Taylor Swift didn’t release her latest music video in the way she normally does — but don’t you sweat it, baby. Billboard is here to help you figure out how to watch it.
The “Opalite” visual dropped Friday (Feb. 6), marking the second music video from the pop star’s Life of a Showgirl album so far. Previously, she shared a theatrical, showgirl-inspired video for lead single “The Fate of Ophelia,” which would go on to spend 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — the longest run at the chart’s summit of Swift’s career to date.
Now, it’s the “Opalite” video’s time to shine — but where can fans find it? Rather than publishing it immediately on YouTube, the way she’s done for many years, the 14-time Grammy winner instead premiered “Opalite” on two of the world’s other biggest music streaming services: Spotify and Apple Music. Notably, the move comes after YouTube announced in December that it was withdrawing its data from Billboard‘s charts, meaning that none of the views “Opalite” would have gotten on the video platform would’ve had any bearing over the song’s position on, say, the Hot 100. But this way, all of the first few million expected views of “Opalite” — which so far has peaked at No. 2 on the chart — will count toward Swift’s campaign for the song to go No. 1.
To view “Opalite,” fans can click a link shared by Swift on her Instagram Story, which leads to a page that gives viewers the choice between watching the video via Spotify or Apple Music. From there, click on whichever is your preferred streaming service of the two, and you’ll be taken directly to the video on either site.
For those without a subscription to either Spotify or Apple Music, it’s all right; the “Opalite” video will eventually make its way to YouTube on Sunday (Feb. 8).
To fans’ surprise, the “Opalite” music video features a star-studded and very specific cast, made up of the people who were also guests on The Graham Norton Show episode alongside Swift in October: Greta Lee, Jodie Turner-Smith and Cillian Murphy, as well as with Graham Norton himself and Lewis Capaldi, who performed on the episode. As the hitmaker explained in an Instagram post shortly after the release of the video, she thought of its concept while they were taping the talk show, when Domhnall Gleeson made a joke about “hoping to be in a Taylor Swift music video.”
The cameos were by “all people whose work I’ve admired from afar,” Swift gushed in her post.
“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,” she added. “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. Shot on film. The Opalite video is out now on Spotify & Apple Music.”
