Taylor Swift Seems To Have Hidden A Secret Jab At Her Ex In The Music Video Of Her New Song

It all starts when Taylor drops her brand new video for “The Fate of Ophelia”, from her album The Life of a Showgirl. Fans have already seen the elaborate visuals — costuming, high theater energy, Shakespearean references.

But there’s one small moment in it that people are calling out. A blink-and-you’ll-miss-it detail. One of the hotel doors in a hallway has the number “87” painted on it. Some eagle-eyed Swifties noticed it’s a number often associated with Travis Kelce — her fiancé, who plays football and wears jersey number 87.

Then there’s the lyric when she’s wearing a sparkly blue jacket — she’s singing “Pledge allegiance to your hands, your team, your vibes” — at that exact moment, a football flies across the screen. It doesn’t feel random. To many fans, it’s not just a prop. It’s a signal.

These moments make people wonder: is this video trying to contrast her current love with past relationships? Is she saying, “I was drowning, and now someone pulled me out” in a much more subtle way — but with visual cues?

In the song’s theme & video structure, she plays with ideas from the Shakespearean Ophelia myth: drowning, losing self, madness, being tossed around by other people’s expectations. In Swift’s version, Ophelia is rescued — not by fate alone, but by someone real. Someone who stands in for stability. Travis Kelce, many believe.

Fans are comparing this to old Swift videos where she threw shade or made references to exes. They’re asking: when did the narrative shift from heartbreak to rescue? When did she go from being lost in the river to catching a football over the water, metaphorically speaking?

Some critics aren’t convinced. They say these are Easter eggs Swift loves to hide, little nods, not always messages with agendas. Maybe the “87” is just fan service. Maybe the football was chosen because it looks good. But most people agree, with Swift it’s rarely that simple. She builds layers. She drops clues. And we, the fans, sift through them.

In interviews, Taylor recently spoke about rescuing the Ophelia character from “all these men gaslighting her.” That quote makes the stuff in the video hit differently. Because if you believe that, then the rescue seems personal.

So here’s the question fans keep asking:

Is this video a subtle jab at her exes — not naming them, not pointing fingers, but weaving in contrast? A message saying: “I’ve been drowning. Someone came. I’m not going back under.”

Or is this just very good staging, very good storytelling, and we’re reading too much into metaphor and symbolism?

People online are split. Some are saying yes, 100%, it’s shade and she’s owning her narrative. Others are defending it as art — a reimagined Ophelia story, rich with symbolism, not petty, but poetic.

There’s also humor in the mix. Some fans joked that she even tried “to make a TikTok dance” in some moments — maybe a nod to her pop culture influence, maybe just because dance is everywhere. Critics said “high school talent show energy” at some choreography.

And then there’s the sharpest moment: the bathtub scene at the end. In Shakespeare, Ophelia drowns. In Swift’s video, she lies in a bathtub. But it doesn’t feel like surrender. It feels like a reclaiming. Bath, water, but she’s in control. Not drowned, but staged. Deliberate. A choice. Fans think that’s pretty clearly symbolic: she’s done with being pushed under.

What if the football, the rescue imagery, the costume changes all point to a contrast between past and present love? What if she’s showing how someone used to gaslight, let her drown, and now she’s buoyed, lifted, supported?

And maybe that’s the hidden jab. Not angry. Not bitter. But quietly strong.