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Why Did Taylor Swift Name A Song After 'It Girl' Clara Bow? Find Out Amid TTPD Release
Taylor Swift's new album The Tortured Poets Department features a song titled Clara Bow, who was an actress in the 1920s and nicknamed The It Girl.
After announcing her studio album The Tortured Poets Department at the 2024 Grammys where she made history by taking home album of the year for the fourth time, Taylor Swift unveiled the official tracklist on February 5, which immediately sparked conversation among Swifties.
The Tortured Poets Department will be Swift’s 11th studio album and may earn her yet another raft of Grammys. But even though its 16 songs haven’t yet made it to the public, one in particular is already getting Swifties and non-Swifties alike buzzing: the closing track, Clara Bow.
Why did Taylor Swift name a song after Clara Now?
Taylor Swift's Clara Bow lyrics were leaked ahead of the release of her new album The Tortured Poets Department. “You look like Clara Bow in this light,” Swift sings.
Swift’s attraction to Bow seems clear and although the singer hasn’t spoken about it yet, there are parallels — a young woman with a unique talent, who captured the zeitgeist and was attacked by the tabloid press.
The song could evoke a similar narrative to her Red song The Lucky One, which was about a starlet escaping the spotlight. Fans also believe the song could draw parallels to Bow and Swift's lives and careers, like her Folklore hit The Last Great American Dynasty, which featured Rebekah Harkness, who lived in Swift's now-owned Rhode Island mansion.
Speaking exclusively with PEOPLE, Bow’s great-granddaughters, Nicole Sisneros and Brittany Grace Bell said they were shocked to learn about Swift's new song, noting that no one from their family had been contacted prior, but were intrigued to hear the track.
Though it’s unclear what Swift’s new song will be about, Sisneros and Bell hope the new track captures the perseverance of their late great-grandmother. “She came from a really tough background and she really made it happen for herself,” Bell said. “I hope she conveys a positive image of Clara Bow, which I think she will. I would imagine that Taylor uses this as a way to highlight her accomplishments, her accolades, her talent. They're both people that have really strong raw talent.”
Sisneros pointed out that there are many parallels between Bow and Swift, from their classic styles and signature red lips to how they dealt with intense media scrutiny in the spotlight. “Clara faced that as well and rose above and had to block it out. Her tenacity to focus on her career [is] very similar to Taylor.”
Noting how both Bow and Swift are "pioneers in their field," Bell added that she thinks her great-grandmother would have been very protective over Swift. Bell referenced a quote Bow previously made about Marilyn Monroe featured in Clara Bow: Runnin' Wild, where she said, "I never met her, but if I had, I would have tried very hard to help her, assemble as a heavy load to carry. Wouldn't one as tired, hurt and bewildered?"
Relating that same quote to Swift, Bell added, “I think Clara Bow would feel the same kinship and protectiveness over someone who's of the same level of fame as her in dealing with the media and how heavy the crown is to carry.”
A brief about Clara Now
Clara Gordon Bow was an American actress who rose to stardom during the silent film era of the 1920s and successfully made the transition to talkies in 1929. Her appearance as a plucky shopgirl in the film It brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl". Bow came to personify the Roaring Twenties and is described as its leading sex symbol.
Bow appeared in 46 silent films and 11 talkies, including hits such as Mantrap (1926), It (1927), and Wings (1927). She was named first box-office draw in 1928 and 1929 and second box-office draw in 1927 and 1930. Her presence in a motion picture was said to have ensured investors, by odds of almost two-to-one, a safe return. At the apex of her stardom, she received more than 45,000 fan letters in a single month, in January 1929.
For her contributions to the film industry, Bow was awarded a motion pictures star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. Her star is located at 1500 Vine Street. n 1994, she was honored with an image on a United States postage stamp designed by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld.
Two years after marrying actor Rex Bell in 1931, Bow retired from acting and became a rancher in Nevada. Her final film, Hoop-La, was released in 1933. Bow spent her last years in Culver City, under the constant care of a nurse, Estalla Smith, living off an estate worth about $500,000 at the time of her death. In 1965, at age 60, she died of a heart attack, which her autopsy attributed to atherosclerosis.
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