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The video features trans model Laith Ashley as her love interest.
Taylor Swift once again met her fans at midnight ... with a new video!
At the stroke of midnight on Friday, the 33-year-old "Anti-Hero" singer released the third, highly-anticipated music video from her album "Midnights," for the song "Lavender Haze."
The 11-time Grammy Award winner took to Instagram to surprise Swifities with the drop. "The Lavender Haze video is out now," she captioned a post featuring stills from the video. "There is lots of lavender. There is lots of haze. There is my incredible costar @laith_ashley who I absolutely adored working with."
Taylor continued, "This was the first video I wrote out of the 3 that have been released, and this one really helped me conceptualize the world and mood of Midnights, like a sultry sleepless 70's fever dream. Hope you like it 😁"
Playing Swift's love interest in her written and directed video is Laith Ashley, a transgender actor, model and singer. The "Lavender Haze" MV opens with Swift waking up next to Ashley at midnight where a literal lavender haze transforms their bedroom into a colorful surreal world with a '70s themed vibe.
Throughout the video Swift and Ashely can be seen dancing together in nightclubs and enjoying each other's embrace among friends as a dreamy purple fog fills the room.
"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," Ashley shared on Twitter after the video dropped. "Still at a loss for words. Trying to gather myself and my thoughts. I am so grateful. Thank you @taylorswift13."
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The "Blank Space" artist is also featured in ethereal pools of purple water and seen crawling through a field of lavender that has grown in her living room in the footage. She also reaches through TV screens and open windows to reveal a space-like dreamscape with floating koi fish -- a central theme throughout the "Midnights" music videos released so far.
During a series of Instagram Reels she dubbed as "Midnights Mayhem With Me" ahead of the album's release, Taylor revealed the track names of her 10th studio album and shared her inspiration behind the album's first song.
"I happened upon the phrase 'lavender haze' when I was watching 'Mad Men,'" she noted at the time. "I looked it up because I thought it sounded cool. And it turns out that it’s a common phrase used in the ’50s where they would describe being in love. If you're in the 'lavender haze,' then that meant you were in that all-encompassing love glow. And I thought that was really beautiful."
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"Lavender Haze" is also the only song Taylor has confirmed to be about her longtime boyfriend Joe Alywn.
"I think a lot of people have to deal with this now, not just like 'public figures,' because we live in the era of social media," she continued. "And if the world finds out that you're in love with somebody, they're gonna weigh in on it."
She then got specific, adding, "Like my relationship for six years, we've had to dodge weird rumors, tabloid stuff, and we just ignore it. And so this song is sort of about the act of ignoring that stuff to protect the real stuff."
