Taylor Swift is not only dominating the charts, she's also taken over movie theaters with "The Official Release Party of a Showgirl."
The 89-minute "experience" wasn't a standard movie or concert film, like "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour," but a listening party for fans keen to learn details of the singer's 12th album.
The vibes kicked off in the theater right away, with a playlist of past hits playing before the lights went down, followed by an introductory video from Taylor explaining a little of what we'd see, including the music video premiere of "The Fate of Ophelia."
Taylor noted that the music video served as a big reunion for the Eras Tour singers, dancers (including new "DWTS" pro Jan Ravnik and fan favorite Kameron Saunders), musicians, and behind the scenes crew.
"The Fate of Ophelia" was a gorgeous music video, packed with historical references and of course dozens of Easter eggs for Taylor's own lore. There was also a very special cameo in the music video: a loaf of her much talked about sourdough bread. As she explained after the video played, the inspiration came from what it meant to be a "showgirl" across history, whether posing for a painting or performing on stage, at a cabaret club or on film.
The real highlight of the experience was all the BTS of the making of "The Fate of Ophelia." Taylor can be seen wearing a t-shirt with otters on it, a nod to fiancée Travis Kelce's deep love for the animals.
We also got to see Taylor in director mode, working with her cinematographer and choreographer, the famed Mandy Moore, in crafting the look and feel of the video. They even share Taylor talking about the concept over a video call, and working behind the scenes with an injured finger (she cut it after dropping a glass bowl).
After the music video and first batch of BTS footage (which was doled out every few songs), we got into Taylor breaking down each song.
Much of what she relayed was clear from the lyrics and/or deduced by Swifties who had already raced to analyze every word.
Taylor didn't call anyone out directly of course, leaving fans to continue to speculate on the subjects behind "Father Figure" and "CANCELLED!"
The biggest surprise was that many of the lyrics were cleaned up for the movie theater. Taylor has never been a foul mouth per se, but she did a few simple swaps, like changing "my d -- k is bigger" to "my checks are bigger" on "Father Figure."
The funniest swaps came on "Wood," which many have clocked as being a reference to Travis'manhood and includes the word "d -- kmatized" (changed to the cleaner "hypnotized"). Taylor's explanation for the song is brief but cheeky.
She tells the audience it's a song about "superstitions" and nothing more, which earned a big laugh from the audience.
Overall, Taylor is careful not to mention Travis directly, though the references are clearly there. For example, on "Opalite," Taylor only says she and her mom have always loved opals, and that opalite is man made and the song is about making your own happiness. But it's worth noting opals are the birthstone for October, Travis' birth month.
Taylor also discussed the collaboration with Sabrina Carpenter on the closing song and title track, "The Life of a Showgirl," praising the singer as someone who gets it and puts in the hustle. Sabrina recorded her parts in Sweeden while on tour on her days off, and the lyric video featured footage of Sabrina with Taylor on the Eras Tour.
To close out the listening party, Taylor gave her explanation for "The Fate of Ophelia" (skipped at the beginning to feature the BTS) and joked about loving Shakespeare and wanting to give the beloved characters from his tragedies happier endings (like Romeo and Juliet in her song "Love Story").
Then the music video played one last time so you could take in the full effect of all the work behind the scenes and the night came to an end.
At the Century City AMC location, there was also a "Life of a Showgirl" pop up photo op, with a handful of sets including a dressing room, Taylor gallery, stage, and forest backdrop (like the one seen in "The Fate of Ophelia" music video) for fans to pose in, complete with a few props, like feather boas.