STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
After just one day, Taylor Swift's "The Life Of A Showgirl" sold almost 3 million copies.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE LIFE OF A SHOWGIRL")
TAYLOR SWIFT: (Singing) But you don't know the life of showgirl, babe. And you're never ever going to.
INSKEEP: It was also big in movie theaters. A weekend run of a 90-minute promotional film for the album grossed $46 million around the world. NPR's Chloe Veltman attended a screening in San Francisco.
CHLOE VELTMAN, BYLINE: It's hard even for die-hard Swifties to say exactly what this movie is.
AMY JAY: A listening party, right?
MIKE LIN: The debut of the album where you kind of have a shared experience.
LISA WINE: I don't fully know what I would qualify this as.
VELTMAN: But moviegoers Amy Jay (ph), Mike Lin and Lisa Wine (ph) are unambiguously delighted by Swift's collage of music videos, song lyric explainers and behind-the-scenes footage.
JAY: Stunning.
LIN: Pretty amazing.
WINE: Loved it. I was predisposed to, like, really have a great time.
VELTMAN: Amy Jay has strings of oversized friendship bracelets slung across her neck, a trend that originated in a line from this 2022 Taylor Swift song.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN, KID")
SWIFT: (Singing) So make the friendship bracelets.
JAY: I made them out of Styrofoam and letters from Joann's Fabrics and Christmas ornaments.
VELTMAN: She's here with her 12-year-old daughter, Ella (ph), who's not in costume but equally enthusiastic.
ELLA: And my mom was like, we're going. Like, I was like, what? And she's like, yeah, we're going to go. I was like, OK.
VELTMAN: Ella says she wishes her friend, Katie (ph), a big-time Swiftie, could've come along. But Katie's out of town.
ELLA: So I'm like, Katie's in here in spirit.
SHAWN ROBBINS: This is certainly a way to drum up buzz for a new album, but also a way for her to bring her fans out and experience something together.
VELTMAN: Fandango's director of movie analytics, Shawn Robbins, says Swift's 2023 Eras Tour movie did this with a plum.
ROBBINS: The biggest concert film that's ever performed at the box office.
VELTMAN: Robbins says "The Life Of A Showgirl" might not be as big a blockbuster. But its limited three-day run this past weekend has nevertheless propped up the fall season's flagging box office numbers.
ROBBINS: Here comes Taylor Swift to save the day.
VELTMAN: He says nobody commands the entertainment sphere the way this showgirl does.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE LIFE OF A SHOWGIRL")
SWIFT: (Singing) But I'm immortal now, baby dolls. I couldn't if I tried.
VELTMAN: Chloe Veltman, NPR News, San Francisco.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE LIFE OF A SHOWGIRL")
SWIFT: (Singing) So I say thank you for the lovely bouquet. I'm married to the hustle, and now I know the life of a showgirl. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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