Blake Lively and Taylor Swift are once again making headlines together, with the release of the latter’s 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl. In fact, the two appear to be crushing all those reports about there being a potential feud between them, as the Gossip Girl actress reacted heartily to the singer dropping her new album.
Taking to Instagram, Lively was among the enchanted fans to react to Swift’s post shared on October 3, 2025, tapping the like button to show her love for the singer’s latest album (see here on X). The Instagram post featured a carousel of Swift’s images from the album, with the caption officially announcing the release of the same.
A post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift)
For those unversed, reports had been making rounds on the internet lately that Swift’s long-term friendship with Lively has come to an end, amidst the fire Lively has been facing as of late due to her ongoing legal issues with Justin Baldoni. But with this move – and ostensibly with Swift’s track CANCELLED! – it feels like the two are slamming those rumors.
Is Taylor Swift’s CANCELLED! About Blake Lively?
After what feels like ages of waiting for her response to comment on her current friendship status with Blake Lively, 38, Taylor Swift, 35, just dropped a track on her newest album that appears to be her sly update on the same: CANCELLED!, The 10th song on her album pretty much proclaims that the singer likes her “friends cancelled.”
This track also had Swift noting that her ‘cancelled’ friends can always count on their friendship, irrespective of whatever happens to them in the public eye. On the pre-chorus, she sang,
Did you girlboss too close to the sun? / Did they catch you having far too much fun? Come with me, when they see us, they’ll run / Something wicked this way comes.
Then, in the chorus, she proceeded to add the lyrics that are further fueling speculation that the song might as well be about her friendship with Lively. The Bad Blood
I like ‘em cloaked in Gucci and in scandal / Like my whiskey sour / And poison thorny flowers. Welcome to my underworld / Where it gets quite dark / At least you know exactly who your friends are.
Notably enough, many of these references match up with Lively. Like how she was the face of Gucci, and also has her own brand of sours, i.e., Betty Buzz liquor brand. Not to mention, she also did that ‘flower’ movie – It Ends with Us – all of which feels like more than enough clues to connect the lyrics to Swift’s update on her friendship with Lively.
What Has Taylor Swift Said About CANCELLED!?
While the ongoing speculation about CANCELLED! being about her friendship with Lively is high, Swift herself has yet to confess who exactly she wrote that song about. However, she did explain during an Amazon Music intro to the track that the takeaway of the song is really about how she sees people differently, having gone through her own public scandals.
The Look What You Made Me Do singer noted (via Amazon Music),
Having had my own experiences with mass judgment and being at the center of many dramatic, sort of scandalous moments in my career, it makes me move through the world a little bit differently. And when other people go through it, find yourself thinking about how they’re probably gonna get smarter because of this.
Continuing, she also pointed out some really smart facts, even emphasizing how she doesn’t just cast people aside from her life simply because other people decide they don’t like them. Swift said,
If they can get through it, if they can be tough enough, they can actually learn some things through this process. [I don’t] naturally cast people aside just because other people decide they don’t like them. I make my own decisions about people based on how they treat me within my life and their actions.
Well, if that’s the case, chances are that Taylor Swift actually didn’t quite decide to end her friendship with Blake Lively due to her ongoing legal troubles and all the fire and backlash she has been facing from fans worldwide, which pretty much everyone believed to be true from all those insider claims and reports.
And if it’s indeed true that Swift hasn’t let go of Lively yet, then this might as well have just been an exceptional marketing trick to boost her latest album, considering how her silence all this time had fans believing all those rumors and reports were true.
Fans Share Their First Reactions to CANCELLED!
It hasn’t been long since Taylor Swift released The Life of a Showgirl, and yet, fans are already going wild with their reactions to the same. But what’s especially gaining a lot of attention under the limelight is her song CANCELLED!, which appears to be garnering mixed reactions from all the Swifties worldwide.
On the one hand, there are those fans – who are also Blake Lively’s supporters – who are super hyped about the song while connecting the dots to it being Swift’s update on where her friendship with Lively currently stands. Extending their support to this song, here’s what this part of the fandom has to say on X:
CANCELLED! IS THEE SONG THE REPUTATION FAN INSIDE ME HAS BEEN YEARNING FOR FOR YEARS #TSTheLifeOfAShowgirl pic.twitter.com/1nUbiBVIEw
taylor said fuck you to all the blake lively haters in CANCELLED! oh don’t cry tiktok swifties that only believe men pic.twitter.com/EvajugxwGV
The grifters were expecting Taylor to make diss songs about Blake Lively and instead she wrote a song about how she loves her “cancelled” friends instead pic.twitter.com/xOCXEvEobe
Taylor Swift saying fuck everyone who said she had to drop Blake Lively and “cancelled” basically being a defender song pic.twitter.com/g85fAjPYsp
I fucking love that all the pick-mes tried to convince everyone “ruin the friendship” was about Blake Lively (which is a sweet song about a boy) but instead Taylor wrote “Yeah it’s a good thing I like my friends cancelled, I salute you if you’re too much to handle” about Blake 🧡 pic.twitter.com/Kn8PXGRszz
good thing i like my friends cancelled 😙 pic.twitter.com/sYYMxxjLhI
On the other hand, there are other fans who are criticizing Swift for the song because of its lyrics and how she released it in the current sociopolitical climate; namely, with the MAGA controversy, the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and the never-ending debate between the zionists and the humanitarians who condemn Israel’s hideous actions.
Here’s how this other part of the fandom is currently lashing out at the billionaire star on X:
"I like my friends cancelled" is the most tone deaf lyric a white billionaire with MAGA friends could release in this climate.. pic.twitter.com/91wEohdFM8
your ‘cancelled friends’ are zionists and trump supporters and ppl are calling you tone-deaf because you actually are. corny ass song pic.twitter.com/5vyRiVMgYM
“good thing i like my friends cancelled” is crazy knowing her friends are zionists trumpies and SA apologists girl bye pic.twitter.com/BHPGuzx8uU
Taylor Swift: “I like my friends cancelled”
The friends: pic.twitter.com/OLuv8uMqwB
hearing billionaire @taylorswift13 sing i like my friends cloaked in gucci and CANCELLED!in this sociopolitical climate pic.twitter.com/Jy3GdfLe1a
taylor swift writing CANCELLED! after being called out for having zionist, maga friends. okay white girl
While that’s that, there’s more to this story than what meets the eye. For one, all those eagle-eyed fans out there might as well remember that there’s a very valid reason why it’s unlikely that CANCELLED! is about the It Ends with Us legal drama.
Swift wrote the album The Life of a Showgirl during her Eras Tour, which wrapped up in December 2024. For the record, this happened a couple of weeks before Lively accused Justin Baldoni of s-xual h-r-ssment, which he has since denied, by the way (via E! Online). That said, all this speculation about CANCELLED! could turn out to be false as well.
Either way, for now, we’ll let all those genius Swifties around the world decode the latest secret message that their icon has sent their way with her newest album. As for you, if you have something to say or share about the same, the comments section is your safe space!
