At the AMC Orpheum 7 in New York’s Upper East Side, Taylor Swift fans showed up in glittering sequin outfits and bright Eras Tour merch for an anticipated 3 p.m. screening of The Official Release Party of a Showgirl, a 90-minute feature Swift cooked up to go along with the album. Showing in theaters all weekend, the film special includes the premiere of the long-awaited “The Fate of Ophelia” video and behind-the-scenes footage, plus all the stories behind the songs on her 12th album.
Instead of the usual movie ads, various promo photos from Showgirl popped up as some of her older songs played over them. As the feature began, Swift appeared on screen, telling fans that she was excited to bring people together to listen to the album.
“The Fate of Ophelia” video played first. It opens in a grand-looking hotel as the camera pans to a painting on the wall where Swift portrays Ophelia (in a white dress, similar to the version from German painter Friedrich Heyser’s interpretation). Instead of drowning like Shakespeare’s tragic character does, Swift gets up and reveals that it’s a set. From there, she embodies a wide array of showgirls, going from Sixties girl groups to a Busby Berkeley-esque musical number. Joining Swift throughout the video are the dancers, backup singers, and the band from her epic Eras Tour. The video, which was written and directed by Swift, ends in a hotel with Swift as herself. She’s rolled into a room on a dining cart (but not before catching a football) where she parties until the paparazzi show up outside the window. She escapes to the bathroom, where she re-creates the album cover in the tub.
Following the video, Swift began sharing footage from the rehearsals and set of the video, letting us into her meticulous planning process. Early planning Zooms show her dissecting classic art movements and showgirl history she wanted to weave into the story. “Art history for pop fans,” she jokes. The biggest Easter egg for Swift? She personally baked a loaf of sourdough that makes it into one of the shots.
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Swift also shared the meanings behind each track on Showgirl before showing the lyric videos. The lyric videos were taken on the set of the music video and promo shoots for the album. Before “Elizabeth Taylor,” for example, she pointed out how much she wanted to highlight the parallels of their lives while dropping tidbits of the iconic actress’ own lore (She noted Liz Taylor’s love for Portofino and her violet eyes.) “Opalite,” meanwhile, was inspired by Swift and her mom’s shared love for opals; opalite is the man-made version, much like the type of self-made happiness she sings about on the song.
As she sat in a director’s chair discussing each song, she remained coy about fiancé Travis Kelce and never said his name directly. Still, she nodded to the innuendos on the horny and explicit “Wood,” saying it was about “superstitions” with a sly smile. “Honey,” she revealed later, was one of the first songs written for the album, and a guiding light for Swift, Max Martin and Shellback. It was inspired by how “awesome” it feels to be called “honey” or “sweetheart” by someone who means it.
Before “Father Figure,” Swift focused on her respect for George Michael, whose hit of the same name is interpolated in one line of the chorus. She points out how she had wanted to do something with the concept of a “father figure” and used it to talk about power between a mentor and mentee. She says she could connect with both sides of the story in the song.
The audience snickered when “Actually Romantic” popped up, but Swift’s explanation was as neutral as could be. Without saying who it’s about, Swift noted that it referenced someone letting her live “rent-free” in their head for years before Swift even knew it was happening. “In my industry, attention is affection,” she says to her anonymous foe, “and you give me so much of it, so thank you.”
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When it was time for “The Life of a Showgirl,” Swift celebrated her friend Sabrina Carpenter, who appears on the track. The song is from the perspective of a young girl going to see a star named Kitty. When the fan and Kitty meet, Kitty tells her to avoid pursuing this career. Swift says many of her heroes told her the same thing when she was younger. In Carpenter, Swift saw someone who was “really well-equipped for this career” and could handle all the drama and criticism thrown at her.
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The album’s opener, “The Fate of Ophelia,” gets the final explainer before the video played for a second time. It most reflects her writing process; she revealed she has an exceptionally long file full of lyric ideas, concepts, words and more that she refers to often. She said that if you scrolled through it, it would take “20 minutes” to get through. She’d written the title a while back and then re-discovered it as Shellback played the song’s riff. Quickly, she realized how well it matched.
Once the video ended, fans clapped and left the theater. Luckily, for those who are eagerly awaiting the visuals for “The Fate of Ophelia,” the video will begin streaming everywhere on Sunday. Fans can hit their local movie theater to see it this weekend and get the full theatrical experience Swift intended.
