I didn’t wake up with the intention of pissing in Swifties’ Cheerios — but, hey, here we are. On Feb. 6, Swift dropped the music video for her The Life Of A Showgirl track “Opalite” on Spotify and Apple Music. It’s a fun video, with nostalgic 1980s-inspired elements and celebrity cameos out the wazoo. But it also features a vintage-inspired, faux infomercial for an “Opalite spray,” complete with the classic VHS grain and voiceover that led me to drop my conclusion in the group chat: Taylor Swift really reheated Sabrina Carpenter’s nachos with the “Opalite” intro, huh? (Her Campus reached out to Swift’s team for comment, but didn’t hear back by the time of publication.)
Now, I don’t mean to ruffle any feathers. Still, aesthetics are aesthetics, and the whole faux infomercial vibe was heavily used by Carpenter during her Short ‘N Sweet and Man’s Best Friend eras: She even dropped a vintage-inspired advert to announce her Short ‘N Sweet Tour back in 2025. And, on the tour (as well as during a majority of her sets at festivals, live tapings, etc.), Carpenter also used a variety of short infomercials as interludes between songs and costume changes.
Most notably, though, Carpenter’s tour featured a faux informercial for “Manchild Spray Away,” inspired by her single of the same name. I’m sensing a correlation here.
Of course, the whole vintage informercial aesthetic isn’t new, and Carpenter doesn’t “own” it — Black musicians have incorporated this aesthetic, as well as vintage-inspired adverts, interludes, and skits, for years. It is interesting, however, to see Swift lean into a vibe that’s heavily associated with Carpenter in this current day and age. And, given the “Espresso” singer’s skyrocket into stardom, the internet thinks that it’s not accidental.
Shortly after the “Opalite” video dropped, users flocked to X/Twitter to claim that Swift was “ripping off” Carpenter with the intro — or, at least, drawing inspiration from it.
Maybe this is some kind of indication that celebrity body sprays are going to be the hot, new trend in 2026? Or maybe, Swift and Carpenter are just on the same wavelength when it comes to fun, campy music video aesthetics. FWIW, if these (fictional) sprays can promise to make my day better and keep manchildren out of my DMs, you can catch me dousing myself in both.