Taylor Swift Faces Backlash Over Awkward Randy Newman Duet

Taylor Swift contributed a new song to the soundtrack of "Toy Story 5," and at the film’s premiere she performed the beloved theme song, "You've Got a Friend in Me," with Randy Newman. Her singing, for some reason, sounded flat and lacking in character, and listeners noticed. Yiftach Carmeli, mako Published: 11.06.26, 15:11 | Updated: 11.06.26, 16:29 Taylor Swift and Randy Newman on stage | Photo: X

Taylor Swift revealed about a week ago that she is taking part in the soundtrack of the film "Toy Story 5" with a new original song, "I Knew It, I Knew You." At the film’s premiere, she appeared together with musician Randy Newman, who is responsible for its legendary theme song, but disappointed many.

Newman and Swift sang together the classic from the first film, "You've Got a Friend In Me." But compared with Newman’s unique, character-filled voice, Swift’s voice sounded that evening flat and without character or enthusiasm. Many viewers of the performance did not connect with it and felt that Swift had ruined Newman’s classic song.

"It’s amazing how she manages to make every song sound so pale and lifeless," one user wrote on the X platform. "It feels like drunk karaoke at 2 a.m.," another wrote. Another user added: "If I were an artist, I’d be so angry that she covered my song. Her singing is awful." The original poster responded: "Her singing is so flat and with no emotion at all."

Some of Swift’s fans came to her defense, as usual. During the event, Swift also performed live for the first time the original song she wrote for the film, "I Knew It, I Knew You," which is already breaking streaming records. Disney describes the song as "a return to Taylor Swift’s country roots," and it was written in inspiration from the character Jessie in the film, in collaboration with her regular producer Jack Antonoff.

On stage, Swift praised Joan Cusack, who voices Jessie, and said, "It was an honor to write for her."

This was Swift’s first live performance since the Eras Tour, Swift’s massive tour that took her to 149 performances in 21 different countries and earned her about $2 billion.