Global pop sensation and world-renowned singer-songwriter, Taylor Swift, released her “Opalite” music video on Spotify and Apple Music this morning at 8 a.m. ET.
“Opalite” is the second single from Swift’s record-breaking latest album, “The Life of a Showgirl”, which sold over 3.4 million copies in pure sales in its first week.
The music video features the entire cast from Swift’s October appearance on “The Graham Norton Show”, including Cillian Murphy, Domhnall Gleeson, Greta Lee, Jodie Turner-Smith, Lewis Capaldi and Norton himself, as well as several of Swift’s “The Eras Tour” dancers.
While sitting on “The Graham Norton Show” couch, Gleeson jokingly told Swift he wanted to act in one of her music videos. In that moment, inspiration struck Swift, and she quickly got to work on the script.
“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,” said Swift in an Instagram post this morning.
Gleeson plays Swift’s love interest in this shot-on-film 90’s-inspired music video. Both of their characters spend their time alone or rather in the company of an inanimate object and a plant. Swift’s boring rock best friend and Gleeson’s prickly cactus lover represent unfulfilling past relationships.
The two lonely leads, left wanting more, meet upon spraying themselves with Opalite, “a revolutionary fix for your problems,” purchased through a TV infomercial.
The fictitious state-of-the-art potion teleports Swift’s character, Lonely Woman to Gleeson’s character, Lonely Man. After warming up to each other, the awkward pair has a photoshoot in the mall with Capaldi’s character, The Greatest Mall Photographer to Ever Do It.
Freaked out after running into their former companions, the duo stumbles into the Nope-alite store where the spokesperson, played by Norton, nearly sprays Lonely Woman with the reverse Opalite before Lonely Man knocks the bottle out of his hand.
The video ends with a dance number from the newfound couple who receives zeros all around.
Swift’s decision to debut the music video on streaming platforms comes as no surprise given YouTube’s decision to withdraw from the Billboard charts. YouTube’s withdrawal from the charts means that music video views no longer count toward a song’s chart position.
The dependable and longtime artists’ rights advocate’s choice not to premiere the “Opalite” music video on YouTube marks a bold statement in favor of artists everywhere affected by YouTube’s decision.
By not sharing its data with Billboard, artists will lose significant visibility on the charts, as it excludes the large portion of streams that come from YouTube video views.
Swifties can’t wait to see which “The Life of a Showgirl” single will follow “Opalite”, as Swift proclaimed her desire to make multiple music videos for the album.
