Taylor Swift has released a music video for ‘The Fate Of Ophelia’, making it the first official single from her new record ‘The Life Of A Showgirl’ – check it out below.
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Swift released her 12th studio album ‘The Life Of A Showgirl’ on Friday (October 3), the follow-up to last year’s ‘The Tortured Poets Department’. Now, she’s revealed the album’s first official single as ‘The Fate Of Ophelia’ through its newly debuted music video.
The video first premiered over the weekend at The Official Release Party Of A Showgirl screenings that took place in cinemas – the 90-minute “film” featured the music video, its behind-the-scenes process and lyric videos of the album’s tracks as well as Swift’s commentary on every song from the record.
The music video for ‘The Fate Of Ophelia’ is now publicly available and confirms that it was written and directed by Swift herself. The clip sees the musician personify a showgirl through several eras in history as she’s backed by her ‘Eras’ tour band and dancers.
Across various intricate set pieces, Swifts cosplays a showgirl in numerous eras, depicting herself as a pirate, a burlesque singer and other classic imagery. The music video ends with Swift starring as herself in the bathtub of a hotel room – which also happens to be the official cover art for ‘The Life Of A Showgirl’.
As soon as ‘The Life Of A Showgirl’ dropped, fans started sharing their thoughts on the record, with some calling it “her best album” and the return of “pop perfection”, and others declaring it “the worst Taylor Swift album yet” and “boring and basic”. You can also explore the range of Easter eggs and references on the album here.
She has also indicated that she has no intention of heading out on tour again anytime soon, after the gargantuan effort that went into her record-breaking ‘Eras’ tour.
One of the biggest talking points from the record so far has been the track ‘Actually Romantic’, which is widely rumoured to be a diss track directed at Charli XCX. “I heard you call me ‘Boring Barbie’ when the coke’s got you brave,” Swift sings on the song. “High-fived my ex and then said you’re glad he ghosted me / Wrote me a song saying it makes you sick to see my face / Some people might be offended / But it’s actually sweet.”
Many considered this a rebuttal to Charli’s ‘Sympathy Is A Knife’ from ‘Brat’, on which she sang: “Don’t know if I’m spiralling / One voice tells me that they laugh / George says I’m just paranoid / Don’t wanna see her backstage at my boyfriend’s show / Fingers crossed behind my back / I hope they break up real quick.”
Swift has since said ‘Actually Romantic’ is “a song about realising that someone else has kind of had a one-sided, adversarial relationship with you that you didn’t know about. And all of a sudden they start doing too much and they start letting you know that actually, you’ve been living in their head rent-free and you had no idea.”
