Now that we’ve had a week to digest Taylor Swift’s star-studded video for “Opalite,” she’s giving fans a deeper look into the making of the elaborate clip with two behind-the-scenes, extended versions you can watch now.
“For a year, I was like, ‘What would I do for the ‘Opalite’ video?” Taylor says in the videos. She goes on to relate how she came up with the concept after appearing on The Graham Norton Show: One of her fellow guests, Domhnall Gleeson, joked about getting a part in her next music video, which led her to cast every guest that night in the clip.
“‘Opalite’ sort of sounds like a commercial, so I was like, ‘What if it actually was, in the music video, this magical product?'” explains Taylor. In the clip, set in the ’90s — “Honestly, my best look ever,” Taylor jokes — she’s best friends with a rock, while Domhnall is dating a cactus.
“In our metaphor, the inanimate objects represent the kind of toxic relationship they’re in, so I’m best friends with this rock that’s always weighing me down,” Taylor explains. “Domhnall is in a toxic relationship with a cactus where he’s getting hurt every day.”
After spraying themselves with Opalite, Taylor and Domhnall find each other and, as she’s seen explaining to him, they become “best friends who are in love.” She reveals that he didn’t know she was going to make him do a choreographed dance until he showed up on set.
“I just thought it was better if I told him in person,” she laughs.
We also see Taylor interacting with the other stars, Lewis Capaldi, Graham Norton, Jodie Turner-Smith and Greta Lee — with Cillian Murphy “there in spirit.”
“This was absurd and hilarious to make,” Taylor says. “Goodbye, 1993!”
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