Talk show host Jimmy Kimmel left Taylor Swift's fans gobsmacked after convincing them that a song by Lara Trump was actually from Swift's The Tortured Poets Department album after they'd already trashed it.
During a recent episode, Kimmel and his team played a trick on people out in Los Angeles by presenting them with what they thought was a sneak preview of a brand-new Swift song. However, the track was actually the latest single from Lara Trump, the wife of Eric Trump, son of former President Donald Trump.
You can watch what happened in the video below.
Kimmel introduced the segment by acknowledging Swift's dominance in the music scene but also mentioning Lara Trump's new release, Talking to That Little Girl:
"Taylor Swiftโs album isnโt the only major release this month. Itโs the biggest, but we also got a new single a couple weeks ago from RNC co-chair and former first daughter-in-law Lara Trump.
The song's lyrics start with:
โTalking to that little girl / Riding on the pegasus / In this hurricane life / You still gotta spread your wings and fly.โ
To gauge public opinion, Kimmel's team went to a farmers market in Los Angeles and played the song for unsuspecting shoppers, who thought they were listening to a sneak preview of a song from a well-known artist.
The responses were less than favorable, with one listener remarking:
โHonestly, I donโt know who that is; itโs not very good."
Another made the following brutal observation:
"It's really, really robotic โ more like AI.โ
Another woman expressed skepticism, stating, โIt doesnโt sound like her,โ and questioned whether Swift had โhurt her voice.โ Other listeners speculated that Swift may have been ill while recording, with one saying, โShe sounds sick,โ and adding that she might have some phlegm in her throat or that sheโs โdrinking too much, maybe smoking a little weed.โ
One man was especially unimpressed, telling Kimmelโs crew:
โI donโt want to offend the Swifties, but that was the single worst thing that she has ever released that I have personally listened to in my ears.โ
When the crew informed the listeners that the song was not by Swift but by Lara Trump, fans expressed relief with one saying:
"No wonder it sounds bad.โ
When asked to sum up the song in three words, one person described it as "unhinged, unnecessary, unethical," while another succinctly stated, "Try again."
Many were amused by Kimmel's pranksโand were critical of Lara Trump's music.
Lara Trump has come under fire for performing before.
In February, she faced a wave of social media mockery after a video of her singing at Mar-a-Lago went viral. The video, shared by liberal activist Ron Filipkowski, editor-in-chief of MeidasTouch, shows Lara Trump performing her version of Tom Petty's 1989 hit "I Won't Back Down."
The song was used during a 2020 campaign rally for Donald Trump, prompting a cease-and-desist letter from Petty's family. The controversy resurfaced when Lara Trump released a new acoustic cover of the song in November, further drawing criticism for what some deemed a "cheap move."
At the time, Petty's estate said the musicianโwho made no secret of his progressive politics when he was aliveโwould have disapproved of Trump's use of the song, saying Trump "was in no way authorized" to use it "to further a campaign that leaves too many Americans and common sense behind."
