Taylor Swift isn’t through with her show girl era just yet. The pop star just released the music video for her next The Life of a Showgirl single, “Opalite” — and it’s full of lightning strike twists.
In the funny, unexpected visual, Taylor jumps back in time to the Nineties — you know, the era of the mall before the internet, full of infomercials and at-home workout videos. She plays a lonesome cat lady, who is hilariously dating a rock, but falls for “the revolutionary fix for your problems” that is Opalite. In an infomercial, the product promises that it “magically transforms your problems into your paradise using our state of the art chemical potion. It works on friendships, couples, pets and co-workers.”
What follows is a silly, but sweet story that features a star-studded cast. It seems Swift called up everyone she appeared on The Graham Norton Show back in October (including Norton himself, who stars as a Nope-alite salesman) to make an appearance. Domnhall Gleeson plays her formerly sad love interest, Lewis Capaldi is a mall photographer, while Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith make small appearances in television ads. Even Cillian Murphy has a cameo.
On the Amazon Music “Track by Track” version of the LP, Swift explained the song is about “choosing happiness and getting through rough times” and the title comes from “a man-made gemstone.” In the New Heights episode where Taylor announced her 12th studio album, Travis admitted that “Opalite” was his favorite track off the project. In an appearance on Capital FM in October, Swift affirmed the track continued to be his favorite off the album. “He loves that one,” she said.
Notably, the pop superstar did not initially share the glittery visual on YouTube, instead she chose to premiere the “Opalite” video on two of the largest streaming platforms exclusively: Spotify and Apple Music. The move coincides with YouTube’s decision to withdraw its data from Billboard charts following changes to the charts’ methodology. Of course, neither music video for The Life of a Showgirl has had a traditional release. She premiered “The Fate of Ophelia” in theaters across the country as part of the her album release parties in October. Just like that video, “Opalite” will be on YouTube in the coming days.
Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia” just came off a record-breaking run as her biggest hit, charting at Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 for 10 weeks and marking the star’s longest-running feat. “Opalite” could very well be the singer’s next hit song; it debuted at Number Two on the Hot 100 and is comfortably sitting at Number 10. If the song tops the chart, it would become the first time Swift had two songs from the same project reach that achievement since 1989.
Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny in a split image
Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny Dealt With Trump Quietly. It’s a Smart Move
Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny are both major superstars — and they’ve shared some parallels in their careers and discographies for several years. Now, they’re even using the same playbook to deal with taunts and baiting from Donald Trump and the White House’s social media teams.
Since Trump took office during his second term, he and his administration have been using social media as part of their communication strategy. The propaganda-like, rage-bait-style clips often lean into internet culture and use popular music to make light of Trump’s most egregious actions, like his immigration policy and war-hungry foreign policy.
Olivia Rodrigo, Katy Perry, Ariana Grande, and Noah Kahan are just some of the artists who have had their music used in these videos without their permission — and vehemently spoken out against these actions and against the president. In the past couple of weeks, the Trump administration seems to have wanted to provoke a response from two of the world’s biggest superstars: Bad Bunny and Swift.
On July 30, the official White House TikTok used “La Mudanza” for a particularly tone-deaf video about immigration that celebrated the number of deportations under Trump. A week later, a video with text that said, “mood because it’s August and Donald Trump is your president” set to Swift’s “August” was uploaded by Team Trump, the president’s official campaign account. The caption was an overt provocation: “I’m sure Taylor Swift is going to be super excited we used her song,” it read. Days later, another clip from the same account featured an edited version of Swift’s Red album cover with text that said, “Did you know that Taylor Swift wrote a whole album about the color of the Republican Party?”
Neither musician has released a public statement denouncing the use of their music in Trump’s videos. Instead, two of the world’s biggest superstars quietly removed their songs from videos posted by official accounts linked to the Trump administration. (It’s unclear if there is a TikTok feature that allows selective sound muting on videos or if the respective teams reached out to the social media accounts directly.) The tracks are still available for other TikTok accounts to use in their videos, making their silence a pointed — and smart — approach. Both Bad Bunny and Swift seem to recognize the president and his administration’s tactics for what they are: antagonizing moves that keep the Trump conversation centered on his social media presence, rather than his actual policies and the harm they commit. Why would they add their star power to the conversation and stoke the flames when that’s exactly what the White House appears to want?
Some people argue that celebrities should wield their platform to denounce Trump at any chance if they are truly not politically aligned with his MAGA politics. But because they hold so much influence, these superstars need to be strategic about how they use it.
Benito, in particular, has been incredibly outspoken about his politics. He stood on two of the world’s biggest stages and used them to voice pro-immigration messages, denounce Trump’s policies, and highlight Puerto Rico as it struggles with the effects of U.S. imperialism. “Before I say, ‘Thank God,’ I’m going to say, ‘ICE out,’” the Puerto Rican superstar said at the 2026 Grammys. “We’re not savage. We’re not animals. We’re not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans.” Last summer, Bad Bunny’s music video for “Nuevayol” used a voice that sounds a lot like the president’s to deliver a pro-immigrant message. “I made a mistake. I want to apologize to the immigrants in America. I mean the United States. I know America is the whole continent,” the voice bellows out of a Seventies radio toward the end of the video. “I want to say that this country is nothing without the immigrants.”
Fans were convinced that Benito would speak out against the official White House TikTok account when it used one of his most political songs. But commenting on the video would only blow up the discussion for a wider audience. When Rodrigo, Perry, Grande, and Kahan made public comments, spokespeople for the White House used the opportunity to spread hateful rhetoric. “We’ll say this one last time: what’s actually barbaric, inhumane, and heinous are the criminal illegal aliens who have injured and murdered innocent American citizens,” Abigail Jackson said in a statement to Rolling Stone after Grande spoke out. It’s the antithesis of what Benito said during his Grammys speech this year: “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.”
Swift, on the other hand, has dealt with Trump and the right-wing’s instigations for years, each one crazier than the last. The TikTok videos from the last week aren’t even the first time that the administration has used the singer’s music for social media videos. Last fall, both the official White House TikTok account and Team Trump used songs from Swift’s then-newly released The Life of a Showgirl in separate videos. One plucked the lyrics “pledge allegiance to your hands, your team, your vibes” from “The Fate of Ophelia” to celebrate Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and the first and second ladies. The others boasted about Trump by using “Father Figure” and honored Melania Trump’s Patriot of the Year award with “Opalite.” As of Aug. 10, the audio is not available under all of these specific videos.
The pop superstar has not spoken publicly about these instances. But she has made her disdain for Trump clear. Over the years, Swift has criticized Trump’s autocratic leadership. On X, she wrote “we will vote you out” and endorsed Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the 2020 and 2024 elections, respectively. In 2019, Swift told Rolling Stone, “There’s literally nothing worse than white supremacy. It’s repulsive. There should be no place for it.”
Even though she’s shared her liberal viewpoints on issues like abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, and racial inequality, Swift has still faced ridiculous claims of being MAGA-aligned and folding in right-wing dog whistles to her music — and that’s without ever naming Trump. If Swift were to make a statement about her music being used by the Trump administration, the attention-seeking president would absolutely revel in it. Getting Swift and Bad Bunny to weigh in is exactly the type of headline grabber he would love to draw attention from his remarkably unpopular presidency.