Taylor Swift turns ‘run-down’ UK mall into retro wonderland for ‘Opalite’ music video

Taylor Swift worked a little movie magic for her latest music video.

The 36-year-old pop superstar premiered the ’90s-inspired visual for “Opalite” on Friday, February 6, marking the second music video release from her 2025 album The Life of a Showgirl.

While the video dazzles with neon lights, lush greenery and retro charm, one of its key locations is actually a real-life shopping centre in South London that locals say is far less glamorous.

In the video, Swift – who swaps her signature blonde hair for a brunette look – shares a romantic mall date with actor Domhnall Gleeson, 42. The dreamy sequence was filmed at the Whitgift Shopping Centre in Croydon, England.

“Not every day Taylor Swift films a video in Croydon’s Whitgift Centre!,” arah Jones, Labour MP for Croydon West wrote alongside stills from the video of Swift and Gleeson inside the mall in a February 6 post on X.

The music video also 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.

While the on-screen shopping centre appears vibrant and bustling, Google reviews suggest otherwise, as the real-life Whitgift Centre has struggled in recent years, with several locals describing it as “run-down” and filled with shuttered shops.