Idris Elba's cameo on Taylor Swift's "London Boy" nearly makes up for its impossibly lame lyrics

Today, Taylor Swift released her much-anticipated Lover, an 18-track collection of sparkly love songs featuring production by Jack Antonoff and collaborations with St. Vincent and Panic! At The Disco’s Brendon Urie. Give “London Boy” a spin and you might recognize another voice in Swift’s Cats co-star Idris Elba.
“We could go driving on my scooter, you know, just around London,” the Hackney-born actor exudes at the song’s outset, helping usher in the song’s daylong exploration of the city. He didn’t record it specifically for the album; rather, the soundbite comes from a 2017 interview Elba did with James Corden, another Cats co-star. This delighted many, but disappointed those who hoped for a cameo from Swift’s boyfriend, English actor Joe Alwyn, as the song is clearly about the pair’s idyllic, probably heavily fortified trips throughout the city.