Taylor Swift’s Re-Recorded "Look What You Made Me Do" Featured in The Handmaid’s Tale
In a significant development, a re-recorded version of Taylor Swift’s hit song "Look What You Made Me Do" has been featured in the latest episode of Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale. The song, which has been fully updated and re-recorded, was used in the opening scene of season 6, episode 9 of the show, and marks one of the first tastes of Swift’s upcoming Reputation (Taylor’s Version) album.
According to a report from Billboard, the scene opens with the handmaids staging an uprising led by June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss) against the Commanders, with the revamped version of the pop star’s Reputation lead single serving as the soundtrack. The scene features re-creations of Jack Antonoff’s original synths and thrumming drum beat, plus a new vocal take from an older, more experienced Swift.
Emmy-winning Handmaid’s star and executive producer Elisabeth Moss told Billboard in an exclusive statement that this musical moment has been a long time coming. "I’ve been wanting to use a Taylor song for many years on the show and we finally found the perfect spot for a track from her, and I’m so glad we waited because there could not be a more perfect song for a more perfect moment," says Moss, who attended a Toronto stop of The Eras Tour alongside her Handmaid’s co-star Bradley Whitford last year.
Moss also revealed that she and her co-stars are all fans of Swift’s music, and that it’s an honor to be able to use her song in the final episodes of the show. "Taylor has been such an inspiration to me personally. As a Swiftie myself, and I think I can speak for [co-star] Yvonne [Strahovski] and our entire cast as well, who are all Swifties, it’s such an honor to be able to use her music in the final episodes of our show," she said.
The feature marks one of the first tastes of Reputation (Taylor’s Version) that Swifties have gotten, and it’s a big one at that. The entire sequence includes the full first and second verses of "Look What You Made Me Do," plus two choruses. Released in 2017, "Look What You Made Me Do" was the starting point for Swift’s edgy Reputation era, and the track spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album topped the Billboard 200 for four weeks.
Along with the 14-time Grammy winner’s self-titled 2007 debut album, Reputation is just one of two LPs Swift has yet to re-record as part of her ongoing mission to reclaim the rights to her first six albums’ masters. So far, all four of the re-recordings she has completed — Fearless (Taylor’s Version), Red (Taylor’s Version), Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and 1989 (Taylor’s Version) — have debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
Emmy-winning Handmaid’s Tale editor Wendy Hallam Martin also spoke to Billboard about the use of the song in the show. "In trying many songs for this specific moment in our series and knowing how much Lizzie wanted a strong female voice and message, Taylor was really the artist that delivered both lyrically and tonally," Hallam Martin said. "Our badass main character June in this scene, really was saying ‘look what you made me do’ and the song couldn’t have been more on point. A perfect pairing."
Swift has been teasing her fans with possible clues about the release of Reputation (Taylor’s Version), and many are convinced that she will announce something — possibly a release date — at the American Music Awards on Memorial Day (May 26). With the success of her previous re-recorded albums, fans are eagerly awaiting the release of Reputation (Taylor’s Version), and the feature in The Handmaid’s Tale has only added to the excitement.
