Oh, Jesus. I truly forgot that we’re going to spend time this holiday/Oscar season talking about CATS, the movie. The movie where celebrities like Idris Elba and Taylor Swift and Jennifer Hudson have to wander around a oversized set and all of their “fur” is added with CGI. The trailer was a terrifying hellscape involving budget AF “fur” and cat boobs. And now we have one more sign of the apocalypse: Taylor Swift and Andrew Lloyd Webber collaborated on an original song for the film. So, you know, that’s the song which will be Oscar-Award-eligible.

When Andrew Lloyd Webber and Taylor Swift had the opportunity to write a song together for “Cats,” they, well, pounced on it.

“We wrote 90 percent of it pretty much over an afternoon,” Lloyd Webber tells Variety about his and Swift’s fast-combusting collaboration on “Beautiful Ghosts,” the one brand new song written for the forthcoming movie adaptation of the 1981 stage musical. They didn’t actually meet up with the intention of writing a new song… at least, not ostensibly. Swift had gone over to Lloyd Webber’s last December during filming to rehearse her performance of a song she sings in the film, “Macavity the Mystery Cat,” in her supporting role as Bombalurina. But at some point in the afternoon the fact that Lloyd Webber had written the instrumental basis of a new song came up. He played it on the piano, she began improvising lyrics and topline vocal elements, and the song now dubbed “Beautiful Ghosts” was nearly done.

“Taylor got to the essence of what the piece is about. It’s not an ordinary lyric,” says Lloyd Webber, who adds that director Tom Hooper considered her attempt “absolutely extraordinary, because it’s as if she really has understood the central message of the piece.”

It’s said to appear at least three times in the movie. “Beautiful Ghosts” is initially sung halfway through the film by Francesca Hayward, who plays Victoria, the white cat that has been made a central figure in the reimagining of the 1981 stage musical. It reappears later in a brief reprise, sung by Judi Dench, as Old Deuteronomy. Finally, Swift herself will be heard performing it under the end titles.

Is Swift’s closing studio rendition a “pop” version? No — sources who’ve heard it say her recording is very much in keeping with the spirit of the rest of the musical, not positioned as a hit single. News of the collaboration satisfies ongoing curiosity on two fronts: how Swift, arguably the biggest pop star in the world, might play a greater musical role on a film project in which her character is not necessarily the lead; and whether any fresh material would be added to the nearly 40-year-old score that might make “Cats” eligible for best song at the Oscars or Globes. (Lloyd Webber won an Oscar in 1997 for a new song he and Tim Rice wrote for Madonna to sing in “Evita.”)

[From Variety]

They talk more about the song and the meaning behind the lyrics but it was all Greek to me. I just… worry about this movie. It’s either going to be a campy mess which people will see to laugh at, or it will be an utter disaster. Those are the only two options, right? And this song… lordy. Of course Taylor will release it as a single! The Snake Fam will demand it!!

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I was so excited when @andrewlloydwebber asked me to write an original song with him for @catsmovie. “Beautiful Ghosts” is performed in the film by the extraordinary @frankiegoestohayward who plays “Victoria” and reprised by Dame Judi Dench (!!!!!) who plays “Old Deuteronomy” ? Coming soon!

A post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift) on Oct 24, 2019 at 4:50pm PDT

Photos courtesy of Cats.