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Fans were quick to mock a new Taylor Swift figure at the Panoptikum Wax Museum in Germany.
In a joint Instagram video shared by Radio Hamburg and the museum, Swift's new wax figure was officially unveiled. The statue includes Swift's signature blonde hair and bangs, as she raises her hands in a heart gesture. However, the figure makes the shape with her index fingers and thumb, rather than with both of her entire hands as Swift usually does.
The wax figure is wearing pink lipstick, silver dangly earrings, a sparkly blue V-neck jumpsuit (which is pink on the inside), and knee-high silver sequined boots. The outfit mimics the look the “All Too Well” singer initially sported at the iHeartRadio Music Awards in 2019.
In the comments on the Instagram Reel, multiple people have taken the opportunity to criticize the wax figure, mainly because it does not look like Swift.
“Totally unreal, someone did a terrible job,” read one comment, which was translated from German into English.
“No, it can’t be worse,” wrote another, while a third person commented: “There are very few similarities, I barely recognize them, I would vote for a review…”
Others questioned why some of the figure's physical features, from lipstick to hand gesture, were not similar to Swift's.
“Why pink lipstick? Taylor almost always wears red!” wrote one, while another commented: “Wow. I never recognized this before and Taylor always makes the heart with her whole hand. We would have noticed it immediately if we had done a little research. Really embarrassing.”
“Well, it’s definitely not easy to recreate someone out of wax and it definitely takes a lot of work, so I respect her for doing it,” wrote a more sympathetic commenter. “She doesn’t really look like Taylor though.”
On August 13, the museum first issued a press release about the statue's launch, in which Panoptikum Managing Director Dr. Susanne Faerber celebrated Swift's impact on the world of pop culture. She also referenced the “Shake it Off” singer's lucky number, 13.
“With the wax figure of Taylor Swift, we are welcoming a true superstar to the Panoptikum: The award-winning pop singer has an unrivalled fan base and, with more than 300 million records sold, is considered the most successful singer of our time,” Faerber said in the press release, translated from German into English. “August 13 is therefore a truly lucky day for our wax museum – but the number 13 also has great significance for Taylor Swift herself and her countless Swifties.”
The new wax figure is one of many statues of famous people at the Panoptikum, Germany's oldest wax museum. Other wax figures include Ed Sheeran, the late Queen Elizabeth II and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
In July, Swift also performed two consecutive shows at Hamburg's Volksparkstadion.
“Hamburg! Loved those crowds,” she wrote in her Instagram post, which included 10 photos from her shows that week. “And we had a rainy show on the first night, unlocking Fuzzy Hair Me for the evening. I’ve been having so much fun watching these new Eras crowd traditions develop all over Europe… You guys are really quite creative.”
Swift is scheduled to complete her final European shows this week, with five concerts at Wembley Stadium in London. She will have a two-month break before continuing her 2024 tour in Miami in October. Her final show of this tour will be in Vancouver in December.
