AJ McLean shared a video reacting to a remix that combined “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” and the Life of a Showgirl track, with Swift commenting, “OH HI AJ OH MY GOD”
The Max Martin Musical Universe is colliding. On Instagram, AJ McLean shared a video reacting to a fan-made mashup that combined Backstreet Boys‘ “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” with Taylor Swift‘s “Elizabeth Taylor.” The mega-mix made its way to Swift, who was tagged in the caption and commented, “OH HI AJ OH MY GOD.”
In the caption of the post, McLean wrote, “Come on now you know one of us had to!”
On TikTok, the audio created by a fan named Lyd has been used in more than 5,300 videos. A full remix was released on Soundcloud earlier this month after the semi-viral snippet was shared with the caption, “My brain immediately heard the drop in Elizabeth Taylor and I was like wait the bass is giving a drop in BSB…lo&behold, Max Martin produced both songs!”
In the 10 days since Lyd shared the complete remix, the release has been streamed more than 270,000 times on Soundcloud and racked up nearly 16,000 likes. The mix overlays Swift’s vocals on The Life of a Showgirl‘s “Elizabeth Taylor” with the percussive instrumental from “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back).”
It isn’t the first time releases from the Backstreet Boys and Swift have been put in conversation with each other. Back in 2017, the group created a literal conversation when they combined the phone call in their Black & Blue single “The Call” with the declaration Swift made into the receiver on Reputation‘s “Look What You Made Me Do.” “Look what you made us do, Taylor Swift,” the band captioned the post at the time.
It’s fitting, then, that The Life of a Showgirl marks the first reunion between Swift and Martin since Reputation. “By the time we came back together, I feel like we had so much more dexterity to what we do,” she said during a podcast appearance. Along with Shellback, she continued, “it felt like all three of us in the room were carrying the same weight as creators.”
