Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Taylor Swift may have thrown shade at Cats on new album Evermore

A curious reference to ‘motion capture’ has stoked theories

Adam White
Friday 11 December 2020 10:05 GMT
Comments
Cats - Trailer

Your support helps us to tell the story

This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.

The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.

Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.

Taylor Swift may have thrown shade at her role in Cats on her new album Evermore.

Yesterday (10 December), Swift announced a new album just hours before its release, and for the second time in 2020 following the surprise drop of Folklore in July.

A lyric that has already drawn attention occurs in the opening seconds of track “Evermore”, a duet with Bon Iver that arrives towards the end of the record.

“Motion capture/ Put me in a bad light,” Swift sings, while appearing to reference moments in which she has stumbled.

“I replay my footsteps on each stepping stone,” she continues. “Trying to find the one where I went wrong.”

While Swift has discussed creating non-autobiographical narratives in both Folklore and Evermore, and writing about fictional characters and stories in her latest material, the lyric may be a subtle reference to Cats.

The maligned Andrew Lloyd Webber adaptation was a colossal critical and commercial flop upon release last December.

Swift played Bombalurina, a henchwoman cat working with the film’s villain Macavity (Idris Elba). All of the film’s cast wore motion capture suits during production, turning them into cat/human hybrids in the finished movie that were described by some viewers as “nightmarish”.

The film, which reportedly lost Universal Pictures $113m (£85m), received risible reviews, with one critic comparing it to “a furry orgy in a dumpster”.

Swift has described Evermore as a “sister record” to Folklore, adding in an Instagram caption: “I loved the escapism I found in these imaginary/not imaginary tales. I loved the ways you welcomed the dreamscapes and tragedies and epic tales of love lost and found into your lives. So I just kept writing them.”

Evermore is out now.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in