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Hours after Taylor Swift\u2019s 12th studio album, \u201cThe Life of a Showgirl,\u201d was released on Friday<\/a>, her fans arrived in droves at movie theaters around the country. They wore Eras Tour shirts and sparkles and the album\u2019s signature color orange, because when Taylor Swift releases a record, it\u2019s an all-consuming, weekend-spanning event.<\/p>\n In this case, Swifties showed up for \u201cThe Official Release Party of a Showgirl,\u201d an 89-minute \u201ctheatrical experience\u201d in which Swift debuted the lyric videos for the 12 tracks<\/a> and briefly explained the story behind each song. At a showing in Arlington, Virginia, the packed audience on Friday afternoon cheered as Swift appeared on screen, sitting in a director\u2019s chair.<\/p>\n Swift only revealed a few notable tidbits: While discussing \u201cCancelled!,\u201d which she called a \u201ctongue-in-cheek\u201d song about social outrage, she said that she\u2019s the go-to person whom other people (presumably famous ones) frantically call for advice when they feel the wrath of the public. She explained that she wanted to collaborate with pop star Sabrina Carpenter on the title track, a tale about the strangeness of fame, because she admires how Carpenter has adjusted to the spotlight. She didn\u2019t go into detail about \u201cWood,\u201d whose lyrics include some spicy euphemisms about her fianc\u00e9 Travis Kelce\u2019s physical attributes, though she let a pause linger the end of her vague explanation. (The audience laughed knowingly.)<\/p>\n But the main point of the film was to debut the music video for \u201cThe Fate of Ophelia,\u201d which played twice, and included behind-the-scenes footage of Swift directing the video. The song, co-written by Swift and her pop-producer collaborators Max Martin and Shellback, is the album\u2019s lead single, and references the famed character in William Shakespeare\u2019s \u201cHamlet\u201d who goes mad and drowns.<\/p>\n The Ophelia imagery looms large on this record. The cover of the album features Swift in a water-filled bathtub in a slinky showgirl get-up, meant to evoke John Everett Millais\u2019s 1850s painting<\/a> of Ophelia\u2019s death; the music video begins and ends with similar scenes. When Swift announced the album over the summer, she said the project was inspired by her time behind the curtain on her record-breaking Eras Tour<\/a>; and the cover art referenced how she would unwind after each physically grueling, three-hour-plus concert by taking a bath. But she was also thinking about Ophelia\u2019s depressing fate.<\/p>\n During the movie, Swift said that the idea for the song sparked when she was in the studio with Martin and Shellback and scrolling through a list of song ideas on her phone. Shellback happened to play a \u201creally cool chord progression\u201d just as her eyes scanned across the word Ophelia. She started thinking about what would have happened if Ophelia had not been driven crazy \u2014 by her father, by Hamlet inadvertently killing her father, by being rejected by Hamlet \u2014 and met someone who actually treated her well.<\/p>\n \u201cAll these men were just gaslighting her until she drowned,\u201d Swift said. She started imagining how to reframe the story. \u201cWhat if the hook is that you saved my heart from the fate of Ophelia? Basically, you are the reason why I didn\u2019t end up like this tragic poetic heroine, hero, girl, who passed away in fictional world?\u201d<\/p>\n Thus, the track was born: \u201cLate one night, you dug me out of my grave and \/ Saved my heart from the fate of \/ Ophelia,\u201d Swift sings in the chorus, and mixes in internet-speak: \u201cKeep it 100 on the land, the sea, the sky \/ Pledge allegiance to your hands, your team, your vibes.\u201d At one point in the video, which features scenes of various showgirls, someone randomly throws Swift a football; she didn\u2019t mention Kelce by name<\/a>, but clearly didn\u2019t want to leave any room for doubt about who has great vibes.<\/p>\n Swift has been drawn to the Bard in the past, though she tends to repurpose his tragedies. In 2008, she released \u201cLove Story\u201d (her lead single off her sophomore country album \u201cFearless\u201d), which offered a cheerier take on a devastating tale: In her version, Romeo and Juliet clear up any misunderstandings and end up married. The song was an enormous hit and helped Swift pave a path to pop superstardom.<\/p>\n \u201cI love Shakespeare,\u201d Swift said earnestly during the movie, and then made fun of herself for saying something so obvious. \u201cIt holds up! It\u2019s actually not overhyped. And I just love those tragedies so much, I fall in love with those characters so much, that it hurts me that they die.\u201d She liked to think that fans might learn something from her allusions to the Ophelia painting. \u201cArt history for pop fans,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Swift always sends a pointed message with her lead single, so what exactly is she trying to say here \u2014 besides offering a window into her literary inspirations? It seems significant that the broader concept is about a woman being driven to madness, a topic that Swift has tackled in the past: the very literal \u201cMad Woman\u201d in 2020, the wounded lyrics<\/a> throughout \u201cThe Tortured Poets Department\u201d in 2024.<\/p>\n While this idea often has to do with love (\u201cDon\u2019t blame me, love made me crazy,\u201d she sings on the 2017 album \u201cReputation\u201d), and Swift turns Ophelia into a romantic story, she has emphasized that the album itself is driven by her experience on the Eras Tour, which became a cultural phenomenon and the highest-grossing tour in history.<\/p>\n Swift also sings on the record about the surreal and damaging aspects of fame. So Swift putting this song front and center could also be a subtle reminder about how, in addition to escaping Ophelia\u2019s fate and finding love, she has emerged triumphant from the mind-bending experience of being a celebrity in the male-dominated music industry. She has remained on top of the world even after she has felt, well, \u201cCancelled!\u201d over the backlashes<\/a> to various things she has said and done.<\/p>\n Some good news: Shakespeare scholars will not cancel Swift for invoking \u201cHamlet.\u201d Before the album dropped Friday, The Washington Post spoke with some experts at the Folger Institute at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington (which houses the world\u2019s largest collection of Shakespeare-related material) to see what they thought of the biggest pop star on the planet stepping on their turf. Patricia Akhimie, the director, and Ashley Buchanan, associate director for fellowships, said they understood why Swift would be drawn to such a fascinating character \u2014 especially one who goes through such a relatable scenario for women. The men in Ophelia\u2019s life have competing desires for what she should do, and it turns into a no-win scenario.<\/p>\n They pointed out that Ophelia doesn\u2019t actually die onstage; her death is described by another character, which is the only way the audience knows what happened to her. Swift, on the other hand, features herself as Ophelia right on the cover of her album. As she gazes meaningfully at the camera while floating in the bathtub, it looks like she can actually take control of her own story.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is an image that is fully informed by the artist who created the music, and who had input into the construction of that image and all that it means,\u201d Akhimie said. \u201cSo that\u2019s a real taking back of the power in creating an image of your own self and your work.\u201d<\/p>\n