Taylor Swift Embodies Showgirls Across Eras in ‘The Fate of Ophelia’ Video
The musician portrays the song’s titular Shakespeare character alongside other showgirls, including herself, in the new clip
Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl era is in full swing and to cap off the album’s stellar debut weekend, she’s released the music video for its first official single, “The Fate of Ophelia.” The video first premiered this weekend in The Official Release Party of a Showgirl, Swift’s film which screened in theatres from Oct. 3 to Oct. 5.
The Swift-directed and written visual for the single opens on Swift as the tragic Shakespeare heroine Ophelia from Hamlet in a painting on the wall of a hotel, before it’s revealed that it’s a set. She then embodies a variety of showgirls from various eras and in elaborate settings, where she’s backed by dancers and the band from her Eras Tour. It culminates in a hotel room where Swift stars as herself.
Unlike Hamlet’s noblewoman Ophelia, whose plight in a patriarchal society finds her powerless, spiraling into madness and leads to her tragic end by drowning, Swift’s Ophelia triumphs. Per the lyrics, the heroine “pledges allegiance” to a presumed love that “dug me out of my grave and/Saved my heart from the fate of Ophelia,” and declares “now you’re mine.” Like with the Romeo and Juliet of Swift’s ‘Love Story, Ophelia, whose star-crossed love of Hamlet leads to her demise in Shakespeare’s version, instead gets a fairy-tale-style happily ever after, too.
Following the digital premiere of ‘The Fate of Ophelia’ video, Swift is sharing lyric videos for all of the songs from The Life of a Showgirl, as she did in The Official Release Party of a Showgirl. Ophelia, whose star-crossed love of Hamlet leads to her demise in Shakespeare’s version, instead gets a fairy-tale-style happily ever after, too.
Swift has had an impressive opening weekend sales-wise with both her limited-release film and album. The Official Release Party of a Showgirl hit Number One in the box office, with early projections expecting it to rake in between $28 million and $32 million from 3,702 theaters during its limited Oct. 3 through Oct. 5 domestic theatrical run (worldwide box office estimates for its weekend premiere put it at $46 million). Meanwhile, The Life of a Showgirl sold 2.7 million copies in traditional album sales — combined physical and digital — from all versions of the album on its first day of release on Oct. 3 alone. That number represents Swift’s biggest album sales week ever, and Swift’s album looks to potentially eclipse the sales record held by Adele’s 25, which sold 3.378 million copies in its debut week in 2015.