Taylor Swift Said a Disappointment on the Set of ‘Cats’ Turned Into a Major Opportunity

Taylor Swift appeared in the 2019 musical Cats, to her great excitement. Swift previously auditioned for a part in Les Misérables, and director Tom Hooper later approached her about Cats. While she said she appreciated getting a part, she’d hoped for a bigger role in the film. Swift shared her disappointment when she heard there would be a new original song for the film that she wouldn’t help write. Ultimately, though, she managed to get involved in the song’s creation.

Taylor Swift spoke about writing a new song for ‘Cats’

When Swift joined the cast of Cats, she learned that Victoria the White Cat would have a song. While the role existed in the original musical, the character did not have any solo singing parts. In the movie, however, she would sing a new original song.

“I had heard these rumblings and rumors like, ‘They want a song. Andrew [Lloyd Webber is] going to write an original song for Victoria, the lead cat.’ And I was just like, ‘Aw man, I so badly want to get in on that,’” Swift told Zane Lowe for Beats 1 (per Variety). “But I (also thought), ‘I can’t crash this … I really wish that I could write that with him, but whatever.’”

After rehearsing for her “Macavity” song, Swift said Webber sat at the piano and began playing something she didn’t recognize. Immediately, she knew this was the original song.

“I knew where in the movie they were going to put her song,” Swift said. “I had been kind of gathering data, but I had no idea what the song was like. I didn’t have sheet music … I knew that it would be right after Jennifer Hudson sings ‘Memory.’ I thought, wouldn’t it be interesting if you had this little young kitten reflect off of what she just heard and give sort of her counter point of view?”

Ultimately, Swift’s opinions on the song came in handy. Webber had a melody, but not lyrics.

“I learned later that they had this beautiful piece of music, but they didn’t know what they wanted the cat to say,” she said. “So I was like, ‘Got you.’ Like, ‘I know what that cat would say.’”

The resulting song, “Beautiful Ghosts,” went on to receive an Oscar nomination.