1 of 5 | Taylor Swift, seen at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles in February, released “The Release Party of a Showgirl” on Friday. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo
Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl, in theaters Friday, is a different sort of film from Swfit’s concert film The Eras Tour. Nevertheless, Swift knows how to make it an event even without a stage performance and focusing on only one album.
Swift does not delay on her promise of a music video for “The Fate of Ophelia,” the opening track from her latest album, The Life of a Showgirl. The video opens the film after a brief introduction.
The “Ophelia” video shows Swift as a living pre-Raphaelite painting, a go-go dancer, a Marilyn Monroe styled cabaret act, a Busby Berkeley musical performer, a very interesting image of Swift lying in a bundle of ropes, and more.
After the video, behind-the-scenes footage shows Swift discussing her inspirations and directing her crew, returning from The Eras Tour. Swift says the video reflects a journey through various historic ideas of showgirls, from the cinema-inspired ones to paintings and more theatrical versions.
The footage captures the joyous atmosphere Swift creates on set, empowering crew to do well and celebrating them when they do. Even when she wants to do another take, she calls the previous take perfect but just says she feels she has even more to give.
Viewers also get to see Swift rehearse the very same dance moves in shorts and T-shirts. She has just as much stage presence out of costume with her movement and body language alone.
The rest of the film makes Life of a Showgirl a listening party for fans attending in theaters nationwide. The 11 other tracks play as lyric videos, with Swift discussing each one.
VH-1 Storytellers popularized the idea of artists discussing their songs and it remains meaningful with Swift’s own twists. Those songs range from the personal like “Eldest Daughter” and “Ruin the Friendship” to the playful “Knock on Wood.”
“Actually Romantic” is a Swiftie version of the Mad Men meme where Don Draper tells a copywriter “I don’t think about you at all.” Swift explains she’s flattered when she realizes someone has obsessively hated her.
Of course, Swift is claiming she didn’t realize her impact on this other person, just as Draper implied. However, Swift is correct when she says, “In my industry, attention is affection and you’ve given me a lot of it.”
Fans have speculated that “Actually Romantic” is about Charli XCX. Whoever it is called Swift “Boring Barbie” which doesn’t appear to be documented.
When she sings “No one has ever loved me like you do,” one wonders how Swift’s fiance Travis Kelcie would feel about a hater’s attention surpassing even his love. But plenty of other songs celebrate Swift’s love for Kelcie so he’s probably fine.
“Father Figure,” in addition to being inspired by the George Michael song and obtaining permission from the Michael estate, is about backhanded industry mentorship. Swift’s explanation informs how she is inspired by fellow artists, and the lyrics scathingly call out a figure from her early career, also not named directly.
Other songs reflect the wisdom Swift has gained since her early music. Given her young fan base, she can pass that wisdom on to her fans, but frankly listeners older than Swift can still learn.
“Ruin the Friendship” is quite a tragic song about wishing she told someone how she felt about him. She may have lost the friendship had he not reciprocated, but it’s too late now and he’s no longer in her life anyway.
“Honey” takes back such terms of endearment used condescendingly by celebrating a sincere expression of them.
In “Eldest Daughter,” Swift laments the defense mechanisms she learned to avoid the vulnerability of admitting she feels emotional and has desires. Swift further connects that to online personas. Hopefully, fans will accept her challenge to drop the detached, ironic persona and be sincere.
Since “Ophelia” was the first video off the album, the lyric videos include clips from the various segments of “Ophelia.” The loop of brief clips of Swift in a turquoise bathing suit or as Marilyn Monroe can get repetitive but they only last the three or four minutes of the song.
Occasionally, Release Party cuts to more behind-the-scenes footage of other segments of “Ophelia.” Each segment was so distinct that further footage of making the video proves unique.
Though Release Party plays with no coming attractions for other movies, it should be noted that the first thing audiences see is a Target commercial for the album. It is, at least, a funny ad with Swift directing herself through a megaphone.
The film concludes with another showing of “The Fate of Ophelia.” After listening to the whole album and hearing Swift’s personal connection to many songs, “Ophelia” is even more powerful an expression surviving in the entertainment industry, in life and in love.
Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.
