Big-screen musicals are a staple of the holiday season, and this year audiences can have a jellicle ball with the live-action take on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Broadway smash, Cats. The upcoming release features a long list of A-list talents such as Ian McKellan, Judi Dench, Idris Elba, James Corden, Jennifer Hudson and Rebel Wilson. Additionally, mega pop star and well-known cat person, Taylor Swift plays Bombalurina and co-wrote an original song for the movie.
The new Cats song is called “Beautiful Ghosts” and Taylor Swift wrote the lyrcis to a new tune by Andrew Lloyd Webber himself. Check out the haunting tune, boasted by the "Lover" singer’s impressive display of vocals:
That final note, though! Like most things Taylor Swift does, when she goes for it, she really goes for it. The new ballad has the country singer belting about being afraid to take chances and wanting to be wanted. The title seemingly means to have nice memories or dreams to think about despite a current life of despair. The song also has a tinge of a hopeful note as she seems to mention a newfound family of sorts. It is Cats, plot confusion is all part of the experience.
Although Taylor Swift sings her penned song “Beautiful Ghosts” here, in the movie the central cat Victoria (played by ballerina Francesca Hayward) will sing it on screen. When the play’s original composer Andrew Lloyd Webber read Tom Hooper’s script, he felt a new song for Victoria was needed. So he sat at the piano and wrote a new melody and Taylor Swift effortlessly filled in the lyrics.
In preparation to build upon the iconic musical, Taylor Swift read the source material to Cats, T.S. Eliot’s 1939 poetry collection, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. She jokes if you can’t get T.S. Eliot, you get T.S. (her initials). Check out the behind-the-scenes on “Beautiful Ghosts” in the featurette below:
So far, big purrs for Cats has revolved around the CGI feline characters created for the movie. As soon as the first trailer for the film was unleashed over the summer, the internet had a massive field day – calling it the stuff of nightmares. Someone even made a mashup of the trailer with Stephen King movies.
When Cats opens on the same weekend at Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker, it’s expected to debut around $10 to $20 million domestically. The movie not only has Taylor Swift in it, but an original song she wrote. Maybe this will buff up interest? Swift’s Bombalurina is a secondary character in the muscial but sings four songs! See it on December 20.
