Taylor Swift Once Considered for Revolutionary Playboy Magazine Rebrand by Hugh Hefner

Playboy and Taylor Swift together would have been a rather surprising pairing, and in 2016, something was in the works to make something like this happen. Swift was about to be on the covers of the famed magazine.

Hugh Hefner was planning to rebrand the celebrated magazine, and rumors circulated that he had the ideal candidate in place for his plans. After publishing pictures of women in the nude for about 62 years, Hefner's magazine announced in March 2016 that it would no longer be doing so. Hefner was eager to have a "powerful woman" on the cover of Playboy magazine's first non-nude edition, and the 25-year-old Midnights singer seemed like the ideal choice, according to The Things.

A source told IB Times UK, "Playboy wants to make a splash on their first non-nude cover and they would love to have Taylor Swift on the cover and pair that with an amazing interview inside. The Playboy brand knows having such a powerful woman on their cover will show the new look that they are going for as they rebrand."

In October 2016, a source close to Swift informed the outlet that the rumors were "false," even though it was an extremely thrilling idea to consider, especially for Swifties. Hefner was eager to have Swift revamp the brand's "outdated" identity, but it appears that the two sides were never intended to work together.

CEO Scott Flanders explained the company's decision to remove the naked pictures, saying, "You're now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free. And so it's just passe at this juncture." Cory Jones, who worked as the chief content officer of Playboy, explained that the magazine is attempting to modernize and the modifications will make it "a little more accessible, a little more intimate."

For the first time in over 60 years, there was no full-frontal nudity in the March 2016 edition, per StyleCaster. Getting major high-profile celebrities has never been a problem for Playboy; prior covers have included Kate Moss, Charlize Theron, Kim Kardashian, Mariah Carey, and Mariah Carey. However, model Sarah McDaniel ended up being the cover girl for this specific rebrand, continuing where Pamela Anderson left off—on Snapchat.

The magazine was rebranding at the time to appeal to a younger, social media-savvy readership, and McDaniel, who appeared to be clutching her phone for a seductive selfie on the Playbot cover, said that was all part of the new style. “The idea was to look at me from a boyfriend’s perspective,” she said. 

Not only that, but the magazine underwent a very aggressive makeover. The explicit party humor section was removed, and the featured women's published images ceased to undergo photo editing. “There’s a lot that we’re keeping of the DNA of the magazine, but there’s a lot we’re evolving, too,” Cory Jones told CNNMoney.