Taylor Swift’s cat Meredith is not a fan of having her picture taken, fans learned last week.
This revelation was posted on Swift’s Instagram page on Friday, April 16, shortly after the release (re-release?) of Fearless – Taylor’s Version, which is a rerecorded version of her sophomore album that the singer/songwriter owns outright, with bonus tracks that missed the cut the first time.
Also appearing are folk/pop singer/songwriter Colbie Calliat (who has worked with Farm Sanctuary and the Humane Society of the United States) and country stars Keith Urban (dog dad of Julian) and Maren Morris on “Breathe,” “That’s When” and “You All Over Me,” respectively.
The announcement had “Forever and Always” playing in the background, which is a bit of an odd choice, as that’s an infectiously happy breakup song – though it could be from Meredith’s purrspective telling the pawpawrazzi to go sway.
Taylor Swift’s cat Meredith hates having her picture taken.
Swifties across social media grew worried after not seeing any updates on Meredith for some time, leading some to believe she was missing, thus the reasoning for the video being made.
“She’s just a really private little cat,” Swift explained in the video, which also features still shots of Meredith with captions in capital red letters saying things like “NO,” “GO AWAY,” “INTENSE DISLIKE,” “STRONG DISCOMFORT,” and “PLEASE STOP.”
Meredith was named after Ellen Pompeo’s character on Grey’s Anatomy, one of Taylor’s favorite TV shows, and appropriately for the pets of a storyteller, all three cats are named after fictional characters.
Her brother Benjamin Button (who made his debut in the music video for Lover‘s lead single “ME!”) has no trouble appearing in the spotlight, basking in the cuddles in the video, and their other sister Olivia (after Kerry Washington’s Scandal character) also soaks up attention when she can.
Some cats simply don’t enjoy having their pictures taken, like with Dog O’Day’s editorial assistant tortoiseshell Rags. So we can understand why Meredith may prefer to keep as low a profile as she can.
Fearless – Taylor’s Version is the 10th album from Swift, following Taylor Swift (2006), Fearless (2008), Speak Now (2010), Red (2012), 1989 (2014), reputation (2017), Lover (2019), folklore and evermore (both 2020), and the first of her inaugural six Big Machine albums to be re-recorded, with the possibility that 1989 – Taylor’s Version will release sometime in May.
It is unclear if Fearless – Taylor’s Version was recorded at Kitty Committee Studios similar to folklore and evermore, named after the noisy felines who wouldn’t shut up if she locked them out of the bedroom.