Taylor Swift is ready to go back to December with ex-boyfriend Taylor Lautner — by having him star in her “I Can See You” music video.
The Grammy-winning songstress, 33, debuted the music video during her Friday, July 7, Eras Tour stop in Kansas City several hours before it dropped on YouTube. In the footage, Swift — dressed in her Speak Now era, complete with the “Long Live” lyrics written on her arm — is locked in a bank vault, desperate to escape. Lautner, 31, Joey King and Presley Cash, for their parts, are tasked with breaking her out.
“I wrote this video treatment over a year ago and really wanted to play out symbolically how it’s felt for me to have the fans helping me reclaim my music,” Swift wrote via Instagram later on Friday evening. “I had my heart set on @joeyking, @taylorlautner and @helloimpresleycash starring in it. Joey and Presley had been in the video for ‘Mean’ when they were 9 and 13 and they are back and so ridiculously bad ass!! Taytay is INCREDIBLE in this (didn’t have a stunt double!) and shout out to [his wife, Taylor Dome] for being so awesome to hang with on set. The Tale of 3 Taylors 😆.”
After Swift premiered the video for Arrowhead Stadium concertgoers, she invited the cast onstage. The Twilight star, who dated Swift between August and December 2009, did a backflip down the catwalk after the “Dear John” songstress called his name.
“He was a very positive force in my life when I was making the Speak Now album and I want to say he did every single stunt that you saw in that music video,” Swift — who referred to Lautner as “TayTay” in her introduction — gushed during the concert, per social media footage. “He and his wife have become some of my closest friends and it’s very convenient because we all share the same first name.”
Lautner — who married Dome, 26, in November 2022 — beamed over Swift’s heartfelt tribute, noting he respects her “so much.” He added: “Not just for the singer you are, the songwriter, the performer, but truly for the human you are. You are gracious, humble, kind and I’m honored to know you.”
Swift and Lautner were first linked after playing teenage lovers in 2010’s Valentine’s Day. Amid their early romance, the Michigan native was front-and-center when Swift won a Video Music Award in 2009 before her moment was overshadowed by Kanye West proclaiming that Beyoncé should have won the trophy instead.
“Yeah [we had just gone public] and I presented the award to her, so I gave her the award [and] I took five steps back and was standing five feet behind her,” Lautner recalled during a February episode of his “The Squeeze” podcast. “In the middle of giving her thank-you speech, Kanye jumps up onto the stage. I can barely hear it. I can’t see them. I’m just assuming that this whole thing was a practiced and rehearsed skit because why else would Kanye West be jumping up on the stage, interrupting Taylor Swift? It just didn’t make sense.”
He continued at the time: “He jumped off, she finished [and] the second she turned back around and I saw her face for the first time, I was like, ‘Oh. No, that wasn’t good.’”
West, 46, eventually apologized for his actions and Swift took inspiration from the incident while writing Speak Now. Her track “Innocent,” which is featured on the rerecorded album, was penned about the moment and the rapper’s apology.
Swift’s Friday show coincided with the release of her rerecorded Speak Now album, which is the sixth LP that she now owns. To celebrate, Kansas City Swifties were treated to several surprises, including brand-new, purple (to match the era) outfits and surprise songs off the album. Swift sang “When Emma Falls in Love (From the Vault)” and “Never Grow Up” during the acoustic sets, shortly after adding “Long Live” to the Speak Now section. While performing “Long Live,” she strummed the melody on the same koi fish-decorated, blue guitar that she used on the 2010 live tour.
Lautner, for his part, watched the bulk of the show from the VIP tent in the crowd alongside his wife and King, 23. The Kissing Booth actress — who costarred with Swift’s BFF Selena Gomez in 2010’s Ramona and Beezus — also brought her sister, Hunter King, to the concert.
