NATO’s latest social media video has struck a surprisingly positive chord online after it used Taylor Swift’s The Fate of Ophelia to underscore a montage of allied troops, aircraft, and ships operating in unison.
The short clip, set to the lyrics “on the land, the sea, the sky,” quickly gained traction across multiple platforms, with viewers praising its energy and unexpected cultural touch.
Rather than the traditional, sober presentation of defence imagery, this campaign embraces the rhythm and reach of modern pop culture.
Public reaction has been pretty positive. Comments across YouTube and X highlight surprise and approval in equal measure.
One viewer wrote, “They actually made it work,” while another added, “It’s strange how a Taylor Swift song can make a military video feel inspiring instead of intimidating.”
On Facebook, one user summed it up neatly: “It’s the West showing its identity through its own culture. There’s something pretty symbolic about this.”
So we have a story about a Taylor Swift soundtrack to a video, but no post about…
• the U.K. no-longer sharing drug-enforcement intel to the USA due to their illegal destruction of boats in the Caribbean,
• the horrific crash of a Turkish Air Force C130 after its prop detached and sliced the cockpit from the wing box – not the first-time this has happened…
Interesting editorial choices…
Both of those were covered here yesterday. It gets a bit tiring seeing people jump in to snipe without checking what’s already been done. If you’ve got insight or sources to add, you’re always welcome to contribute.
I’d love a page-back facility on the home summary section, please, so I can view the second most recent page of stories without having to reference categorisation. There are heavy news days (and days where I don’t log in frequently enough) where I’d need to page back through land, sea, air and maybe even opinion just make sure I didn’t miss anything, when a single click back through the uncategorised list would have done the job just fine.
I’d look back into the ‘land’, ‘air’ and ‘sea’ sections for older articles, if you can’t see a topic on the homepage. It’s very easy for 5 articles to come in a day so you’ll miss stuff if you don’t.
I myself didn’t see a C130 article, I spotted the intelligence one.
There are days where loads of Articles land here and quite a few just pass on by. Never spotted the Herc one but I see It pops up now.
The “sea” section seems to be headed “land” on the home summary page and has been for some weeks.
You’re wrong and you have a fundamental misapprehension of the nature of UKJD … “reliable defence news supports informed public discourse” …
This is/was a worthy report and the issues you take to task have already been covered. There is plenty of room for a wide range of reports covering the gamut of defence tidings.
What an excellent video, great song, great vibes; short, yet expressive, I hope that its virality motivates NATO and its partners to further engage the public with upbeat, positive messages about their ‘lionhearted’ defence forces.
Did you mean “UKDJ” there ?
Only asking as you took a lot of care with the rest of it.
Thank you, yes I did mean UKDJ, sometimes my ‘lexdysia’ gets the better of me … or is it the cataracts, the cataracts are being cut out in January 26′, however, the ‘lexdysia’ will remain and I dislike it when a ‘lexdysic’ word slips past my guard.
I try very hard to be specific and unambiguous with my comments, I wish other commentators took time to express themselves correctly instead of the off-the-hip comments that leave their ideas and thoughts open to question.
No worries, I think the DJ part is very apt for this articles subject.
I have Dislexsea too, had to get both eyes sorted but now I can hear prefectly.
Might have to have the Hips off too now you munched it.
Keep up the great work, Your forum needs you.
gaslighting or just being … you?
Yes.
Absolutely vapid and completely banal.
Sorry mate, next time we’ll run things by you first.
You’re very defensive aren’t you? I was referring to the hollow and soulless pop culture, not the article.
Is it hollow, soulless pop culture or are you just a Roman socialist /Swiss metal head with no occasion for love? (pick your reference)
– Extract from “ELLE” magazine. a well written article and worth a read –
What Taylor Swift’s ‘The Fate of Ophelia’ Song Lyrics Really Mean and Travis Kelce
Taylor Swift references the famous Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet in the first song on The Life of a Showgirl.
In “The Fate of Ophelia,” Swift seems to credit her fiancé, Travis Kelce, from saving her “heart” from Ophelia’s own terrible downfall.
“The Fate of Ophelia” also includes several references to Ophelia’s insanity and subsequent drowning.
The opening track of Taylor Swift’s highly anticipated The Life of a Showgirl subverts a legendary woman’s tragedy to proclaim the happier fate of another: that of Swift, the showgirl herself.
In “The Fate of Ophelia,” Swift makes frequent references to the much-analyzed character from William Shakespeare’s masterwork Hamlet. (Lines such as “I might’ve drowned in the melancholy,” “You dug me out of my grave,” “the eldest daughter of a nobleman,” and “the venom stole her sanity” count among the most obvious nods to Hamlet’s Ophelia.) As imagined by Shakespeare, Ophelia is indeed “the daughter of a nobleman,” as well as the sister of Prince Hamlet’s eventual murderer, Laertes. Ophelia, Hamlet’s love interest, is often characterized as sheltered and naive, though she is also loyal and unselfish. Still, it is her love and loyalty for the men in her life that ultimately predict Ophelia’s doom—a fate Swift can clearly relate to.
At the beginning of Shakespeare’s play, Laertes and their father, Polonius, warn Ophelia that Hamlet’s love for her is fickle—and that, therefore, she should end their romance and quash any expectations of marriage between them. Ophelia, obedient to these men (and believing them to be acting in her sincere interest), agrees to cut off her relationship with Hamlet. When the prince later appears in her bed chamber, looking distinctly unwell, she runs to tell her father of the incident. Polonius assumes that Hamlet has gone insane thanks to Ophelia’s rejection of him.
Eventually, Ophelia—at the urging of her father and Claudius, the new King of Denmark—sets up a meeting with Hamlet, during which Polonius and Claudius spy on the prince to learn more about his supposed insanity. Although he initially greets Ophelia kindly, Hamlet soon condemns his former love in the infamous “get thee to a nunnery” scene, in which he also condemns womankind as a whole. Finally, Hamlet inadvertently kills Polonius—thinking he is, in fact, Claudius. The combination of Polonius’s death with Hamlet’s cruel behavior sends Ophelia into a spiral of insanity. Losing her mind ultimately culminates in Ophelia drowning, though there is debate over whether her death is accidental or suicidal.
With “The Fate of Ophelia,” Swift seems to imply that she was rescued from a similar tragedy by the unidentified “you” mentioned in the song, whom fans believe to be Swift’s fiancé, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. Swift’s references to “your team, your vibes,” “I heard you calling on the megaphone,” and “don’t care where the hell you been / ’cause now you’re mine” stoke further theorizing that “The Fate of Ophelia” is a love letter to Kelce. The singer appears to credit him for “saving” her from the insanity, “drowning,” deception, and “purgatory” of both her previous relationships (“love was a cold bed full of scorpions”) as well as her isolated life in the spotlight (“I sat alone in my tower”). She might have been headed toward Ophelia’s tragedy—condemned by the men she loves and resolved to subsequent loss and madness—but, because Kelce “came for” her, Swift’s fate changed forever.
In her Official Release Party of a Showgirl film, Swift explained her thought process while writing the song. “Ophelia drowned because Hamlet just messed with her head so much that she went crazy, and she couldn’t take it anymore, and all these men were just gaslighting her until she drowned. So it’s like, what if the hook is that you saved my heart from the fate of Ophelia? Basically, like, you are the reason why I didn’t end up like this tragic, poetic heroine,” she said.
She went on to discuss her love of Shakespeare and his tragic characters: “It holds up. It’s actually not overhyped, and I love those tragedies so much, I fall in love with those characters so much that it hurts me that they die.” (Let’s not forget, she famously reimagined Romeo and Juliet in her 2008 hit single, “Love Story.”) With “The Fate of Ophelia,” Swift says she’s “putting a romantic spin on the fact that Ophelia was driven mad … but, not me.”
–
I don’t kbow how her relationship with Kelce will go, but I wish them luck.
It’s not my article, I’m pointing out that others have differing views, why fight that?
Morning George, These replies are a bit of a hit and mis when it comes to knowing who is replying to who, a while back you fixed it but It seems to have gone a bit wrong again.
Just mentioning it again as last time you were able to sort it instantly.
Your own reply is a perfect example of not knowing who you are replying to.
It can get confusing even for non halfwits !!!
I’ll take a look, cheers for letting me know, I see the comments through our internal dashboard thing, will see what I can do.
George was replying to Gracchus, (I think) initially I thought he was replying to me.
You are right it’s a bit hit and miss.
On a descktop, if you line your mouse pointer up to the very left edge of an reply icon and scroll back up, the mouse pointer will land just inside the right hand side of the icon from the initial comment … ffs that’s time wasting, but you want to make sure your replying to the right person. I imagine Comment Software is very expensive as you add options.
Yes, It changes every so often.
I took a tour of a load of old comments a while back, Poor old George used to get into many an online scrap back then, I’m not so sure It’s a good Idea getting involved in the comments section personally, there are some funny types here you know.
Are you new here ?
I have a sneeky suspition there are some folk on here with more than one name (don’t spread it around though).
Am I new here … sure arrived yesterday, fresh off the boat, I’m gonna have take that as gaslighting.
I’ve have one Christian name and one surname, so I have two names plus almost 200 alias email addresses … ’some folk’ could be me, however, I only use one name at UKDJ. Haven’t noticed any funny types here, some have strange ideas, but that’s what makes the world turn.
Ha, That’s funny. 😁
I like Funny, It’s nice to see more funny, whatever the colour.
You sir, are a thief of joy
Clearly you missed the bit about military being teamwork.
Well I have to say it is rather a catchy tune
“Live long and prosper”.🖖🖖🖖🙄
Thank you George, I like the video and article a lot, it shows NATO strength in a clean, positive manner.
On a slightly different note (feel free to jump in Halfwit) what song would Putin’s video feature? Das Commissar – After The Fire?
With the Russian robot falling over in its public debut…:)
Hang on,
I got it.
Benny Hill’s theme !
Brilliant! Fight CRINK with humour, thery have no counter to that as they don’t understand the concept, in fact that’s their Achilles heel.
Superimpose Putin’s face on the Russian robot Aildol that falls over in it’s debut a few days ago. The North Korean destroyer falling over during launch and what about China and Iran?????
I blame Vodka.