Taylor Swift gave Spotify and Apple Music Premium users a Valentine’s Day gift today: early access to her “Opalite” music video. Rumors have been swirling about the possibility of a music video for the third track on The Life of a Showgirl for the last couple of months. Turns out, all of our pining hasn’t been for nothing. It’s a love story, and we have all the details.
We know that Taylor Swift’s music videos are rich in creativity and references. Easter eggs are Taylor Swift’s love language, but in the Showgirl Era, Taylor Swift has been more spontaneous than ever before. She shared that the shape of the album’s tracklist, which so perfectly mirrors The Eras Tour stage, was a happy accident. The spark that leads us to the “Opalite” music video is much the same.
Taylor had the idea for the music video mid-joke on The Graham Norton Show in October. She wrote on X about the “first spark of an idea” that became the video.
“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, @TheGNShow [The Graham Norton Show]. For those of you who aren’t familiar, it’s a U.K. 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, Jodie Turner-Smith, and Lewis Capaldi. 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 ’90s with us and help with this video. You might even recognize some friendly faces from The Eras Tour. I got to work with one of my favorite people in the world, Rodrigo Prieto, again! I had more fun than I ever imagined—Made new friends, metaphors, and fashion choices. It was an absolute thrill to create this story and these characters. Shot on film. The ‘Opalite’ video is out now on Spotify and Apple Music.””
The video is a 90s rom-com daydream. Taylor Swift is dissatisfied with her relationship with her BFF pet rock. Domhnall Gleeson is in a prickly relationship with a cactus. The new product on the market is a fix-everything “state-of-the-art chemical potion” called Opalite.
While Domhnall chooses to spray his cactus, Taylor sprays herself. The result? Taylor appears, covered in Opalite goo, in Domhnall’s house, and they begin a relationship that is one perfect moment after another. Cue the mall photoshoot with ridiculous poses, a dance competition duet, and getting all of each other’s whims and jokes. The only thing that can threaten the relationship is Nope-alite (buyer beware!).
Why the 90s, though? Vintage cringe is trendy (hence the photoshoot), but it’s more than that. So many of Taylor’s visuals for The Life of a Showgirl are bright, loud, and larger than life. By time-traveling with us, Taylor strips back the glamour. Love is intimate, so we need a smaller stage. In this video, the bright spots are carefully placed. Some of them are references hidden in neon mall signs. Others, like Taylor and Domhnall’s tracksuits and the Opalite spraybottle, are the bright spots in their relationship.
From the You’ve Got Mail (1998) look of Taylor’s house to the Napoleon Dynamite (2004) coded dance routine, the music video is full of imperfection that a lot of us who are burnt out on social media perfection and pop glam are searching for. Replace Taylor and Domhnall with you and your BFF, and all of the scenes are rich in the kind of love Taylor has been singing about for decades. This is the showgirl. Taylor is bold. She’s bleeding glitter. She’s “the problem” (obvious in her choice to spray herself). But in love, Taylor is wearing oversized sweaters and eating mall pretzels. Love is stripped back and honest that way.
“Opalite” is now in our top 10 list of rom-coms to watch this month. You can watch “Opalite” on Apple Music, Spotify Premium, and YouTube.
This article was originally published on February 6, 2026. Updated February 9, 2026 to include the YouTube release of the “Opalite” music video.