Taylor Swift releases star-studded Opalite music video, shares back story

Taylor Swift dropped the Opalite music video on Friday, February 6, 2026 and the internet cannot stop talking about it. The global pop star released a star-studded 90s themed video of The Life of a Showgirl (2025) track and even debuted a brunette look!

Shortly after the music video released on Spotify and Apple Music, Taylor shared an Instagram post revealing a sweet backstory of how the video came to be and honestly, it is really heart-touching. The singer-songwriter appeared on The Graham Norton Show last year and got all her co-guests from the evening to feature in the Opalite video!

Taylor Swift says the Opalite video felt like a fun "school group project but for adults"

Popular singer-songwriter, Taylor Swift, really made waves with her latest Opalite music video, the second video from her latest album, The Life of a Showgirl, that released in 2025.

The pop icon, 36, shared on her Instagram that the idea for the video came to her when she appeared on the very popular British talk show, The Graham Norton Show. Her fellow guest and famous Irish actor, Domhnall Gleeson had joked about wanting to be in a Taylor Swift music video but she really some potential in that idea.

Sharing pictures from the music video on Instagram, Taylor wrote in the caption, "My favorite part about writing is that first spark of an idea. It can happen at any time, for any reason. The idea for the Opalite music video crash landed into my imagination when I was doing promo for The Life of a Showgirl. I was a guest on one of my favorite shows, @TheGrahamNortonShowOfficial".

Introducing the popular talk show hosted by Graham Norton, Taylor said that she "got ridiculously lucky" with the other guests who joined her including Cillian Murphy, Domhnall Gleeson, Greta Lee, Jodie Turner Smith and Lewis Capaldi.

The singer-songwriter continued, "When we were all talking during the broadcast, Domhnall made a light hearted joke about wanting to be in one of my music videos. He’s Irish! He was joking! Except that in that moment during the interview, I was instantly struck with an *idea*. And so a week later he received an email script I’d written for the Opalite video, where he was playing the starring role".

Taylor Swift said that she wanted a reunion of the entire group from the show and tried to get everyone on board. "I had this thought that it would be wild if all of our fellow guests on the Graham Norton show that night, including Graham himself, could be a part of it too. Like a school group project but for adults and it isn’t mandatory. To my delight, everyone from the show made the effort to time travel back to the 90’s with us and help with this video", she said.

It was an experience of a lifetime for the star who said that during the making of the music video, she had more fun than expected and "made new friends, metaphors, and fashion choices".

Domhnall really manifested his dream into really, starring as the lead in the video alongside Taylor as the two play "Lonely Boy" and "Lonely Girl" respectively. Greta appears on the video as a singer, "Indie rock goddess" while Jodie is an "aerobics dream girl" who is an instructor on television. Lewis features as a mall photographer and while Cillian Murphy does not feature in person, he is there in the video on a billboard. Finally, Graham plays the "nope-alite spokesperson".

At the end of the music video, Taylor Swift uses the original guest introduction clip from The Graham Norton Show to credit everyone. The moment from the broadcast where Domhnall Gleeson confesses his wish to be in a music video by Taylor Swift is final montage.

While the music video is out on other platforms, it is yet to drop on YouTube. It will release on the platform on Sunday, February 8, 2026.

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