Over the weekend, Taylor Swift released the music video for “Opalite”, her second single from her latest album, The Life of a Showgirl. The music video, which was first available on Spotify Premium and Apple Music before being released on other platforms days later, has a lot to unpack.
There’s a strong ’90s aesthetic, a surprising crop of guest stars, and layers upon layers of metaphor that just might represent Swift’s past few romantic relationships. But for one specific resident of Sesame Street, a single aspect of the video has caused a hilarious stir. That’s right: Elmo’s official Twitter account started beef with Taylor Swift.
Shortly after the “Opalite” video first premiered, Elmo’s account tweeted “Ms. Taylor Swift…you have got to be kidding Elmo.” For those who had seen the music video (or at very least, clips of it on Twitter), it was easy to put two and two together: Elmo was unhappy that one of Swift’s co-stars in the music video is a giant pet Rock, given its similarities to his own long-running nemesis, a rock named Rocco. There are countless supercuts and memes poking fun at Elmo’s dislike of the rock, who was introduced in Season 30 of Sesame Street and who Elmo thinks is overhyped.
In Swift’s defense… in the context of the “Opalite” video itself, she and Elmo have a lot more in common than he might think. The actual storyline of the video is about how Swift’s “Lonely Woman” and the rock were incompatible with each other, with her shutting out possible friendships, having her hobbies ignored, and just overall dimming her light to be with it. It isn’t until Lonely Woman sprays herself with Opalite spray — and ends up in a relationship with Lonely Man (Domnhall Gleeson), who was unhappy dating a cactus — that things start to change for the better. By the end of the video, the Rock and Cactus have entered their own seemingly-happy relationship… but it’s abundantly clear that Swift is encouraging people to dump their own Rock-like partners and get with someone more compatible with them. If anything, that has some overlap with Elmo’s festering dislike of Rocco.
Who Stars in Taylor Swift’s “Opalite” Video?
Beyond the Rock that started beef with Elmo, the “Opalite” video has an eclectic number of familiar faces. Swift’s Eras Tour dancers play small parts throughout the video, and Gleeson co-stars as the aforementioned “Lonely Man.” Jodie Turner-Smith and Greta Lee both appear on the in-universe TV, with Turner-Smith leading a workout routine and Lee singing on an MTV Unplugged-like set. Musician Lewis Capaldi plays a mall photographer, and Academy Award-winning actor Cillian Murphy is even spotted as the voice and face of the Opalite spray.
While this crop of people might’ve seemed confusing in a vacuum, Swifties will definitely recognize them as Swift’s couch mates when she appeared on The Graham Norton Show last fall to promote Showgirl. After appearing on the show, Swift quickly wrote the music video around the crop of guests.
“I remember thinking I got ridiculously lucky with the group I was paired with. Cillian Murphy, Domhnall Gleeson, Greta Lee, Jodie Turner-Smith, and @LewisCapaldi,” Swift’s post about the music video reads in part. “All people whose work I’ve admired from afar. 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,” she wrote.
“And so a week later he received an email script I’d written for the Opalite video, where he was playing the starring role. 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. You might even recognize some friendly faces from The Eras Tour. I got to work with one of my favorite people in the world, Rodrigo Prieto, again! I had more fun than I ever imagined – Made new friends, metaphors, and fashion choices. It was an absolute thrill to create this story and these characters.”
(featured image: Max)
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