Celebrities
‘Empire’: It’s past time for a Taylor Swift visit & you know it
As Season 3 of “Empire” stomps along on its nonstop, fraught stream of top notch guest spots, Wednesday’s (Nov. 2) episode sent a subtle yet pointed invitation for Taylor Swift to jump on the hip-hop series’ fast-moving train… And such an invitation couldn’t have come at a better time.
With the loss of Rhonda (Kaitlin Doubleday), Freda (Bre-z) out of jail but back in the Projects, and Tiana’s (Serayah McNeill) album pushed back again, the show is in desperate need of some girl power. Without Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) around yelling at everybody the show would be 100% male-centric ego battle, and we already have, uh, a few shows about that.
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Right now “Empire” is dragging a little, with the Lyon brothers once again arguing, and once again falling for their father’s calculated, devious moves. And now Angelo (Taye Diggs) has vowed to fight against Lucious (Terrence Howard) to win Cookie’s heart. It’s a bunch of men acting like children — we miss the slew of powerfully smart and talented women, running studios and labels, with laser-like focus on the one thing that truly matters: Making good music.
Swift’s presence could easily get everything back on track. Tiana has been underutilized on “Empire” from the start, even though audiences can’t ever get enough of the 21-year-old triple threat. With her current storyline — the search for a perfect single to get her new album rolling — the perfect solution to come help a girl out would be one of Serayah’s real life besties!
The “Shake it Off” singer definitely knows a thing or two about chart-topping records — and while “Starlight” is a pretty song, Cookie is right in demanding Tiana come out with an anthem track if she wants to steal attention from Hakeem (Bryshere Gray) and Jamal (Jussie Smollett) over at Empire Records.
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Imagine Swift in the recording studio with Tiana, Cookie sitting in the booth producing… It’s almost too awesome. And Swift personally called up Serayah to be in her “Bad Blood” video, which won her enough awards to fill an entire mantle — perhaps it’s time for Miss 1989 to pay back the favor.
Swift is already a huge fan of “Empire” — she regularly tweets at her 81.5M followers to watch the FOX series — and her relationship with Serayah has continued on way after that femme fatale #squad video (ft. Kendrick Lamar!) finally wrapped. Serayah joined Swift at her infamous 4th of July party, surprised audiences by coming on stage with her in Chicago during the “1989” World Tour, and they hit Coachella together just this past year.
It’s not a stretch to imagine these two coming together for a duet — we just need show creator Lee Daniels and showrunner Ilene Chaiken to reach out and make it happen!
When Esquire interviewed Serayah in April about singing with Swift, she said, “We haven’t made concrete plans to record yet, but Taylor’s given me a lot of important advice since I’ve gone into the studio… She’s such a talented artist, and has reminded and encouraged me to stay true to how I see myself and how I want to convey myself in my music career, and to stick to that as I move forward with recording.”
Having Swift play herself — or at the least, a maximized, glorified version of herself, like the show’s done with Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson, and most recently Mariah Carey — would be art mirroring real life, and we’re dying for it to happen. And if Hakeem were to throw in a sick verse or two? Well, be still our “Empire” hearts! There is no downside to making this kind of TV magic happen.
“Empire” airs on Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on FOX.