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It’s almost the curtain call for Taylor Swift’s grand Showgirl weekend. After dominating the box office with Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl, Swift has one last trick up her sleeve for the weekend: a new music video, which first premiered (twice!) in theaters. For those who didn’t get a chance to see “The Fate of Ophelia” premiere at a cinema, it’s now live on YouTube for you to find every Easter Egg and showbiz footnote made by Swift. Luckily, we saved you some of the guesswork and found the references to some of Swift’s favorite showgirls. Now, rolls the credits…
“Ophelia” by John Everett Millais
Photo: DeAgostin/Getty Images
The most obvious reference throughout the entire music video is John Everett Millais’s 1850 painting “Ophelia.” Swift mentions this in the BTS of the video, where, in the beginning, she sets up the shot of herself lying down in the painting before coming to life. She also references Ophelia’s death later during a huge sparkly dance number.
Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Photo: John Florea/Twentieth Century Fox/Film Corporation/Sunset Boulevard
It would be a crime if Swift didn’t mention Monroe and thankfully she’s off the hook. Swift wears a shiny red leotard with a short bright bleachella colored wig, very similar to Monroe’s signature cut.
The Ronettes
Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
As Swift moves into a trio and dyes her hair black —don’t we all want to do that after so much bleach — Swift’s new crew is looking a whole lot like The Ronettes, with the matching dresses, groovy moves, and 1960s stage.
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John William Waterhouse’s paintings
Waterhouse has many paintings of Ophelia and other Shakespeare-inspired works, so it’s not surprising that Swift came across his art when studying for her first music video back since “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart.” One of the first references to his “Lady of Shalott” painting comes towards the beginning of the video, featuring one of Swift’s sourdough bread loaves and a statue of Olivia, her cat.
However, Swift makes the biggest reference to Waterhouse’s painting of Miranda from Shakespeare’s The Tempest when she dons a Florence Welch-like wig while trying to stay aboard a ship in a storm.
Busby Berkeley’s movies
Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Another direct reference explained by Swift, she mentions that the next sequence with the dancers wearing sequined swim caps is inspired by the films and choreography of Busby Berkeley movies, like the one for Footlight Parade.
Herself, duh
Photo: Erika Goldring/TAS24/Getty Images
“The Fate of Ophelia” is a love letter to the Eras Tour, featuring all the dancers and background singers throughout the video. Swift is the ultimate showgirl, and rightfully so; she paid homage to the past two years of her life on tour. She wears a fluffy jacket, similar to the one she wears on stage during “Lavender Haze.”
