"The Fate of Ophelia" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift and the lead single from her twelfth studio album, The Life of a Showgirl. The song was released on October 3, 2025, through Republic Records. Swift wrote and produced "The Fate of Ophelia" with Max Martin and Shellback. It is a dance-pop, synth-pop, and funk song with a new wave groove. The track opens with a drum roll and minor piano chords, progressing into an upbeat arrangement of steel guitars, synthesizers, and Omnichords, over a driving bassline. Lyrically, Swift was inspired by Ophelia, a character who drowns due to madness from grief and romantic rejection in William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet. The song addresses a soulmate who saves Swift from a destiny of death like that of Ophelia.
Music critics generally praised "The Fate of Ophelia" for its literary influences and opined that the production choices resulted in a catchy melody, while some took issue with the lyrics' conventional tropes and interpretation of Shakespeare's Ophelia. Commercially, the single became the most-streamed song in a day and a week on the streaming platform Spotify. It peaked atop the Billboard Global 200 and became Swift's first number-one single in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands. In the United States, "The Fate of Ophelia" spent 10 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, marking Swift's longest-running number-one song. It has been certified multi-platinum in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Portugal, and diamond in France.
Swift wrote and directed the song's music video, which premiered as part of the album's promotional film, The Official Release Party of a Showgirl. The video draws on various historical, cultural, and artistic inspirations of female performers, portraying Swift as a showgirl across different periods of time and incorporating hints at other songs from The Life of a Showgirl. She worked with the cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, the choreographer Mandy Moore, and the production designer Ethan Tobman on the video, and cast her band and dance crew from the Eras Tour—the tour that inspired the album. Both the song's lyrics and video feature references to Swift's fiancé, the football player Travis Kelce.
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