Taylor Swift recently expressed her excitement over a Backstreet Boys mashup. The pop superstar reacted enthusiastically to a video featuring Nick Carter dancing to a mix of the band’s "Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)" and her song "Elizabeth Taylor."
Carter, 45, shared the dance video, which had been created after AJ McLean posted the mashup. An Instagram post from Thursday, October 23, stated, "Everyone will love this mashup! You know we do, @TaylorSwift."
Swift, 35, was quick to comment on the video. She wrote in all capital letters, conveying her high level of emotion. "OH, THE SCREAM," Swift responded. "I JUST SCREAMED." Carter later reposted the clip to his Instagram stories, including a screenshot of Swift’s comments.
Earlier in the week, Swift was equally impressed when McLean, 47, shared his own video. He sang along to the "Everybody" and "Elizabeth Taylor" mashup. "OH HI AJ, OH MY GOD," Swift commented on TikTok. The combined song was originally created by Lydia Getachew on SoundCloud.
McLean, Carter, and their BSB bandmates—Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, and Kevin Richardson—released "Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)" in 1997. That track was co-written by Max Martin. Martin also produced Swift’s "Elizabeth Taylor" and her entire album, The Life of a Showgirl, alongside Swift and Shellback.
Swift released Showgirl, her twelfth studio album, earlier this month. The album features a song titled after the acclaimed actress, Elizabeth Taylor. Swift recalled the inspiration for "Elizabeth Taylor" came from a clip her parents sent her. It featured Elizabeth Taylor’s son, Christopher Wilding, making a complimentary comparison.
Wilding suggested that if there were one person today comparable to his mother in personal terms, amidst all the surrounding chaos, it would be Swift. "When I read it, I immediately started talking to Travis [Kelce, my fiancé] about it," Swift recounted in a Pandora TikTok video. "I just kept talking about Elizabeth Taylor, all the things about her that I love, everything that made her so glamorous, fun, witty, and interesting." Swift noted how Taylor continued to challenge herself into the latter stages of her life.
Elizabeth Taylor died in 2011 at 79. Her son Christopher Wilding has frequently praised Swift and her career achievements in the years since.
Swift described the moment of inspiration to Kelce, 36. She joked that she had to quickly record the melody on her phone. "It was like, ‘Wait a second, we’re parked and I have to step out of the car for a second,’" Swift said in the October video. "I just sang this melody into my phone, got back in the car, and that’s what it feels like when that happens."
Swift’s ode to Taylor is one of several tracks on Showgirl that chronicle her romance with Kelce. He proposed to her in August.
Swift explained the song’s origin at her "Release Party of a Showgirl" event. "It has to do with fame, attention, love, notoriety [and] the anxiety of this not being forever, and how shattered would you be then?" she detailed. "The first line that came to me was, ‘I cry violet eyes, Elizabeth Taylor,’ and from that moment on, I was obsessed with this song." She wanted to tell a story referencing aspects of Taylor’s life that paralleled her own.
"I used details from her life, but the feelings of what it conveys are things I’ve experienced over and over again," Swift concluded. "We really got into this song, the production is something I’m very proud of. It’s just as luxurious and feminine, and then it becomes very strong and powerful in the chorus. It’s one of my favorite songs."