Taylor Swift sings The Fate of Ophelia live for the first time at the Academy Museum Gala
Taylor Swift gave The Fate of Ophelia its live debut at the Academy Museum Gala in Los Angeles, in a four-song set that also included her Toy Story 5 song.
Taylor Swift gave The Fate of Ophelia its first live performance on Saturday night, and she chose a film-world fundraiser in Los Angeles rather than a stadium to do it. The song opens The Life of a Showgirl, the album she released last October, and until the Academy Museum Gala it had never been performed in front of an audience.
Swift played four songs at the gala on 17 October. She opened with Blank Space before moving into The Fate of Ophelia, then followed it with I Knew It, I Knew You, the song she wrote for Toy Story 5. She closed with Love Story, sending the room home on one of her best-loved songs.
The Academy Museum Gala is the yearly fundraiser for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, and the money it raises goes towards the museum's exhibitions, screenings and events for visitors. This year's honourees were the director and composer John Carpenter, the actor Colman Domingo and Charlize Theron, which meant Swift was performing to a room built around celebrating cinema rather than her usual pop crowd.
She arrived in a pale blue Dior gown and spent time on the red carpet with friends, posing for photographs with Sabrina Carpenter and Cara Delevingne. Rosé, Janelle Monáe, Jennifer Hudson and Camila Cabello were among the other famous faces at the event, so the night had the feel of a music and film crossover from the moment guests began to arrive.
The Toy Story 5 song goes some way to explaining why the night suited her. Writing for a Pixar film has brought Swift closer to the film industry this year, and a gala held by the Academy's own museum falls just as attention begins to turn towards awards season. Giving that song a place beside two of her best-known hits let her show the room both sides of her year in a single short set.
It has been a busy month for Swift in front of the cameras. Earlier in October she made a surprise cameo on Saturday Night Live, which we covered in Taylor Swift shocks SNL viewers with surprise cameo.
No further live dates for The Fate of Ophelia have been announced, so for now the guests at the Academy Museum remain the only audience to have heard it. With her Toy Story 5 song keeping her close to the film world, it would be no surprise to see her at more industry events as awards season gets under way.
Images: Getty Images.
