The pop megastar dropped the song's star-studded, 90s-inspired music video on Friday, Feb. 6
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NEED TO KNOW
- Taylor Swift released her “Opalite” music video, the second from her 2025 album The Life of a Showgirl, on Friday, Feb. 6
- In the video, she goes on a romantic date with her love interest, played by Domhnall Gleeson, at a nostalgic mall
- The real-life mall is called the Whitgift Shopping Centre and is located in Croydon, England
The mall featured in Taylor Swift’s “Opalite” music video is actually a real place in England — and the star certainly used some production magic to transform it!
Swift, 36, premiered the '90s-inspired video on Friday, Feb. 6, making it the second music video from her 2025 album The Life of a Showgirl. It featured several celebrity cameos, including her love interest played by Domhnall Gleeson, as well as Cillian Murphy, Greta Lee, Jodie Turner-Smith and Lewis Capaldi.
At one point, Gleeson, 42, and Swift — who notably swapped her famous blonde locks for a brunette look in the video — go on a romantic date at a shopping mall. In real life, that mall is the Whitgift Shopping Centre in Croydon, a town in South London.
taylor swift/youtube
Sarah Jones, Labour MP for Croydon West, shared the exciting news that the pop megastar had filmed a portion of her video at the mall in a Feb. 6 post on X.
“Not every day Taylor Swift films a video in Croydon’s Whitgift Centre!,” she wrote alongside stills from the video of Swift and Gleeson inside the mall.
While the scene reflects a desirable date spot — with neon signs, ambient lighting and vibrant greenery on display all around the mall — the real-life location isn’t as full of life, according to locals.
Recent Google reviews from locals describe the location as “run-down,” with many shuttered shops.
“So upsetting to see this centre so run down with hardly any shops left, was an amazing centre back in the day with plenty of choices shops and restaurants,” one person wrote. “Was always the place to go if you needed anything, definitely not the case anymore. Hope that it gets regenerated and gets back to being even better than it was.”
Another, who gave the mall one star, called it a “dreadful place” and echoed, “Seems like most shops are closed down.”
Dave Stevenson/Shutterstock
According to TimeOut, plans to transform the shopping center into a Westfield mall have been in the works for over a decade. Per the outlet, the planning application was pushed back several times, and developers Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield aren't going to submit another one until later this year.
If the application is approved, the outlet notes that work likely won’t begin on the mall until at least 2028.
To celebrate the release of her new video, Swift revealed on Instagram how she got the idea for the retro video, which begins with a commercial for "Opalite" spray — a magical solution meant to fix people's problems and turn their "crappiness into happiness."
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"My favorite part about writing is that first spark of an idea. It can happen at any time, for any reason," the star wrote on Instagram. "The idea for the Opalite music video crash landed into my imagination when I was doing promo for The Life of a Showgirl."
"I was a guest on one of my favorite shows, @TheGrahamNortonShowOfficial… I remember thinking I got ridiculously lucky with the group I was paired with. Cillian Murphy, Domhnall Gleeson, Greta Lee, @JodieSmith, and @LewisCapaldi. All people whose work I’ve admired from afar," she continued, recalling an October 2025 appearance on the show.
"When we were all talking during the broadcast, Domhnall made a light-hearted joke about wanting to be in one of my music videos. He’s Irish! He was joking! Except that in that moment during the interview, I was instantly struck with an *idea*," she said.
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