You’ve seen the shot. Taylor Swift, decked out in a shimmering Area minidress and dripping in Zydo Italy diamonds, finally stops running from the paparazzi and sinks into a bathtub. It’s the closing beat of the music video, and honestly, it’s the one everyone is talking about. It’s not just a pretty visual; it’s a complete subversion of a 19th-century tragedy.
Shakespeare’s Ophelia didn’t have a great time. She famously drowned in a brook, weighed down by her heavy clothes and her own grief. But in the the fate of ophelia music video swim scene, Swift takes that "doomed girl" trope and basically flips the script. Instead of sinking, she stays right at the water line. She’s breathing. She’s fine.
Making the Submerged Look: The Technical Side
The whole video is a love letter to show business. Taylor directed this one herself, and she didn't just want a "wet" look; she wanted a historical parallel that felt modern. To get that specific aesthetic, the production team used the Los Angeles Theatre—a landmark that’s been around since 1931. While some of the massive set pieces were built on soundstages in California, the bathtub scene was designed to match the The Life of a Showgirl album cover exactly.
Most people don't realize how hard it is to look "glamorous" while holding your breath in a tub of lukewarm water. According to behind-the-scenes footage shared during The Release Party of a Showgirl theatrical events, Swift was adamant about the framing. She wanted the shot to be a 1:1 recreation of John Everett Millais’ 1851 painting, Ophelia.
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The dress was a huge part of the challenge. That ivory Alberta Ferretti gown used in the earlier "painting" scenes? It was custom georgette and actually tea-stained to look like it had been sitting in an attic for a century. When it came to the water sequences, the weight of the fabric becomes a literal safety hazard. You've got to have divers and safety grips just off-camera even for a shallow tub shoot because wet fabric can pin a performer down faster than you'd think.
The Busby Berkeley Influence
Before the bathtub, we get that incredible synchronized swimming-inspired sequence. It’s a total throwback to the 1930s. Taylor and her dancers—the actual Eras Tour crew—are wearing sequinned shower caps and holding life preservers.
Swift explained in her "cut-by-cut" commentary that the life preservers were a "play on Ophelia." It’s kinda dark humor when you think about it. Ophelia died because no one was there to save her, so Taylor’s version of the character literally brings her own safety equipment.
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- The Choreography: Handled by Mandy Moore (the La La Land and Eras Tour choreographer, not the singer).
- The Vibe: A direct nod to Esther Williams, the "Million Dollar Mermaid" who made underwater cinema a thing.
- The Reality: The dancers weren't actually in a deep pool for the majority of the "swimming" moves; they used the "floor is water" technique on a stage level with fountains shooting off in the background to create the illusion of depth.
Why the Swim Scene Matters
The song is actually a love song. It’s about how her relationship—shoutout to Travis Kelce—helped her avoid the "fate" of being another tragic headline or a broken starlet. If you look closely at the mirror in the dressing room before the swim scene, there's even a "Kiss, Marry, Kill" note with Travis's name on it.
The water represents the "chaos of show business." It’s easy to drown in it. But the video ends with her decompressing in that tub, safe in her hotel room (Room 87, obviously). She’s not a victim of the river; she’s just a performer taking a bath after a long night at BC Place in Vancouver.
Facts You Might Have Missed
Let's talk about the orange bird. It shows up on the windowsill right before the final water shot. Fans think it’s a callback to the Look What You Made Me Do birdcage. Back then, she was trapped. Now, the bird is outside the glass. It’s free.
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Also, the diamonds. Those weren't costume jewelry. Using Zydo Italy diamonds in a water scene is a massive insurance nightmare. Most sets use "stunt" jewelry for anything involving liquids, but Taylor went for the real thing to get that specific refraction of light under the studio lamps.
The final "swim" isn't a death; it's a resurrection. As the camera zooms in, she doesn't close her eyes. She looks right at us. It’s a way of saying that the showgirl is still in control, even when the world expects her to sink.
If you're looking to recreate the "Ophelia" aesthetic for a shoot of your own, start by focusing on the lighting rather than the water. The secret to that "The Fate of Ophelia" glow is high-contrast side lighting and a lot of fabric prep—tea-staining your own "antiqued" garments can give you that Pre-Raphaelite look without the designer price tag.
Check out the "Sequins are Forever" clapboard in the background of the behind-the-scenes footage for more clues on the next music video's direction.