Taylor Swift & Andrew Lloyd Webber release new song for ‘Cats’

On Tuesday (Oct. 29), Universal Pictures announced that global music icon Taylor Swift and legendary composer Andrew Lloyd Webber have joined forces to create a new, original song for the upcoming Cats film.

The song “Beautiful Ghosts” is based on the record-shattering stage musical of Webber and will be featured in both the film and the end credits.

In the film, the song will be performed by Francesca Hayward, who plays the role of Victoria.  Swift’s rendition of the song will be played over the end titles. Swift will be playing as Bambalurina in the film.

According to Webber, the song was made to further expand the character of Victoria in the film.

“When I first read the screenplay, the first thing I said was, ‘We have to have a song for Victoria,'” Webber said.

“Beautiful Ghosts,” he says, is now, “an incredibly important and central part of the whole film.”

Apart from the announcement of the new song, Universal Pictures also released an exclusive behind-the-scenes video documenting the creation and recording of the song and including an interview with Swift, Lloyd Webber and Hooper. Watch it here:

Cats is directed by Oscar winning filmmaker Tom Hooper (Les Misérables, The King’s Speech), and will be starred by Taylor Swift, James Corden, Judi Dench, Jason Derulo, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, Ian McKellen, Rebel Wilson and Royal Ballet principal dancer Francesca Hayward.

Cats will hit theaters on December 20, 2019.