It’s a great day to be a Swiftie, because Taylor Swift gave us the music video we’ve all been dreaming of. Swift released her highly-anticipated 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl, on Oct. 3, and it’s pure pop magic. As if a new album wasn’t enough of a treat, Swift also released a music video for the album’s lead single, “The Fate of Ophelia.” Directed by and starring Swift, the music video is full of clues and details — or Easter eggs — for fans to spot.Â
“The Fate of Ophelia” music video follows Swift as she plays showgirls through the decades, including a cabaret dancer, a theatre performer, and a Busby Berkeley dancer. It ends with Swift as a modern day showgirl: herself, a performer on The Eras Tour. The actual dancers from The Eras Tour appear in the music video alongside Swift, which brings the whole showgirl theme to life. Plus, the video was choreographed by Mandy Moore (not the This Is Us actress, but a choreographer of the same name), who choreographed every number on The Eras Tour.Â
The music video first premiered in The Release Party of a Showgirl, a watch party released in movie theaters between Oct. 3 and 5. The theater watch party gave exclusive looks into the making of the music video, but many of the video’s Easter eggs were left for fans to uncover on their own. Now that the video is released on YouTube, it’s time to dive in and hunt for them. Here are 8 Easter eggs from “The Fate of Ophelia” music video you may have missed.
- The life rafts reference Ophelia’s drowning
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In the Busby Berkeley dance scene, Swift and her dancers put on a glittering and nautical performance, using life rafts as props. In The Release Party of a Showgirl, Swift explained that this dance number references Ophelia’s drowning in the Shakespeare play Hamlet. What could have saved Ophelia from her fate? In the literal sense, a life raft, of course.Â
- “Sequins are forever”
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The phrase “sequins are forever” appears twice in the music video — once as the title on a movie poster and once on a director’s clapperboard cutting between scenes. “Sequins are forever” is a lyric from “The Life of a Showgirl,” the album’s title track featuring Sabrina Carpenter.
- Kitty Finlay
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Also written on the director’s clapperboard is “Kitty Finlay,” the name of the starlet Swift plays in the video. The character Kitty also appears in the lyrics of “The Life of a Showgirl.” Meanwhile, the last name Finlay comes from Swift’s own family: her maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay, was a famous opera singer. Swift’s song “marjorie” on evermore is about her.
- Swift’s sourdough
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The beginning of the video shows Swift recreating a painting, standing next to a table with a loaf of bread on it. The baker of the bread is none other than Swift herself, as revealed in The Release Party of a Showgirl. Back in August, Swift shared on the New Heights podcast that she’s taken up baking sourdough as a hobby.
- A chihuahua in a purse
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The end of the video takes us to a hotel, where Swift and her dancers depict themselves, celebrating after an Eras Tour show. In the hotel hallway, they pass a lady carrying a chihuahua in her purse, a reference to the song “Actually Romantic” where Swift sings, “Like a toy chihuahua barking at me from a tiny purse / That’s how much it hurts.”
- Room 87
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In the hotel hallway, Swift catches a football. Then, what hotel room do Swift and her dancers enter? None other than room 87, the number of Swift’s NFL tight end fiancé, Travis Kelce. An 87 on a wooden door may even reference the love song “Wood” from the album.
- funny valentine
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A chocolate box in the hotel room reads, “Actually Romantic,” the title of the album’s 7th track. In the song, Swift sings, “Hadn’t thought of you in a long time / But you keep sending me funny valentines.”
- pledge allegiance to your team
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At the end of the video when Swift depicts herself, she sings, “Pledge allegiance to your hands, your team, your vibes,” and catches a football and throws it behind her. The combo of the “team” and football add up to another shout-out to Kelce.
- Album cover comes to life
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This one is an Easter egg within an Easter egg. The video ends with Swift lying in a bathtub, referencing the TLOAS album cover, which also references the “Ophelia” painting by John Everett Millais. On the New Heights podcast, Swift shared that this bathtub moment depicts her decompressing after an Eras Tour show.