Taylor Swift’s preface of her new theatrical release — “The Fate of Ophelia” music video followed by lyric videos to each of her already record-breaking The Life of a Showgirl’s 12 songs interspersed with brief descriptions of her inspiration behind each song and brainstorming behind the music video — welcomes viewers to her next era, which she hopes will surprise them.
For an intense fandom that received first news of a somewhat unexpected new album so close to the end of a behemoth concert tour followed by the singer’s engagement to Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, conjuring surprises might become increasingly hard to do. But with the timing of The Life of a Showgirl release, it doesn’t seem like Swift has any plans to stop soon.
While news of the movie was made official only two weeks ago, the film is headed for a $15-$16M Friday with a total opening-weekend forecast of $29M-$31M. Knowing Swift wrote and made this album with frequent former collaborators Max Martin and Shellback in between flights back and forth to Sweden from her Eras tour concerts subtly underscores her summarizing the impetus for each song with the collected hindsight she projects.
The companion film to an album meditating on the theme of all the hard work that goes into being a performer at Swift’s level rightfully throws the viewer into her headspace while she conceptualizes how best to translate the first taste of her new album into a visual work. Swift wrote and directed the music video for “The Fate Of Ophelia” as well as the lyric videos for the 12 songs, and it is our understanding that the entire cinematic experience directing credit is hers.
Taylor Swift: The Release Party of a Showgirl makes sense as a successor to Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour because the former does the opposite of the latter in showing Swift behind the scenes of the production process. Longtime fans have seen her in this creative mode before, particularly while making the music video for “ME!,” glimpsed in the 2020 Netflix documentary about Swift, Miss Americana (albeit Showgirl Swift has much more confidence to accompany her competitive streak.)
Any seasoned Swiftie would come out of the hour-plus movie calling it on par with the typical consumption of a new album — lyric analysis, close-reading and a music video for the first single. The added insights from Swift provide a little something extra, but she’s done this kind of inspiration explanation before all the way back to the three voice memos displaying how certain songs started out on her 1989 album. The film is still accessible to a regular movie-goer, though the viewing experience may not prove as rich for one not well-versed in Swift’s lore and universe of Easter eggs that she is constantly expanding.
For fans of the singer, though, there is plenty of new material to analyze, details to spot and connections to make between song themes, lyrics, costumes and the production design of the music video. A specific scene that comes to mind is Swift wrapped in ropes behind a stage with pullies that correspond to initials for each track on The Life of a Showgirl, prompting one to wonder what she has in store for the rest of the album’s rollout. Getting to see the singer trace the colorful and sparkly visuals back to themes in her Hamlet-inspired song like drowning, showcases just how much thought she puts into her work.
A highlight of the mosaic mix of Swift’s production process and finished products is the inclusion of all of her Eras Tour dancers from Kameron Saunders to now-Dancing with the Stars partner Jan Ravnik. The athletic celebrities in their own righ show up in the music video and get to help Swift bring her vision to life. The carryover of those behind the scenes of the biggest stage in Swift’s career — the Eras Tour — ties in nicely with the idea that The Life of a Showgirl’s inspiration was largely the tour itself and the joyful — albeit rigorous, to say the least — time Swift spent performing three-plus hour shows featuring most of her albums that had come out by that time. The songstress’ decision to feature other former key collaborators including cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto and choreographer Mandy Moore further cements her roster of teammates that she returns to for her art-making processes.
From the inclusion of Steadicam operator Colin Anderson and assistant director Anthony Dimino to production designer Ethan Tobman, Swift makes sure to spotlight what it takes to put one of these seemingly simple ideas she has together. And she always is there at the helm, eagerly but measuredly sharing her thoughts and feedback in live time as she pursues the best take for different segments of the video.
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All 12 lyric videos also enable viewers to dive deeper into Swift’s songwriting and clarify certain lyrics (for those who have already given the album a listen or three). The lyrics compete against the looping kaleidoscopic graphics behind from either “The Fate of Ophelia” music video or other promo shots of Swift for the album.
The film is family-friendly, with the lyric videos playing for the clean versions of songs create amusement when compared with explicit versions. Swift’s inspiration downloads before each lyric video don’t outright answer specific questions many listeners might have about the fourth, seventh, ninth or 10th tracks.
The format, while potentially overwhelming for one not used to the bombardment of striking visuals, punchy turns-of-phrase and the overall speed at which Swift’s mind works, ties everything together by framing the “making-of” material with the finished music video, plunging even veteran fans into the organized chaos of Swift’s creativity and providing two chances to take in and appreciate a loaded project that took at least three weeks to rehearse and shoot.
Audience members watch a film screening during TikTok Debuts Taylor Swift Hub and Los Angeles Pop-Up in Los Angeles
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Although it’s run-of-the-mill for most Swifties, the ability of Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl position itself in the No. 1 box office standing for this weekend in two weeks with a very-low P&A campaign besides the album promo is remarkable.
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If the film hits home any one line from Swift’s 12th album, it’s probably, “You don’t know the life of a showgirl, babe,” and with this small glimpse into what it took to bring the album to life, the average audience-goer likely will agree. And that’s in regard to one of the more self-proclaimed “joyful” of Swift’s albums.
Title: Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl
Distributor: AMC Theaters
Release dates: October 3-5 only
Cast: Taylor Swift, Rodrigo Prieto, Ethan Tobman, Mandy Moore, Colin Anderson, Anthony Domino, Eras Tour dancers Jan Ravnik, Audrey Douglass, Kameron Saunders, Natalie Peterson, Sam McWilliams, Taylor Banks, Kevin Scheitzbach, Tamiya Lewis, Whyley Yoshimura, Raphael Thomas, Tori Evans, Amanda Balen, Eliotte Nicole, Karen Chuang, Sydney Mass, Melanie Nyema and Eras tour backup singers
Rating: NR
Running time: 1 hr 29 min
