Taylor Swift's 'Opalite' Video: A '90s Romp with Star-Studded Cameos
Taylor Swift unveils the 'Opalite' music video, a '90s-themed visual spectacle featuring cameos from Cillian Murphy, Greta Lee, Jodie Turner-Smith, and Lewis Capaldi.
Taylor Swift has released the music video for "Opalite," the second single from The Life of a Showgirl to receive a visual accompaniment. Directed by Swift herself, the '90s-themed video is currently exclusive to Apple Music and Spotify until February 8.
The video depicts Swift in a lackluster relationship, humorously symbolized by a literal rock. Salvation arrives in the form of a potion called "Opalite" and the charming Domnhall Gleeson. Their ensuing romantic escapade is punctuated by cameos from Cillian Murphy, Greta Lee, Jodie Turner-Smith, and Lewis Capaldi.
The narrative culminates in a reveal: all the celebrity guests, including Graham Norton, were Swift's fellow attendees on Norton's UK late-night show.
Swift shared the inspiration behind the video on Instagram:
The idea for the Opalite music video crash landed into my imagination when I was doing promo for The Life of a Showgirl. I was a guest on one of my favorite shows, @TheGrahamNortonShowOfficial. For those of you who aren’t familiar, it’s a UK late night show where Graham Norton (the insanely charismatic and lovable host) invites a random group of actors, entertainers, musicians, etc to be on his show and we all sit there and chat like it’s a dinner party. They even serve wine. Anyway. I remember thinking I got ridiculously lucky with the group I was paired with. Cillian Murphy, Domhnall Gleeson, Greta Lee, @JodieSmith, and @LewisCapaldi. All people whose work I’ve admired from afar. When we were all talking during the broadcast, Domhnall made a light hearted joke about wanting to be in one of my music videos. He’s Irish! He was joking! Except that in that moment during the interview, I was instantly struck with an idea. And so a week later he received an email script I’d written for the Opalite video, where he was playing the starring role. I had this thought that it would be wild if all of our fellow guests on the Graham Norton show that night, including Graham himself, could be a part of it too. Like a school group project but for adults and it isn’t mandatory. To my delight, everyone from the show made the effort to time travel back to the 90’s with us and help with this video.
A YouTube upload is scheduled for Sunday, coinciding with the end of the 48-hour sale of an "Opalite" vinyl single on Swift's website.
This decision to initially withhold the video from YouTube follows the platform's recent move to remove stream counts from Billboard charts. Pitchfork has reached out to YouTube for comment regarding the "Opalite" rollout.
The first Life of a Showgirl video, "The Fate of Ophelia," also directed by Swift, was released alongside the album last October. The album subsequently surpassed Adele's first-week sales record, and Swift was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
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