Taylor Swift just dropped the video for ‘Lavender Haze’, the first track off the truly excellent Midnights. As you’d expect from the title, there’s a lot of lavender and a lot of haze, with the dreamy video showing Taylor deeply in love with a new boyfriend.
Said boyfriend is played by model, actor and trans activist Laith Ashley, with the two making for a beautiful couple. Taylor launched the video via a tweet in which she specifically praised Ashley, saying she “adored” working with him:
The Lavender Haze video is out now. There is lots of lavender. There is lots of haze. There is my incredible costar @laith_ashley who I absolutely adored working with.https://t.co/auFTSVBP0A pic.twitter.com/RXWPuKvkxK
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) January 27, 2023Ashley has returned the compliment, describing it as “an experience I will never forget”:
Thank you so much @taylorswift13 for allowing me to play a small part in your story. You are brilliant and this is an experience I will never forget. https://t.co/tzkH3a7mos
— Laith Ashley De La Cruz (@laith_ashley) January 27, 2023Since rising to fame via Instagram, Ashley’s modelling career has gone stratospheric. He’s featured in campaigns for Calvin Klein, British GQ, Vogue France, Elle UK and many others, becoming the first transgender man to front a campaign for Diesel.
Fan responses to the video are universally positive. Swifties are predictably over the moon and have already begun producing some impressive fan art:
Damn😍what is this masterpiece thoughhh!!
— Speak Now Supremacy 💜 (@runawayspeaknow) January 27, 2023omg u did that so fast
— chloe (taylor's version) (@sage_sunsets) January 27, 2023While Ashley’s fans are happy that he’s reached a new height in his career:
You two were truly amazing💜💜 Congrats !!!! pic.twitter.com/XGvmHIHnjD
— kayden (taylor’s version) (@kaydenmagulick) January 27, 2023No thank YOU pic.twitter.com/6qttyj0zxT
— We are never ever getting Nino together (@tisthedamnnino) January 27, 2023You are fantastic, Laith! This is so so inspiring and wonderful to see as a queer person 💜 sending you endless love and congratulations!
— cora || GLENDALE N1&2 (@ghostofeste) January 27, 2023But some are calling attention to one shot that… well, we’ll let you work out what this is depicting for yourselves. Just a fold in the sheet or something more…?
Okay but…Is this what we think it is? pic.twitter.com/I0Jv0Bdqbi
— Tarsh Gambhir (@gambhir_tarsh) January 27, 2023Swift went on to underline that she wrote this video and feels like it above all overs helped her define the Midnights aesthetic, describing it as a “sultry sleepless ‘70s fever dream”.
So, the song is an instant classic and the video is a straight-up banger. But at this point we expect nothing less from Taylor.
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