Despite what everyone says (and wants to say), “The Life of a Showgirl” era is not over.
Taylor Swift continues to make her own sunshine in the newly released music video for Opalite, her second single off the album. The video, first released on Spotify and Apple Music, broke records for being the most streamed music video in a single day. On top of that, the song already peaked at 200 million streams prior to becoming a single and the music video premiere.
In her latest post on Instagram, she mentions that ideas come to her at any time for any reason. She then shares that this all came about during her guesting on The Graham Norton Show in November 2025, alongside Domhnall Gleeson, Greta Lee, Jodie Turner-Smith and Cillian Murphy. In the midst of their exchange, Domhnall puts his foot forward and shares, “I’m hoping to get into a Taylor Swift music video.” And months later, there they all are again—dare we say the greatest Easter egg of all time?
Reminiscent of the ‘90s, Taylor takes us through both nostalgic glee and whimsy. However, in classic Swiftian lore fashion, every aspect of the film is merely not “a simple thought,” but chockfull of Easter eggs—more than 13 of them. Let’s see if you spotted what we spotted.
1. The ‘90s-style infomercial
The video opens with an infomercial promoting “Opalite,” the state-of-the-art chemical potion designed to turn “crappiness” into “happiness.” Fans can quickly spot the Eras Tour dancers Karen Chuang and Jan Ravnik as the sad girl and the garbage can, who turn into lovers after getting sprayed Opalite.
2. The rock, “my best friend”
Taylor switches off the television and the scene cuts to a close-up of a rock sitting beside her. It’s not just any rock though – it’s her best friend (according to the box it was delivered in). Though there is no explicit truth, the Rock is believed to be her ex Joe Alwyn. Fans deduced this from the scenes of the box, which references the lyric “He was my best friend” from My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys off “The Tortured Poets Department.”
3. The children’s swing
Taylor brings the rock with her everywhere, even to the children’s park. This scene references the lyric “Here, at the park where we used to sit on children’s swings,” from TTPD’s Fresh Out The Slammer. The rock also falls out of the swing, and Taylor gets off to retrieve it, showcasing that she carries most of the relationship.
4. You’re On Your Own, Kid friendship bracelet
Despite stringing a friendship bracelet around the rock, Taylor feels she’s the one being strung along. A montage of scenes follows where she is at home with the rock and interacts with it, isolated. Even if she’s with it, that gap she feels can be visually referenced to “Midnights’s” You’re On Your Own, Kid, because like the song, she always has been.
5. “This seat is taken”
On her night out with The Rock (and dripping drinks everywhere), she’s out having the time of her life with her best friend. A girl tries to sit on the seat, but she shoos her off and says that the seat is for The Rock. This references the song Lover, where she croons, “At every table, I’ll save you a seat, lover.”
6. Singing at karaoke
I have not seen anyone annotate this scene yet, so here’s my theory. Taylor sings part of the song on karaoke, and motions for the rock to sing to no avail. A possible allusion of this could be the writing credits Taylor shared with Joe on “Folklore” and “Evermore.” The highlighted lyrics on the screen “have seen it before, will see it again” is hauntingly similar to Exile: “I think I’ve seen this film before, and I didn’t like the ending.”
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7. Taylor’s versions
Throwing back to Taylor’s Masters gratitude post, she mentioned that her debut album has already been re-recorded in full and is awaiting release. The clues are all over the music video, from her butterfly clips to the motifs in the film and the green TV guide at the back during her fortune game with the rock. Fans also pointed out the colors of her shirt, which represent the released Taylor’s Versions “Fearless,” “Red,” “Speak Now” and “1989.” The deeper lore there lies in the glitter finger swipe, which mirrors the cake finger swipe in the I Bet You Think About Me music video from the “Red” era. The cake layers represent the Taylor’s Version albums, with the topmost layer being “Debut.”
8. Prickly is the cactus
On the other side of the fence, actor Domhnall Gleeson is on the bed with his cactus lover. He is an affectionate man, but is pricked every time he shows it to his lover. Yet again—all implied—but fans have deduced the stinging succulent to be Travis Kelce’s ex, Kayla Nicole.
9. Austin Swift makes an appearance
Poor Domhnall attends the party with Cactus (which looks oddly similar to the gathering in the Lover music video), and back viewers can spot Taylor’s brother Austin in the background and more The Eras Tour dancers.
10. The spray
Desperate to get out of their relationships, Taylor and Domhnall order a bottle of Opalite each but treat their cases differently. Domhnall sprays Cactus with the chemical, while Taylor sprays herself, as she believes she’s the problem. This references both Anti-Hero and My Boy, where the lyrics go “It’s me, hi, I’m the problem it’s me,” and “Once I fix me, he’s gonna miss me” respectively. She disappears and appears somewhere else.
11. He washes her off
Taylor appears in Domhnall’s living room, drenched in green goo, and Domnhall washes her off in the bathtub. This represents his affectionate and protective nature, washing her off instead of shooing her away. Taylor, in turn, heals.
12. “I love that game!”
While they sit awkwardly across each other (which I feel is a nod to Napoleon Dynamite), she moves to sit beside him and plays the fortune game. To her surprise, he says that he loves it. One can deduce that this game is a play on Travis’s interview prior to meeting Taylor, where he played the Kiss, Marry and Kill game and shared that he wanted to kiss her.
13. The mall
Several stores pepper the old mall, with lyrics fans absolutely caught. Three stores bore lyrics from the “Showgirl” album, specifically from Father Figure (plus the George Michael poster in Taylor’s room earlier), The Life of a Showgirl and CANCELLED! She and Domhnall are hand-in-hand, and are horrified to see Cactus and Rock together. The two exes insult them and the Rock sports a new friendship bracelet reading, “F**k you forever,” a lyric from “Folklore’s” Mad Woman. Graham Norton andThe Eras Tour dancers Whyley Yoshimura and Sam McWilliams also appear as the Nope-alite salesman and customers respectively. Just as Graham invites Taylor to try out the antidote, Domhnall jumps and blocks her from it.
14. The JCPenney shoot
In the midst of her happy relationship with Domhnall, she starts acting and embracing the goofy side of herself. This contrasts her earlier restraint with Rock, where there is no reciprocation to the fun and games she wishes to inject into their relationship. Lewis Capaldi, the photographer, asks to be a part of their shoot and they do. This represents Taylor’s newfound openness to be herself with someone she truly loves. In the back of the photo studio, there are photos of her band members splayed there.
15. “Don’t you sweat it, baby!”
Reminiscent of Ross and Monica Geller’s dance in the Friends episode “The One with the Routine,” the routine that Taylor and Domhnall do in a dance competition is terrible and they lose. But they don’t care. They receive 0s from the judges including Eras dancer Kam Saunders. This references her song Wi$h Li$t from “Showgirl,” where she wishes that people would leave her and her lover the f*ck alone and they do.
16. The ‘90s vibe… so high school?
The entire vibe has intention. First of all, the era itself is a callback to “Evermore’s” Willow, where Taylor sings that she comes back “stronger than a ‘90s trend.” The scenes at home with the Rock feel like “Fearless’” You Belong With Me, except it’s robbed of the youthful spirit. Her Person of the Year interview with TIME could have been the reference point for this, where she says that she gave up her youth to be in a six-year relationship. But on the other end, it could also be a callback to So High School, her love song for Travis.
I consider Opalite to be the most hopeful song Taylor has ever written yet. There’s a reason why it remains to be top of the charts alongside The Fate of Ophelia. It’s taken the world by storm—its gleam, glitter and gaiety are the reasons why it never fails to make me dance.
Part of the lyrics goes, “Life is a song, it ends when it ends.” I hope it never does.
Catch the Opalitemusic video on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
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