some of the most outrageous claims were, in fact, a part of a coordinated attack from “inauthentic accounts.”
Last week, in an acceptance speech at the iHeart Radio Music Awards, Swift mentioned the powerful, often negative force that the internet can be. “I’m a firm believer that anything you feed your mind, it will internalize. Anything you feed the internet, it will attempt to kill and I don’t want that for your dreams,” she said.
