Taylor Swift has premiered her elaborate new music video for “The Fate of Ophelia“ on YouTube, a visual masterpiece directed by the singer herself. The release comes during a celebratory period for the artist and her fiancé, Travis Kelce, who celebrated his 36th birthday on October 5. The video debuted online just over 48 hours after its exclusive theatrical premiere, part of a limited cinema event that generated a massive $33 million at the box office.
The Grand Premiere of “The Fate of Ophelia”
Taylor Swift released the music video for her lead single, “The Fate of Ophelia,” as a YouTube exclusive on October 5. This online premiere followed a short but highly successful exclusive run in theaters nationwide from October 3-5 as part of “Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl.” The theatrical presentation, which included never-before-seen behind-the-scenes footage and spoken introductions from Swift, is no longer in cinemas.
The music video features Swift and her dancers from the Eras Tour moving through a variety of elaborate settings and costumes. Swift portrays different types of showgirls throughout history, including a classic showgirl with platinum-blond hair, a 1960s go-go dancer, a bathing beauty in a style reminiscent of Esther Williams, and a raven-haired actress in an old-school theater.
In behind-the-scenes footage shown in theaters, Swift explained her vision for the project:
“The idea I came up with for this music video was sort of a journey throughout all these different ways in which over time periods, historically, you could be a showgirl,” she said. “How you would be in the public eye back during the 1800s, when you’d sit for a Pre-Raphaelite painting. Or you could be a showgirl by being a cabaret burlesque club performer.”
The Shakespearean Inspiration Behind the Video
The video and song draw direct inspiration from William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” specifically the character of Ophelia. In the play, Ophelia drowns herself after being driven mad by Hamlet’s actions. Swift offers a different ending for her modern interpretation.
“Ophelia drowned because Hamlet just messed with her head so much that she went crazy and she couldn’t take it anymore, and all these men were just gaslighting her until she drowned,” Swift explained. “But in her version, ‘what if the hook is that you saved my heart from the fate of Ophelia? Like, basically you are the reason why I didn’t end up like this, tragic, poetic hero girl, who passed away in a fictional world?’”
This is not the first time Swift has reimagined a Shakespearean tragedy; she previously gave Romeo and Juliet a happy ending in her song “Love Story.” The video concludes with a shot that recreates the album cover for “The Life of a Showgirl,” which itself is a reference to Sir John Everett Millais’s famous 1850 painting of Ophelia.
A Birthday for Travis Kelce
As Swift’s video premiered online, her fiancé Travis Kelce celebrated his 36th birthday on October 5. The Kansas City Chiefs tight end spent his birthday traveling to Jacksonville for a Monday Night Football game against the Jaguars. He was photographed arriving in a distinctive white-and-brown shirt covered in drawings of ducks and birds, paired with cream pants and a brown Baker Boy cap.
Kelce’s birthday comes just two days after the release of Swift’s new album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” which includes a song titled “Wood” that contains lyrics fans have interpreted as being about Kelce. The song includes lines such as, “Redwood tree, it ain’t hard to see / His love was the key that opened my thighs.”
This connection led to a flood of birthday wishes for Kelce on social media that playfully referenced the song’s lyrics. Fans commented with messages like “Happy birthday to the redwood tree” and “36 YEARS OF REDWOOD” on the Kansas City Chiefs’ official social media posts celebrating his birthday.
Despite the celebrations, Kelce has previously expressed that he is not particularly fond of birthdays. During a recent episode of his “New Heights” podcast with his brother Jason, he stated, “It’s not a good day, it’s just an annoying day for me.”
A Record-Breaking Album Release
The release of the “The Fate of Ophelia” video adds to the massive success of Swift’s new album. “The Life of a Showgirl” sold a staggering 2.7 million copies on its first day alone, including pre-orders. This one-day tally gave it the second-best sales total for any full week since the advent of SoundScan in 1991, trailing only the first-week total for Adele’s “25.”
Spotato announced that “The Fate of Ophelia” became the most-streamed song in a single day in the company’s history. The album’s success and the video’s premiere highlight another high point in Swift’s career, coinciding with a joyful personal milestone for the couple.
The 11 other tracks from “The Life of a Showgirl” album are also receiving lyric video releases on YouTube, starting with “Opalite” following the “Ophelia” premiere. These lyric videos feature repeating video loops of Swift that were shot on the set of the “The Fate of Ophelia” music video.
Also Read: Who Was Jeff Lang? The True Story Behind Taylor Swift’s Song ‘Ruin the Friendship’
