Taylor Swift’s Prime Video Partnership Is A Streamer’s Wildest Dream Come True

By Nicole Gallucci @nicolemichele5
Published Sep. 15, 2023, 8:30 a.m. ET

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In the eyes of Swifties, Prime Video‘s reputation has never been better.

While each streaming service offers its own perks, bundles, enticing legacy content, and standout original films and series, in our year 2023, Amazon’s streamer wields a special secret weapon: Taylor Alison Swift.

The past 10 months have been huge for Television (Taylor’s Version), with tracks from the 33-year-old singer appearing in Netflix’s Heartstopper, FX’s The Bear on Hulu, and Prime Video’s The Summer I Turned Pretty and Wilderness. What sets Prime Video’s soundtracks apart from the competition, however, is the fact that the streamer secured three exclusive premieres off of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and Reputation (Taylor’s Version).

Ever since The Summer I Turned Pretty — Prime Video’s popular romantic drama based on Jenny Han’s beloved YA book series — dropped a teaser trailer debuting “This Love (Taylor’s Version)” ahead of its June 2022 premiere, Swift’s songs have dominated the show’s soundtrack, setting the perfect mood for complex teen love stories. In a July episode of Podcrushed, Han revealed, “I wrote [Taylor] a letter and said what she meant to me and what I knew she meant to my readers and how it would be the best gift I could give them…This is probably the best thing that could’ve happened in the show.” She also told E! News that getting to use one of Swift’s songs on the show was her “number one dream,” and Swift has reciprocated love for the show on social media.

In press tours for Season 2, which premiered on July 14, Lola Tung (who attended the Eras Tour with Han), Gavin Casalegno, Christoper Briney, and the rest of the cast were repeatedly asked to share their favorite Taylor tracks. And fans (especially those stuck in their Reputation Eras) went wild upon learning Season 2’s nine Swift songs (plus two used in promos) included surprise debuts of “Back to December (Taylor’s Version)” a week ahead of Speak Now (TV)‘s release, and “Delicate (Taylor’s Version)” ahead of Reputation (TV)‘s October drop.

A+ promo, Tay. And the exclusive reveals didn’t stop there.

Less than a month later, Prime Video dropped the trailer for its upcoming UK original series Wilderness, starring Jenna Coleman, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Ashley Benson. And much to the surprise of Swifties, the thriller’s first look was set to “Look What You Made Me Do (Taylor’s Version),” marking the re-recorded track’s unexpected global debut.

Turns out, “Reputation (Taylor’s Version)” is also the show’s theme song, and the stars of Wilderness are just as shocked that the legendary pop star green-lit the usage as you. “I do feel like we were really lucky to get that Taylor Swift track,” Jackson-Cohen said in an interview shared on Prime Video’s social accounts. “It’s kind of incredible that we’ve managed to, well, number one, that she agreed to let us have the song.”

During the interview, Benson also called the Wilderness theme one of her favorite songs, before admitting, “I can’t really choose a favorite track of Taylor’s, but my favorite record is Reputation, and I could listen to that over and over and over and over again.” Again, A+ marketing happening right before our eyes!

Aside from obvious benefits like delighting fans, the inclusion of Swift’s tracks in TV and film has been proven to boost streams, as shown by “Cruel Summer,” “False God,” and “This Love” — which were featured in TSITP Season 1 — re-entering the Billboard Top 40 three years after their release, or when her 2020 hit “August” returned to Billboard charts after being featured in TSITP Season 2 trailer.

Straying from traditional single drops and harnessing the unique power of TV debuts to promote and hype fans for upcoming albums is a genius move on Swift’s part — one that’s undoubtedly been mutually beneficial for Prime Video, as it’s helped draw eyes, ears, and curious viewers to their original series and platform. Still, despite the rising frequency in collabs between the the singer and streamer, fans still raise an eyebrow after new proof of the partnership, asking hilarious questions like, “what does prime video have on taylor swift like i’m so dead serious” and “is taylor swift running a money laundering scheme through prime video or something.”

Taylor Swift + Prime Video
Photos: Getty Images, Prime Video ; Illustration: Dillen Phelps

Decider reached out to Prime Video show reps for comment, who weren’t able to share any additional info on their high-profile relationship. So while specific details of Prime Video’s business relationship with Swift remain unknown, it’s worth noting that the singer has been linked to the streamer for years. The Swiftifcation of Amazon may feel new because of her music’s rising prominence in the aforementioned 2023 airing series, but Prime Video’s social accounts have been crafting pro-Swift posts to help promote their content for quite some time, Swift headlined Amazon’s Prime Day concert back in 2019, and the singer had fans flocking to watch Thursday Night Football on Prime Video back in October 2022 for a sneak peek at her Midnights album. In celebration of the singer’s Eras Tour earlier this year, Amazon announced that Prime subscriptions would come with free access to all of Swift’s albums for a limited time. And there’s even a connection between Swift’s “Blank Space” music video wardrobe and Prime Video’s popular Summer 2023 rom-com, Red, White & Royal Blue.

As noted, Swift needle drops and creative projects are nothing new — nor are they limited to one streamer — but the singer’s recent use of Prime Video shows to tease new music, plus Prime Video’s use of Swift’s celebrity to expand their audience and build trust in their brand is the stuff of wildest dreams. To crib an old tagline from HBO: it’s not TV; it’s Taylor’s Version.