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Taylor Swift Eras Tour Setlist 2024: All 45 Songs Played By Taylor

19 April 2024, 18:24

Taylor Swift announces The Eras Tour concert film with trailer

By Katie Louise Smith

Will Taylor Swift change the Eras Tour setlist? Here's the full official Eras Tour setlist and all the changes she's made so far.

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It's safe to say that Taylor Swift 's Eras Tour has well and truly surpassed every single expectation we had. The Eras Tour officially opened its doors in Glendale, Arizona on March 17th where Taylor performed songs from all 10 of her albums.

Taylor has over 200 songs to choose from for The Eras Tour setlist – but what songs made the cut? And what songs got cut?

Here's all the songs in Taylor's Eras Tour setlist, including every song featured in the show, how many songs she plays, every surprise song and whether or not she will change the setlist to include The Tortured Poets Department .

Plus, all the updates to the setlist and what to expect for the international Eras Tour dates.

• Read more: Every Taylor Swift Song About Travis Kelce (So Far)
• Read more: Taylor Swift's Heartbreaking 'So Long, London' Lyrics Are About Joe Alwyn

What songs are on Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour setlist?

How many songs does Taylor Swift play on the Eras Tour setlist?

The average Taylor Swift concert is around 2 hours long but The Eras Tour is a whole different beast... The concert is a whopping 3 hours and 15 minutes long, and Taylor performs a huge 45 tracks within that timeframe.

Not all the tracks are performed in full, though – some are shortened versions. There's also a couple of additional little interludes that pop up throughout the show.

For context, on the Rep tour, Taylor performed 19 tracks in total, including several mashups that featured some of her older songs. For The 1989 World Tour, she performed 18 songs, while 17 songs were performed on The Red Tour and the Speak Now World Tour.

• Read more: 59 Taylor Swift lyrics for your Eras Tour Instagram captions

Taylor Swift Eras Tour setlist: What songs does Taylor Swift perform on the Eras Tour?

Taylor now only has two more legs of the Eras Tour to complete: Europe and the second U.S. and Canada leg. International fans heading to the shows in 2024 now have a pretty solid idea of what to expect when she performs later down the line. But big changes could come thanks to ' The Tortured Poets Department '.

The Eras Tour set list features a mix of her highest charting songs, lead singles, fan favourites, outright bangers and tracks that stand out as milestones in her incredible career so far.

On March 31st, during her first show in Arlington, TX, Taylor confirmed that the setlist will have some changes as the tour goes on. Two permanent changes have happened so far, with songs being replaced and added:

• 'invisible string' was cut and replaced with 'the 1' on March 31st.
• 'Long Live' was added on July 7th.

Here's the full 45 song Eras tour setlist, in order, based on the first show in Glendale, AZ:

(Additions and changes to the setlist are indicated with an asterisk.)

• Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince (shortened)
• Cruel Summer
• You Need To Calm Down (shortened)
• Fearless (shortened)
• You Belong With Me
• tis the damn season***
• marjorie (shortened)
• champagne problems
• tolerate it
• …Ready For It?
• Don’t Blame Me
• Look What You Made Me Do
• Long Live**
• We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
• I Knew You Were Trouble
• All Too Well (10 Minute Version)
• invisible string*
• the last great american dynasty
• illicit affairs (shortened)
• my tears ricochet
• Blank Space
• Shake It Off
• Wildest Dreams (shortened)
• Bad Blood (shortened)
• Surprise Guitar Acoustic Song
• Surprise Piano Acoustic Song
• Lavender Haze
• Midnight Rain
• Vigilante Shit

All Eras Tour setlist changes and updates so far:

*'invisible string' was replaced by 'the 1' from March 31st onwards. It returned on May 6th in Nashville night 2, but 'the 1' came back to the setlist on May 7th.

**On July 7th and 8th, Taylor performed 'Long Live' after 'Enchanted'. The song has now officially been added to the full setlist.

***On July 22nd, Taylor replaced 'tis the damn season' so she could perform 'No Body, No Crime' with HAIM. 'Tis the damn season' returned to the main setlist on August 24th in Mexico City.

For all the shows where Phoebe Bridgers appeared as a support act, Taylor performed 'Nothing New' with her during the Red (TV) section.

Ice Spice joined Taylor on stage to perform 'Karma' on May 26th and May 27th in East Rutherford, NJ, in honour of the release of their new version of the song.

As of March 9th 2024, there is still no section on the tour dedicated to her debut album, Taylor Swift .

• Read more: 335 friendship bracelet ideas for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour

What surprise songs has Taylor Swift performed?

Much like her other tours, Taylor will perform two surprise songs for each show. In 2023, Taylor played an additional 124 songs from her own discography. (Plus one of Gracie Abrams' own songs.)

The list has been reset for the 2024 shows, and Taylor has now introduced mashups.

Here's the full list of all the Surprise Acoustic Songs Taylor has performed on The Eras Tour so far:

• 'mirrorball' and 'Tim McGraw' (Glendale, AZ – Night 1)
• 'this is me trying' and 'State of Grace' (Glendale, AZ - Night 2)
• 'Our Song' and 'Snow on the Beach' (Las Vegas, NZ – Night 1)
• 'cowboy like me' (with Marcus Mumford) and 'White Horse' (Las Vegas, NZ – Night 2)
• 'Sad Beautiful Tragic' and 'Ours' (Arlington, TX – Night 1)
• 'Death By a Thousand Cuts' and 'Clean' (Arlington, TX – Night 2)
• 'Jump Then Fall' and 'The Lucky One' (Arlington, TX – Night 3)
• 'Speak Now' and 'Treacherous' (Tampa, FL – Night 1)
• 'The Great War' (with Aaron Dessner) and 'You're On Your Own, Kid' (Tampa, FL – Night 2)
• 'mad woman' (with Aaron Dessner) and 'Mean' (Tampa, FL – Night 3)
• 'Wonderland' and 'You're Not Sorry' (Houston, TX – Night 1)
• 'A Place In This World' and 'Today Was A Fairytale' (Houston, TX – Night 2)
• 'Begin Again' and 'Cold as You' (Houston, TX – Night 3)
• 'The Other Side of the Door' and 'Coney Island' (Atlanta, GA – Night 1)
• 'High Infidelity' and 'Gorgeous' (Atlanta, GA – Night 2)
• 'I Bet You Think About Me' and 'How You Get The Girl' (Atlanta, GA – Night 3)
• 'Sparks Fly' and 'Teardrops On My Guitar' (Nashville, TN – Night 1)
• 'Out of the Woods' and 'Fifteen' (Nashville, TN – Night 2)
• 'Would've Could've Should've' (with Aaron Dessner) and 'Mine' (Nashville, TN – Night 3)
• 'gold rush' and 'Come Back... Be Here' (Philadelphia, PA – Night 1)
• 'Forever & Always' and 'This Love' (Philadelphia, PA – Night 2)
• 'Hey Stephen' and 'The Best Day' (Philadelphia, PA – Night 3)
• 'Should've Said No' and 'Better Man' (Foxborough, MA – Night 1)
• 'Question...?' and 'Invisible' (Foxborough, MA – Night 2)
• 'I Think He Knows' and 'Red' (Foxborough, MA – Night 3)
• 'Getaway Car' (with Jack Antonoff) and 'Maroon' (East Rutherford, NJ – Night 1)
• 'Holy Ground' and 'False God' (East Rutherford, NJ – Night 2)
• 'Welcome To New York' and 'Clean' (East Rutherford, NJ – Night 3)
• 'I Wish You Would' and 'the lakes' (Chicago, IL – Night 1)
• 'You All Over Me' (with Maren Morris) and 'I Don't Wanna Live Forever' (Chicago, IL – Night 2)
• 'Hits Different' and 'The Moment I Knew' (Chicago, IL – Night 3)
• 'Haunted' and 'I Almost Do' (Detroit, MI – Night 1)
• 'All You Had To Do Was Stay' and 'Breathe' (Detroit, MI – Night 2)
• 'Mr. Perfectly Fine' and 'The Last Time' (Pittsburgh, PA – Night 1)
• 'seven' (with Aaron Dessner) and 'The Story of Us' (Pittsburgh, PA – Night 2)
• 'Paper Rings' and 'If This Was A Movie' (Minneapolis, MN – Night 1)
• 'Dear John' and 'Daylight' (Minneapolis, MN – Night 2)
• 'I'm Only Me When I'm With You' and 'evermore' (Cincinnati, OH – Night 1)
• 'ivy' (with Aaron Dessner), 'I miss you, I’m sorry' (with Gracie Abrams) and 'Call It What You Want' (Cincinnati, OH – Night 2)
• 'Never Grow Up' and 'When Emma Falls In Love' (Kansas City, MO – Night 1)
• 'Last Kiss' and 'dorothea' (Kansas City, MO – Night 2)
• 'Picture To Burn' and 'Timeless' (Denver, CO – Night 1)
• 'Starlight' and 'Back To December' (Denver, CO – Night 2)
• 'This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things' and 'Everything Has Changed' (Seattle, WA – Night 1)
• 'Message In A Bottle' and 'Tied Together With A Smile' (Seattle, WA – Night 2)
• 'right where you left me' (with Aaron Dessner) and 'Castles Crumbling' (Santa Clara, CA – Night 1)
• 'Stay Stay Stay' and 'All of the Girls You've Loved Before' (Santa Clara, CA – Night 2)
• 'I Can See You' and Maroon' (Los Angeles, CA – Night 1)
• 'Our Song' and 'You Are In Love' (Los Angeles, CA – Night 2)
• 'Death By A Thousand Cuts' and 'You're On Your Own, Kid' (Los Angeles, CA – Night 3)
• 'Dress' and 'exile' (Los Angeles, CA – Night 4)
• 'I Know Places' and 'King of My Heart' (Los Angeles, CA – Night 5)
• 'New Romantics' and 'New Year's Day' (Los Angeles, CA – Night 6)
• 'I Forgot That You Existed' and 'Sweet Nothing' (Mexico City – Night 1)
• 'Tell Me Why' and 'Snow on the Beach' (Mexico City – Night 2)
• 'Cornelia Street' and 'You're On Your Own, Kid' (Mexico City – Night 3)
• 'Afterglow' and 'Maroon' (Mexico City – Night 4)
• 'The Very First Night' and 'Labyrinth' (Buenos Aires – Night 1)
• 'Is It Over Now?'+ 'Out of the Woods' mashup and 'End Game' (Buenos Aires – Night 2)
• 'Better Than Revenge' and 'Slut!' (Buenos Aires – Night 3)
• 'Stay Beautiful' and 'Suburban Legends' (Rio de Janeiro – Night 1)
• 'Dancing With Our Hands Tied' and 'Bigger Than The Whole Sky' (Rio de Janeiro – Night 2)
• 'ME!' and 'So It Goes...' (Rio de Janeiro – Night 3)
• 'Now That We Don't Talk' and 'Innocent' (São Paulo - Night 1)
• 'Safe & Sound' and 'Untouchable' (São Paulo - Night 2)
• 'Say Don't Go' and 'it's time to go' (São Paulo - Night 3)
• 'Dear Reader' and 'Holy Ground' (Tokyo - Night 1)
• 'Eyes Open' and 'Electric Touch' (Tokyo - Night 2)
• 'Superman' and 'The Outside' (Tokyo - Night 3)
• 'Come In With The Rain' and 'You're On Your Own, Kid' (Tokyo - Night 4)
• 'Red' and 'You're Losing Me' (Melbourne – Night 1)
• 'Getaway Car/August/The Other Side of the Door' and 'this is me trying' (Melbourne – Night 2)
• 'Come Back...Be Here/Daylight' and 'Teardrops On My Guitar' (Melbourne – Night 3)
• 'How You Get The Girl' and 'White Horse/Coney Island' with Sabrina Carpenter (Sydney – Night 1)
• 'Should've Said No/You're Not Sorry' and 'New Year's Day/Peace' (Sydney – Night 2)
• 'Is It Over Now?/I Wish You Would' and 'Haunted/Exile' (Sydney – Night 3)
• 'Would've Could've Should've/Ivy' and 'Forever & Always/Maroon' (Sydney – Night 4)
• 'Mine/Starlight' and 'I Don't Wanna Live Forever/Dress' (Singapore – Night 1)
• 'Long Story Short/The Story of Us' and 'Clean/Evermore' (Singapore – Night 2)
• 'Foolish One/Tell Me Why' and 'This Love/Call It What You Want' (Singapore – Night 3)
• 'Death By A Thousand Cuts/Babe' and 'Fifteen/You're On Your Own, Kid' (Singapore – Night 4)
• 'Sparks Fly/Gold Rush' and 'False God/Slut!' (Singapore – Night 5)
• 'Tim McGraw/Cowboy Like Me' and 'Mirrorball/Epiphany' (Singapore – Night 6)

Taylor has 'reset' the surprise song list, which means anyone attending a show in 2024 can anticipate hearing a song she's already performed. She previously stated that she will only play each surprise song once during the tour, unless she messes one up.

There's also no rules for Taylor repeating songs from Midnights as surprise songs, which means fans may get to hear the likes of 'You're On Your Own Kid' and 'Snow on the Beach' again at some point in the future.

We'll update this article with every Surprise Acoustic Song – and every surprise song that she will play again – after every show.

Will Taylor Swift change the Eras Tour setlist for the international shows?

As of March 9th 2024, the Eras Tour setlist has remained the same as the U.S. leg. However, with the release of The Tortured Poets Department in April, things could change. More on that further down the page.

Fans attending the European shows might end up hearing Taylor perform ' Castles Crumbling ' with Hayley Williams as an additional song during the Speak Now section, as Paramore will be supporting her throughout those tour dates. (Both Phoebe Bridgers and HAIM joined Taylor on stage to perform 'Nothing New' and 'No Body, No Crime' respectively on the nights they were support acts.)

After completing her shows in South America, Australia, Japan and Singapore, Taylor is now set to pick the tour back up in Europe in May 2024 and run through to mid-August, before returning to North America in November 2024.

Will Taylor Swift change the Eras Tour setlist to include The Tortured Poets Department ?

Taylor's brand new album was released on April 19th, just before she embarks on the European leg of the Eras Tour. The full anthology version of the album includes a whopping 31 new songs.

We won't know for sure whether or not the official setlist will change to accommodate those songs until she kicks off the Eras Tour in Paris on May 9th.

It's unclear if she will add a new TTPD section to the tour, but it's looking very likely that Taylor will perform some of those new songs as surprise songs. We'll update this article as soon as we know more!

What are Taylor's most performed songs on tour?

Before she embarked on The Eras Tour, Taylor’s top 3 most performed songs are ‘Love Story’ (491 times), ‘Our Song’ (404 times) and ‘You Belong With Me’ (381 times).

Of course, almost all of Taylor’s most performed songs are from her first two albums. As the list goes on, the Speak Now bops, Red bangers and 1989 hits start to weave their way in.

If you’re wondering what Taylor’s most played songs from her first five albums are, here’s a break down:

• Taylor Swift : ‘Our Song’, ‘Tim McGraw’ and ‘Picture To Burn’
• Fearless: ‘Love Story’, ‘You Belong With Me’ and ‘Fifteen’
• Speak Now : ‘Sparks Fly’, ‘Mean’ and ‘Mine’
• Red : ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’, ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’ and ‘Red’
• 1989 : ‘Shake It Off’, ‘Blank Space’ and ‘Out of the Woods’

Taylor has only had the chance to perform songs from Reputation on the Reputation Stadium Tour so far, but ‘Ready For It?’, ‘Delicate’ and ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ take the top spots when it comes to live performances of the Rep tracks.

Due to the cancellation of Lover Fest, Taylor hasn’t been able to perform Lover on a tour setting. Folklore, Evermore and Midnights will also be making their tour debut on the Eras Tour.

Read more Taylor Swift news here:

• Taylor Swift re-recordings: All the predicted release dates of the Taylor’s Version albums
• Is Taylor Swift releasing an Eras Tour documentary? Here's what we know so far
• Is Taylor Swift recording an Eras Tour live album? The surprise song theory explained
• 59 Taylor Swift lyrics for your Eras Tour Instagram captions
• Taylor Swift Eras Tour merch: Prices, exclusive sweaters, opening times and more

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Taylor’s Latest Surprise Songs Have All Been Mashups

She’s basically doubling the number of surprise songs!

The Eras Tour is truly the gift that keeps on giving. Not only is Swift’s tour a hotbed for celebrities (hi, Travis Kelce ) and collecting friendship bracelets, but the setlist is packed with hits. At each show, the singer has shown love to her entire discography and some cult classics — or what she defines as “surprise songs.” No two Eras Tour shows are the same, as she changes up which two surprise tracks she’ll sing at each stop. Luckily, Swifties have shared tons of videos capturing these performances online.

During the tour’s opening night on Mar. 17, 2023 in Arizona, Swift told the crowd her setlist idea. “The plan, the goal, would be to play different songs every single night and never repeat one,” she said, adding these tracks would be performed during her acoustic set . With a lighthearted smile, she then gave a quick caveat. “Unless I mess it up so badly that I have to do it over again in another city.”

The whole year, Swift kept true to her promise and switched up the 36th and 37th songs with new surprise tracks. She occasionally repeated these performances due to minor hiccups, because ~Errors Tour.~ But these live renditions were iconic, nonetheless.

During her Nov. 26, 2023 show in São Paulo, Brazil, Swift made a major announcement about her surprise songs for 2024. “What I’ve decided is that in 2024, when we go back out on tour, I’m just going to open back up all the songs for surprise songs ,” Swift said. “I feel like for one year we’ve really gotten through a lot of songs. So I’m just going to make all the songs fair game.”

Here are all the special one-night-only Eras Tour performances, including her newest addition of medleys, that fans will always remember.

The Glendale, AZ Eras Tour Surprise Songs

Swift kicked off the surprise song tradition with an acoustic performace of her Folklore track “Mirrorball .”

She then threw it all the way back to the beginning of her career with “Tim McGraw .”

Night two saw Swift delivering a performance of “This Is Me Trying .”

She followed that up with her Red ballad “State of Grace .”

The Las Vegas, NV Eras Tour Surprise Songs

In Vegas, Swift performed another nostalgic throwback, “ Our Song .”

Then she snapped back to the present with the debut live performance of her Midnights track “Snow on the Beach .”

Swift closed out her Vegas weekend by belting “White Horse” while playing the piano.

Then she performed “Cowboy Like Me” live for the first time, alongside special guest Marcus Mumford.

The Arlington, TX Eras Tour Surprise Songs

Swift kicked off her Texas shows by wowing the crowd with “ Sad Beautiful Tragic.”

She also performed a fan-favorite Speak Now throwback: “Ours .”

For her second night in Arlington, Swift performed “Death by a Thousand Cuts ,” dedicating it to her frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff.

She then dedicated “Clean ” to opening act Gracie Abrams.

However, this marked the first night of the tour where Swift admitted she’d be redoing her surprise songs at a later date. After messing up the bridge in “Death by a Thousand Cuts,” Swift told the crowd she would be redoing the song later in the tour. She also said she wanted to try “Clean” again in a higher key .

For her final night in Arlington, Swift performed “Jump Then Fall .”

She followed up with “ The Lucky One .”

The Tampa, FL Eras Tour Surprise Songs

For her first show in Tampa, Swift performed the song many fans had been waiting for. After Swifties theorized the singer had been teasing a re-release of Speak Now , she sang the album’s title track on stage .

She also performed “Treacherous .”

Swift performed “ You’re on Your Own, Kid .”

She also had a surprise guest for this concert. She welcomed her collaborator Aaron Dessner to the stage to perform “The Great War ” with her.

Dessner performed with Swift again the next night. This time, the duo sang the folklore track “Mad Woman .”

Then, Swift busted out her Speak Now single “Mean .”

The Houston, TX Eras Tour Surprise Songs

For her first Houston show, Swift surprised the audience with “ Wonderland .”

And followed it up with “ You’re Not Sorry .”

During her second Houston show, Swift surprised the crowd with “ A Place in This World .”

She followed that up with “ Today Was a Fairytale .”

During her final Houston show, Swift performed “Begin Again ” from Red (Taylor’s Version) .

She then retired to her piano to sing “Cold As You ” from her 2009 debut album.

The Atlanta, GA Eras Tour Surprise Songs

Swift threw it back to her Fearless eras for her first Atlanta show, playing “The Other Side of the Door. ”

She also got emotional with a performance of “Coney Island .”

Every Swiftie already knew what one of the surprise songs would be for the April 29 show. Swift did not disappoint, and performed “High Infidelity ,” which features the lyric, “Do you really want to know where I was April 29th?”

Swift also sang her first surprise song from Reputation , “Gorgeous .” However, Swift messed up the performance a bit, so she revealed she’d be doing “Gorgeous” again at a later date.

At her final Atlanta show, Swift performed “ I Bet You Think About Me .”

And she also played “ How You Get the Girl .”

The Nashville, TN Eras Tour Surprise Songs

Swift fans knew she would make her Nashville shows extra special, and she definitely did by announcing the re-release of Speak Now at her May 5 concert. The whole stadium celebrated the big announcement by singing “Sparks Fly .”

Swift also threw it back all the way to the start of her career by playing “Teardrops on My Guitar .”

With Swift’s best friend Abigail Anderson in the audience, the singer dedicated a special version of “Fifteen ” to her bestie.

She also sang “Out of the Woods .” However, because she messed up the bridge , Swift confirmed she would be performing this song again at another tour date.

For her last night in Nashville, Swift brought out Dessner once again to perform her Midnights bonus track “ Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve ” with her.

She also performed her Speak Now single “ Mine .”

The Philadelphia, PA Eras Tour Surprise Songs

For her first hometown show, Swift sang “Gold Rush .” The Evermore track includes a Philly shoutout with its lyrics about Swift’s Eagles T-shirt .

She also performed “Come Back... Be Here ,” which was requested by opener Phoebe Bridgers .

Swift performed her Fearless track “ Forever & Always .”

She then slowed things down with her 1989 ballad “ This Love .”

Swift closed out her hometown shows by playing “Hey Stephen .”

She also performed “The Best Day .”

The Foxborough, MA Eras Tour Surprise Songs

For her first show in Massachusetts, Swift delivered an acoustic version of “Should’ve Said No .”

Then she traded the guitar for the piano to sing “Better Man .”

As rain poured down on her, Swift performed her Midnights bonus track “ Question...? ”

She followed that up with “ Invisible .”

To close out her Foxborough weekend, Swift surprised the crowd with “ I Think He Knows .”

Then she performed her hit single “ Red (Taylor’s Version) .”

The East Rutherford, NJ Eras Tour Surprise Songs

Swift kicked off her New Jersey shows by bringing her frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff on stage for a surprise “Getaway Car” duet .

Then she sat at her piano to sing “Maroon .”

Swift leaned into a bit of a religious theme for her second New Jersey show. First, she performed “Holy Ground .”

Then, she delivered a chilling rendition of “False God .”

Every NYC Swiftie who trekked over to East Rutherford was expecting the same surprise song all weekend, and Swift finally delivered it on the final night: “ Welcome to New York .”

Swift then performed her first repeat surprise song of the Eras Tour. She originally messed up her version of “Clean” a couple months earlier and promised to re-perform it, which she did in New Jersey.

The East Chicago, IL Eras Tour Surprise Songs

Swift kicked off her Chicago shows by singing “I Wish You Would .”

Then she treated the crowd to her Folklore bonus track “ The Lakes .”

Swift made her second Chicago show extra special by bringing out Maren Morris for a live duet of “You All Over Me .”

She then gave an emotional performance of “ I Don’t Wanna Live Forever .”

To celebrate her announcement that the beloved Midnights bonus track “Hits Different” would finally be released on streaming , Swift performed it in her final Chicago show .

She followed it up with “ The Moment I Knew .”

The East Detroit, MI Eras Tour Surprise Songs

The first surprise song for Detroit was “ Haunted .”

That was followed by “ I Almost Do .”

Swift’s first surprise song of the night was “ All You Had To Do Was Stay .”

Then she traded her guitar for the piano to perform “Breathe .”

The Pittsburgh, PA Eras Tour Surprise Songs

Swift kicked off her Pittsburgh shows by playing “Mr. Perfectly Fine .”

And she also surprised the audience with “ The Last Time .”

Swift welcomed Aaron Dessner back onto the stage for a surprise “Seven” duet .

Then she performed “ The Story of Us .”

The Minneapolis, MN Eras Tour Surprise Songs

For her Minneapolis shows, Swift started things off with “ Paper Rings .”

She kept the romantic vibes going with “ If This Was a Movie .”

Swift had a message for her fans before performing “Dear John .” She urged them to not “feel the need to defend me on the internet against someone you think I might have written a song about 14 billion years ago.” Of course, this was likely referencing the increased hate John Mayer received online ahead of the release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) .

The vibes were much brighter after that, as Swift shifted into singing “Daylight .”

The Cincinnati, OH Eras Tour Surprise Songs

Her first surprise song for Cincinnati was “ I'm Only Me When I'm with You .”

She followed that up with the title track of her ninth studio album, “ Evermore .”

Swift once again welcomed her frequent collaborator Aaron Dessner to the stage to perform a fan-favorite cut, “ Ivy .”

She also sang “ Call It What You Want .”

And, in the biggest surprise of all for the Cincinnati crowd, Swift added a third surprise song for the first time in her Eras Tour. Because opener Gracie Abrams couldn’t perform her opening set due to weather conditions, Swift brought her on stage so she could perform her song “ I Miss You, I’m Sorry ” alongside her.

The Kansas City, MO Eras Tour Surprise Songs

Naturally, Swift went all in on Speak Now songs to celebrate the release date of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) on July 7. After inviting Taylor Lautner and Joey King to the stage to premiere the “I Can See You” video, Swift surprised the audience with " Never Grow Up ."

She then performed her newly released vault track " When Emma Falls in Love " live for the first time. Although the song was new, fans had already put together theories it may be about Emma Stone .

Since there was no July 9 tour date, Swift had to perform "Last Kiss " a day early.

She closed out her Kansas City weekend with a surprise performance of "Dorothea ."

The Denver, CO Eras Tour Surprise Songs

Swift gave the Denver crowd a true classic by performing “Picture to Burn .”

She also gave a rare live performance of "Timeless ."

For her second night in Denver, Taylor performed "Starlight ."

Along with the big Speak Now ballad, " Back to December ."

The Seattle, WA Eras Tour Surprise Songs

Swift kicked off her Seattle shows by taking it back to her Reputation era with " This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things ."

She also performed " Everything Has Changed ."

For her second night in Seattle, Swift sang "Message in a Bottle ."

As well as " Tied Together with a Smile ."

The Santa Clara, CA Eras Tour Surprise Songs

Once again, Swift brought out Aaron Dessner. This time, they two sang " Right Where You Left Me ."

She also delivered the live debut of her Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) vault track " Castles Crumbling ."

For Night Two in Santa Clara, Swift surprised the crowd with " Stay Stay Stay ."

Followed by " All Of The Girls You Loved Before ."

The Los Angeles, CA Eras Tour Surprise Songs

For the first show in the final city of the U.S. leg of her tour, Swift performed her newly released Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) vault track “ I Can See You .”

She also delivered her second Eras Tour performance of " Maroon ."

Another repeat — Swift dusted off "Our Song " for a second time after initially performing it at one of the tour’s first shows in Las Vegas.

She followed that up with " You Are in Love ."

For her third night in L.A., Swift sang her fan-favorite Lover track " Death by a Thousand Cuts ."

And had the whole crowd in their feelings during " You're on Your Own, Kid ."

The greatness continued on her fourth night in L.A. There, she performed “Dress” from Reputation . However, instead of incorporating the track’s original synths, she stripped it down to an acoustic version.

She continued the mellow vibes with her Folklore gem, “ Exile .”

Swift continued her Reputation streak on her fifth L.A. stop. She performed “King Of My Heart ” to an emotional crowd, who belted the lyrics as passionately as Swift did.

Afterward, she took a trip down 1989 with “I Know Places.” Similar to “Dress” from the night before, she swapped the original tune’s synth-y production for a guitar solo.

For Swifties, this was certainly the night *not* to miss. During her final night in the City of Angels, Swift announced her re-recording of 1989 would release on Oct. 27. She also performed some surprises.

To celebrate 1989 (Taylor’s Version) , she sang “New Romantics” from the 9-year-old album.

She then turned her attention back to Reputation and performed “New Year’s Day .”

The Mexico City, MX Eras Tour Surprise Songs

For her first international stop on the Eras Tour, Swift performed an acoustic version of “ I Forgot That You Existed .”

She also sat at her piano to perform a rendition of “Sweet Nothing .”

She gave the Mexico City crowd a serious throwback when she sang “Tell Me Why .”

Her second surprise song was “ Snow on the Beach .”

Swift made sure to give the fans what they wanted on her third night in Mexico City. She introduced her performance of “Cornelia Street ” by noting it was a song she’d been hearing a lot of requests for throughout her tour.

She then sang "You're on Your Own, Kid ," making it the first surprise song to get three performances on the Eras Tour.

The “You’re on Your Own, Kid” record didn’t last long, though. On her final night in Mexico City, Swift performed “Maroon” for the third time .

She also sang her Lover ballad “ Afterglow .”

The Buenos Aries, ARG Eras Tour Surprise Songs

After more than two months away from the Eras stage, Swift returned with her Red (Taylor’s Version) vault track “ The Very First Night .”

She also performed her Midnights song “ Labyrinth .”

These two song choices were incredibly interesting, given it was Swift’s first performance since she began dating her new boyfriend, Travis Kelce . Fans were quick to point out how both songs were about the romantic beginnings of a new relationship , with “The Very First Night” in particular having the lyric, “I was riding in the car when we both fell.” Swift and Kelce memorably drove off together after their first public appearance at one of Kelce’s games.

November 11

For the first time in the Eras Tour, Swift performed a special mashup for one of her surprise songs. She combined her newly released vault track “ Is It Over Now?” with “Out of the Woods .”

It was her second surprise song that really raised eyebrows. Swift sang her Reputation track “End Game ,” which carried extra meaning since her boyfriend Travis Kelce was in attendance . The song had become a top pick for Swifties when making romantic edits of Swift and Kelce, given the sports references in its lyrics and “big reputation” chant .

November 12

To close out her Buenos Aries dates, Swift surprised the crowd with “ Better Than Revenge .”

She then sang “Slut! ,” a vault track off her newly released 1989 (Taylor’s Version) .

The Rio De Janeiro, BRA Eras Tour Surprise Songs

November 17.

On her first night in Rio de Janeiro, Swift sang “Stay Beautiful” for the crowd.

She also treated them to the live debut of “Suburban Legends .”

November 19

After having to cancel her Saturday concert due to extreme temperatures, Swift returned to the stage on Sunday and surprised the audience with “ Dancing With Our Hands Tied .”

Then, she went to the piano to sing “ Bigger Than the Whole Sky .”

November 20

For her final night in Rio de Janeiro, Swift performed an acoustic version of her single “Me! ”

But the real conversation starter was Swift’s second surprise song. She took to the piano to sing “So It Goes... ,” which fans were quick to point out was one of the two Reputation tracks she had not yet performed on the tour. To drive the point home even more, Swift winked during the performance .

Swifties took the “So It Goes...” choice as an indication that she is about to announce Reputation (Taylor’s Version) , a project she’s been subtly teasing for a while now . The theory is that whenever Swift finally performs her last Rep song, “I Did Something Bad,” she’ll use that to announce when her re-release of the album will drop.

The São Paulo, BRA Eras Tour Surprise Songs

November 24.

For her first night in São Paulo, Swift performed her 1989 (Taylor’s Version) vault track “Now That We Don’t Talk” live for the first time .

She then took to her piano to sing “Innocent .”

November 25

She also gifted her Brazilian fans with a live performance of “Safe & Sound ,” the song she wrote for The Hunger Games .

Swift then performed “Untouchable .”

November 26

The third night of São Paulo was bittersweet for Swifties, many of whom were theorizing that Swift may use her final 2023 concert to announce Reputation (Taylor’s Version) . But ultimately, that long-awaited “I Did Something Bad” surprise song didn’t come. Instead, Swift live-debuted her recently released vault track “Say Don’t Go .”

Her final surprise song of the year was “ It’s Time to Go .”

Swift also gave the crowd a major update about her future surprise songs for 2024. She told the crowd that she would be repeating surprise songs for the next leg of her tour, making a completely blank slate to choose any song she wanted.

The Tokyo, JPN Eras Tour Surprise Songs

At long last, Swift’s Eras Tour returned in 2024 with her Tokyo shows. Fittingly, her first surprise song was “ Dear Reader, ” a nod to her recently announced 11th studio album The Tortured Poets Department .

Swift also performed “Holy Ground” for the Tokyo crowd.

Swift included a truly deep cut in her Feb. 8 show. She performed her Hunger Games single “Eyes Open” live for the first time ever .

She kept the niche love going by singing the vault track “Electric Touch” live for the first time.

For Night 3 in Tokyo, Swift sang “Superman” for her guitar section.

And after she sat down at the piano, Swift threw it all the way back to one of the first songs she’d ever written: “ The Outside .”

February 10

She closed out her Tokyo performances with the Fearless track “Come In With the Rain .”

And finally, the last song she played before jetting off to watch her boyfriend play in the Super Bowl was “ You’re On Your Own, Kid .” Swifties speculated that she chose this song as an ode to Travis Kelce , considering they met when Kelce tried to give her a friendship bracelet (an Eras staple inspired by a line in that song).

The Melbourne, AUS Eras Tour Surprise Songs

February 16.

Swift kicked off her Melbourne surprise set with her hit single, “Red .”

The first song may have been super well-known, but Swift went obscure for her second pick. After telling the crowd she’s never performed this track live before , Swift launched into her Midnights bonus track “You’re Losing Me .”

February 17

For Melbourne night two, Swift sang a mashup of songs from three different eras — Fearless , Reputation , and Folklore . She surprised crowds by combining “Getaway Car,” “August,” and “The Other Side Of The Door” on guitar.

Switching over to piano, Swift sang, “ This Is Me Trying .” She previously performed the track as a surprise song during one of her Arizona shows, but played it on guitar at the time.

February 18

Keeping with the trend of performing mashups, Swift sang a combination of “Come Back... Be Here and “Daylight” on guitar. She then performed “ Teardrops on My Guitar ” on piano.

The Sydney, AUS Eras Tour Surprise Songs

February 23

For Swift’s first Eras Tour performance in Sydney, she played “ How You Get The Girl ” on guitar. Then, Sabrina Carpenter (who’s been opening for Swift on tour) came on stage to sing a mashup of “White Horse” and “Coney Island” with her.

February 24

Sydney truly won in the surprise songs department. On her second night, Swift whipped out her guitar to perform a mix of two older tracks : “Should’ve Said No” from her self-titled debut, and “You’re Not Sorry” on Fearless . Later that night, she retired behind the piano and sang a mashup of Reputation’ s “New Year’s Day” and “Peace” from Folklore .

February 25

The Sydney mashups continued. Swift first started with a 1989 (both original and Taylor’s Version ) blend of “Is It Over Now” and “I Wish You Would.” She then darkened the setlist, performing a mix of Speak Now’ s “Haunted” and “Exile” off Folklore .

February 26

For her final night in Sydney, Swift fully leaned into her mashup era with ease. Her first blend began with “Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve” from Midnights and “Ivy” from Evermore , which felt on par with her green-hued dress. Later that night, she brought out her traditional piano and performed Fearless’ “Forever & Always” and Maroon from Midnights .

The Singapore Eras Tour Surprise Songs

Sydney wasn’t the only stop to be blessed with some surprise mashups. Swift opened her Singapore shows with a mashup of “Mine” and “Starlight .”

At the piano, she combined her songs “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” and “Dress .”

Swift had a lot of stories to tell on her second night in Singapore. She mashed up “Long Story Short” with “The Story of Us .”

She concluded with one of her most emotional mashups yet: “Clean” x “Evermore .”

For her guitar mashup, Swift combined “Foolish One” with “Tell Me Why .”

She got extra romantic for her second surprise mashup — marrying “This Love” with “Call It What You Want .”

Swift’s first mashup on March 7 took the whole crowd by surprise. After launching into fan-favorite “Death by a Thousand Cuts,” she combined the song with her lesser-known Sugarland feature “Babe .”

Next, Swift had a message for her younger self. She got super nostalgic for her adolescence, combining “Fifteen” with “You’re on Your Own, Kid .”

This article was originally published on 03.25.23

Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras’ Tour: Variety Picks the Best Moments, Key Songs, Iconic Outfits and More

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is already one for the history books. As the first United States leg wrapped on Wednesday in Los Angeles, Variety staffers were in the crowd singing and dancing along as they had through much of the tour. From the first shows in Glendale, Ariz., to her six-show marathon end run in L.A., Variety has reported on the Eras Tour as it crisscrossed the country.

Swift takes audiences on a journey through her musical eras with a staggering 44-song setlist. The Eras Tour spans the singer-songwriter’s entire discography, from her self-titled debut album to the recently released “Midnights.”

Swift had surprises in store at each performance, including quick outfit changes and guest appearances from Ice Spice, Phoebe Bridgers, Taylor Lautner and more. Gracie Abrams, Haim, Gayle, Muna and Owenn were among the openers on the first U.S. run.

Up next, Swift is journeying to Paris in May of 2024 to kick off the Eras Tour’s U.K./European leg. The singer revealed back in July that Paramore would precede her on stage for the entire European run. The Eras Tour also isn’t saying farewell to the U.S. quite yet, as Swift announced 15 more shows in October and November 2024 in four North American cities: Miami, Indianapolis, New Orleans and Toronto.

In order to toast her first run, we’ve selected our best moments from Swift’s three-hour plus shows. From the complicated choreography to the surprise songs to the dedicated fans, the Eras Tour has redefined the scope of what a pop artist can deliver.

Check out Variety ‘s selection of best moments from the Eras Tour below.

Variety staffers and the shows they saw:

Ellise Shafer, online news editor

Glendale, AZ / State Farm Stadium — March 17 (opening night)

Katcy Stephan, social media editor

Glendale, AZ / State Farm Stadium – March 18

Los Angeles / SoFi Stadium – August 4

Los Angeles / SoFi Stadium – August 7

William Earl, editor of Variety.com

East Rutherford, NJ / MetLife Stadium — May 26

Haley Kluge, creative director

Detroit / Ford Field — June 10

Los Angeles / SoFi Stadium — August 3

Los Angeles / SoFi Stadium — August 8

Emily Longeretta, senior TV features Editor

Los Angeles / SoFi Stadium — August 7

Thania Garcia, associate music editor

Angelique Jackson, senior entertainment writer

Las Vegas / Allegiant Stadium — March 25

Jennifer Maas, TV business writer

Los Angeles / SoFi Stadium — August 9 (closing night)

The mash-up of “August” and “Illicit Affairs” — I don’t think anyone saw that coming, and it was exhilarating to scream: “Don’t call me kid/ Don’t call me baby!” — ES (3/17)

The best performance of the night was “Enchanted” from Swift’s “Speak Now” era. Clad in a shimmering princess gown, Swift served full fairy tale glamour while belting out some of her strongest vocals of the evening in the show-stopping number of love and longing. — KS (3/18)

“Betty” was the star of the superior “Folklore” section, with Swift’s lovely voice getting center stage, harmonizing beautifully with the other singers as the whole band sat on the steps and jammed out. — WE (5/26)

The rotating acoustic section of Swift’s setlist is always a highlight of the show, but I think I won the jackpot of surprise songs when she performed “King of My Heart” on piano during her fifth night in Los Angeles. — HK (8/8)

It has to be a tie between the surprise songs, “Dress” and “Exile” — “Dress” because she’s never performed it acoustic and the crowd went absolutely insane; “Exile” because she sang both her and Bon Iver’s verses. When she performed his, the audience took the liberty to sing her harmony and she adorably laughed at it. — EL (8/7)

Seeing “Enchanted” live was the highlight of my experience – both as a fan of all things princess-like and electric-guitar-powered ballads. Draped in a glistening ball gown, Swift looked like something out of a fairytale surrounded by the stage design’s lavender visuals. — TG (8/7)

My favorite song is “Fearless,” so it was special to raise our hand hearts while celebrating “Taylor’s Version.” But I saw the show with one of my closest friends, who is a lymphoma survivor, so getting to scream it out to “Bad Blood” – a song she’d joke about during chemo – was particularly memorable. — AJ (3/25)

On a night when Swift announced the re-release of “1989” and finally performed “New Romantics” as one of her surprise songs, it was still the poignant piano performance of “New Year’s Day” that hit hardest. Closing out the U.S. leg with lyrics like “Hold on to the memories, they will hold on to you” was perfect. — JM (8/9)

During the “Evermore” era, the witchy “Willow” dance was everything to me. — ES (3/17)

Swift has never been more badass than she is while executing sexy, powerful choreography for “Vigilante Shit” from her “Midnights” era, dancing on chairs with an entourage of ladies beside her. — KS (3/18)

I love orbs! So, imagine my surprise when all of the dancers were conjuring who-knows-what with some mystical orbs in “Willow.” — WE (5/26)

“Vigilante Shit” might be Swift’s edgiest choreography to date – and is easily the best dance moment of the show, with her and her dancers utilizing prop chairs and the rising stage. — HK (8/8)

She throws it back to old school Britney days with her “Vigilante Shit” routine. I love a chair moment. — EL (8/7)

I enjoyed the traditions Swift set for her performances of “Red” during the tour. She interacted with her background dancers, recruiting one of them to sing the definitive “EVER” in “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” and also handing off her iconic black hat to a young girl in the audience during “22.” — TG (8/7)

Swift and her dancers doing the “Bejeweled” TikTok dance is an iconic bit of fan service! But personally, I danced the heel off my cowboy boot at some point mid-“Shake It Off.”— AJ (3/25)

Working the chair for “Vigilante Shit.” The TikTok videos don’t do the live performance justice. — JM (8/9)

Best Outfit

When she came out in her “Enchanted dress,” you could hear gasps reverberating throughout the stadium. — ES (3/17)

Swift’s purple tiered ballgown, which she only debuted after the release of “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version),” is the perfect complement to the era’s romantic, dreamy aesthetic. — KS (8/4)

Swift’s lavender faux-fur coat during the “Midnights” set looked very cozy. I could take a nap in it! — WE (5/26)

On the fifth night in Los Angeles, Swift premiered a new “Midnights” era bodysuit that was the best outfit of the night. But those same fans gave her a run for her money in the costume department. Special shoutout to @victoriabrowne’s husband’s personification of the “All Too Well” red scarf and the three folks nearby who dressed up as yogurt shop employees, a nod to Swift’s lyrics in “Invisible String.” — HK (8/8)

Her matching blazer and boots during “The Man” were a full vibe. — EL (8/7)

It was so hard to pick which outfit was my favorite, but I loved her in the wispy, lavender dress that she wears when we first see her standing on the roof of the moss-covered cabin for the “Folklore” era. — TG (8/7)

As a “Midnights” fan, it’s a tie between the Oscar de la Renta crystal t-shirt and faux fur coat for “Lavender Haze” and the midnight blue bodysuit and boots for “Midnight Rain” and “Vigilante Shit” because that beadwork is immaculate. — AJ (3/25)

On Night 6 in L.A., the winner was a three-way tie between a trio of new outfits worked into the show, each in the iconic “1989” blue shade: An “Enchanted” ballgown, a “Folklore” frock and a sparkly “1989” two-piece set. — JM (8/9)

Most Surprising Moment

I was not expecting the “Reputation” part of the set to hit as hard as it did. — ES (3/17)

Every night, Swift performs two “surprise songs,” which fans have eagerly made spreadsheets to break down and analyze. Perhaps the most unexpected choice of the bunch was “exile” from her “folklore” album, which she chose to sing solo (without duet partner Bon Iver) for the first time. — KS (8/7)

Ice Spice coming out to perform “Karma” at the very end of the night. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen her drop a casual “Facts” live. — WE (5/26)

During Swift’s “Evermore” set after her spoken section, the crowd in Los Angeles broke into an eight-minute standing ovation. My ears are still ringing. — HK (8/8)

Seeing her perform “Dress” shocked me, since it’s about Joe Alwyn. — EL (8/7)

We had the distinct pleasure of being at Swift’s first show with a guest artist during her surprise songs (yes, I know, it was only week 2 of the tour), but the crowd’s roar (and the scream I screamed) when Marcus Mumford appeared at the end of the catwalk to play “Cowboy Like Me” was positively wonderous. Swifties will know, but Swift recorded the “Evermore” track at the Mumford & Sons frontman’s studio in the U.K., so hearing them duet live was incredible. — AJ (3/25)

Karlie Kloss spotted in the crowd. — JM (8/9)

Best Crowd Moment

It has to be everyone screaming “All Too Well” at the top of their lungs. The collective catharsis is still ringing in my ears. — ES (3/17)

During the Reputation Stadium Tour, one Swiftie created a chant during her song “Delicate,” shouting “1, 2, 3, let’s go, bitch” between the intro and the first verse. Now, the entire arena erupts during this section, with Swift herself counting the numbers on her fingers as fans shriek. — KS (3/18)

Swift had wonderful openers and watching a young girl near me scream every word of Phoebe Bridgers’ poison pen kiss-off “Motion Sickness” was a sight to behold. — WE (5/26)

Swift’s supporters are arguably one of the most enthusiastic – and kindest – fandoms around. It was wildly endearing to see dads bring their daughters to shows (proudly rocking their dad-Swiftie merch) or people swapping friendship bracelets with each other and with the security guards and crew at the venue. — HK (8/8)

Seeing the entire crowd of empowered women — and some men! — scream “Fuck the Patriarchy” during “All Too Well” made me cry. — EL (8/7)

I loved watching all of the young girls with sparkles in their eyes as they sang along to all of Swift’s songs with glitter-painted faces and brightly colored outfits that resembled the Eras. — TG (8/7)

The 10-minute standing ovation after “Champagne Problems,” which put all the previous standing Os to shame. — JM (8/9)

Best Standout Moment

The overall stage design was mesmerizing — I particularly loved the table-setting scene during “Tolerate It.” It struck me more as a piece of theater than a concert. — ES (3/17)

Swifties frequently refer to Swift’s performances of “Don’t Blame Me” as “church,” and seeing her sing it proves exactly why. Swift’s vocals soar as the music swells in the bridge, and smart lighting design that illuminates the entire stadium during her high notes creates a truly epic quality for the number. — KS (3/18)

The crowd hit the loudest roar during “Cruel Summer,” and the whole stadium singing at the same time showed Swift’s true power and the joy she brings to so many people. — WE (5/26)

The entire stadium screaming the bridge to “Cruel Summer.” I’m not sure if I will ever recover. — HK (8/8)

Nothing beats the fact that the countdown clock before the show begins blasts Lesley Gore’s 1963 anthem “You Don’t Own Me” at a time where Swift has finally gotten her music back. — EL (8/7)

In my experience, the standout moment of this tour didn’t happen inside the concert — but outside of it. When exiting, I was stunned by the number of people who were waiting outside the stadium without tickets, but just happy to be there hearing her sing. — TG (8/7)

I saw Swift in 2018 on the Reputation tour and I was impressed, but she really upped the ante with Eras. The idea of three-and-a-half hours of live performance is a true athletic feat and I couldn’t help but marvel at the idea she’s only 33 playing a show that would culminate most artists’ entire career! — AJ (3/25)

The announcement of the release date for “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” during the surprise song set, as all our bracelets lit up blue. — JM (8/9)

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‘This Is Extraordinary’: Why the Eras Tour Is Taylor Swift’s Greatest Live Triumph Yet

By Rob Sheffield

Rob Sheffield

“Jersey, welcome to the Eras Tour!” Taylor Swift yelled on Friday night. “There is one thing that I daydream about with the childlike enthusiasm of a hundred birthday parties, and that is MetLife Stadium Night 1.” That gets the mood about right. She spent this weekend at her long-awaited MetLife Stadium shows in New Jersey destroying the hearts and lungs of 83,000 of the planet’s most godforsaken messes. All three shows were chaotic jubilation, full of songs we’ve waited years to sing. And Taylor missed this more than any of us. 

This weekend I spent three consecutive nights at these shows, singing and weeping and suffering and agonizing through an emotional epic Tay-pocalypse every night. But it feels brutal that it’s over so soon. Nobody wanted it to stop. Not even Taylor, who paused on Sunday night at her piano during “Champagne Problems” to rave, “If you think I’m just coasting along thinking this is normal, I can assure you this is not the case. This is extraordinary.”

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The communal vibe is always intense at a Swift show, but never more than at this one. I was in the Night 1 parking lot about 10 minutes before someone I’d never met gave me a BETTY’S CARDIGAN friendship bracelet that I’m still wearing right now. I brought extra packs of pocket tissues, which came in handy when the Fearless interlude inspired a few meltdowns in my row Sunday night. When Taylor began the Evermore section into “Tis the Damn Season,” the security guy came over and said, “You the guy with the tissues?” Another couple of fans were having tear-duct emergencies, sobbing to me, “I really love this album!” ONLY at a Taylor show. 

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Over the show, she celebrates every part of her career, except her 2006 country debut, which surprisingly doesn’t even make a token appearance, though she’s done some of the songs as acoustic one-offs. (There’s no other career where such a great debut could turn out to be Not Era Enough.) Some of the eras turned into full-blown dance parties, like 1989 , Reputation , and Midnights . Fearless was the one era where she flashed her early twangy side — she made such a statement by stepping out on the catwalk after the first verse for a triumphant power twirl. It was pandemonium when she introduced “You Belong With Me” and “Love Story” by asking, “Jersey, are you ready to go back to high school with me?” 

By the time she got to the Folklore era, it was already a few hours into the show, but her emotional brutality never let up — honestly, the worst thing that she ever did was what she did to us. She sang “The One” on the roof of a mossy cottage — the line that blows up into a real audience screamer is “You meet some woman on the internet and taaaaake her hooome .” She did just the peak of “Illicit Affairs,” the “don’t call me kid” chant — a song about sordid meetings in parking lots hit hard coming an hour after “Fearless,” a very different song about a couple in a parking lot, but maybe the same girl a few years down the line. So many of the songs felt extra cathartic live, since virtually all of us in the crowd learned to sing these songs in a moment of extreme solitude and isolation. She did “Betty,” “Cardigan,” “My Tears Ricochet,” and the unstoppable “August,” pouncing on that final “get in the car!” Also, it wouldn’t be Tay’s style to forget that MetLife Stadium is literally behind a mall .

She slips acoustic surprise songs into the set list every night, one on guitar and one alone with her piano. On Friday night, she did “Getaway Car” (with Jersey boy Jack Antonoff) and “Maroon.” On Saturday, it was a pair of New York love songs, “Holy Ground” and “False God.” But the peaks were Sunday night, when she did a stripped-down “Welcome to New York,” leaning hard on the line that people chose to overlook in 2014 — “You can want who you want/Boys and boys and girls and girls.” Then she did a devastating “Clean” on piano. Her enthusiasm spilled over with quips like “You guys always give 113 per cent” or “You will get a treat for that!” Early on Friday night, she declared, “You guys are historically a great crowd. Do you think that you want to continue that tradition?” When the fans roared, she replied, “I was hoping you would say that. In case you said no, I was going to just ditch this plan completely.”

“All Too Well (Ten Minute Version)” was the coup de grace, filling up the enormous space with the sound of just Taylor and her thousands of confidantes. It couldn’t help but evoke the moment when she sang it the first time she played MetLife Stadium — 10 summers ago, in July 2013. That night, it already seemed incredibly to think of how far she’d come so fast. But 10 ears later, hearing “All Too Well” in that same venue, it seemed to sum up everywhere she’s traveled in those past 10 years. Like the rest of the Eras Tour, it was a celebration of all the holy ground she and her audience has covered.

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At one point on Sunday night, during the Midnights finale, I heard voices and thought the security guard near me was arguing with a fan. It turned out they were just trading friendship bracelets. It’s THAT kind of show. That’s the world this woman and only this woman creates, on an epic scale, night after night. There’s no experience in music like being part of that world Taylor Swift creates for a few hours. And there’s no way not to feel joyful about taking it all with you when you leave. 

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Best moments of taylor swift’s eras tour: surprise songs, guests and more.

The Hollywood Reporter looks back at the biggest things to happen at the superstar musician's recent series of concerts.

By Sydney Odman , Ryan Fish August 8, 2023 4:30pm

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Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is a cultural phenomenon. With unprecedented demand, smashed world records and a staggering 44-song setlist, the Eras tour spans Swift’s entire discography, chronicling all the various eras and albums of the Midnights singer’s career.

From the mad scramble to buy tickets that crashed Ticketmaster’s website to guest appearances from the likes of Taylor Lautner, Joey King, Haim and Phoebe Bridgers, Swift brings new surprises for her fans at each stop.

As the first round of Swift’s Eras Tour approaches its last dates in Los Angeles, The Hollywood Reporter has compiled the biggest highlights from the tour so far.

Fans Crash Ticketmaster Presale

Before the Eras Tour even began, it was making history. During the rush to buy tickets after five-plus years of waiting, the retailer site Ticketmaster crumbled, with many experiencing multiple hour-long waits and the majority of fans not being able to secure tickets. According to Ticketmaster, the demand was unprecedented and led to no tickets being available as a part of the general sale. Ticket prices soared above $1,000 for the cheapest seats on the resale market, leading to congressional hearings that included more than a few tongue-in-cheek Swift references.

"22" Hat Giveaways — Selena Gomez’s Sister, Kobe Bryant’s Daughter

It’s a nightly ritual at the Eras Tour for Swift to gift her black fedora hat to one lucky fan in the audience during her performance of Red hit song “22.” At an Arlington, Texas, show on April 1, Swift stopped to say hello to Selena Gomez’s 9-year-old sister, Gracie, who was in attendance with the Only Murders in the Building star, to exchange the hat for a friendship bracelet. Similarly, during her Thursday night show at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium, the Eras performer shared a sweet moment with Kobe Bryant’s daughter Bianka Bryant. The pair hugged as Swift placed the hat on Bianka’s head.

In 2015, the late Lakers legend joined Swift onstage at the then-Staples Center during her 1989 tour, surprising her with a championship-style banner in honor of her record-breaking 16 sold-out shows at the arena.

'Speak Now (Taylor's Version)' Announced in Nashville

At her first Nashville stop on May 5, Swift treated fans to the highly anticipated announcement that album rerelease Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) would drop on July 7. As expected, the artist teased the announcement days before the show, posting a purple heart emoji on social media. Before launching into Speak Now track and surprise song of the night “Sparks Fly,” Swift debuted a first look at the album cover on the big screens of Nissan Stadium, while purple lights lit up the Nashville’s Cumberland River bridge.

“You know how I love to plan things, and how I love to surprise you with the things I plan,” she said onstage. “It’s my love language with you — I plot, I scheme, I plan and I get to tell you about it.”

It fills me with such pride and joy to announce that my version of Speak Now will be out July 7 (just in time for July 9th, iykyk 😆) I first made Speak Now, completely self-written, between the ages of 18 and 20. The songs that came from this time in my life were marked by their… pic.twitter.com/oa0Vs5kszr — Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) May 6, 2023

Haim Takes the Stage for "No Body, No Crime"

Swift’s real-life besties from sibling trio band Haim joined the Speak Now singer onstage in Seattle on July 22. Together, the friends performed their Evermore collab “No Body, No Crime,” marking the first live performance of the song on the Eras Tour. With the girl band announced as one of the opening acts for the tour, fans expected Haim to appear at least once to perform alongside Swift.

Ice Spice Collabs With Swift on "Karma" Remix

On the day she released the Midnights album extended version The Til Dawn Edition , Swift brought out one of her newest collaborators Ice Spice onto New Jersey’s Metlife Stadium stage. The rapper, who features on a remix edition of Midnights hit song “Karma,” joined Swift onstage to perform her verse and close out the show for three nights in a row.

Phoebe Bridgers Performs Vault Track "Nothing New" While Opening for Swift

Across the Nashville, Philadelphia, Massachusetts and New Jersey legs of the tour, Phoebe Bridgers joined Swift as not only an opening act, but also a stage partner. With acoustic guitars in hand, Bridgers and Swift took to the Eras stage multiple times to perform their fan-favorite vault track from Red (Taylor’s Version) , “Nothing New.” On Bridgers’ final night on the tour at MetLife, the friends shared heartfelt goodbyes on stage. “You are my hero,” Bridgers told Swift onstage, with Swift responding: “Thank you for being the friend that you’ve been to me.”

“Long Live” Is Added to the Set List

After the release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) , fan-favorite song “Long Live” off the album entered the set list. Presumably, until that point Swift had previously avoided performing too many songs off of Speak Now so as not to promote any tracks owned by Scooter Braun.

"I Can See You" Video Drops With Special Guest Appearances: Taylor Lautner, Presley Cash and Joey King

The hit single off Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) was the new “From the Vault” track “I Can See You,” which became a radio hit and charted on Billboard. To announce the music video she directed for the track, Swift brought out the video’s stars, including ex-boyfriend Taylor Lautner along with Presley Cash and Joey King, on stage at the Eras Tour in Kansas City. Lautner performed a backflip, a nod to his scene with Swift in the 2010 film Valentine’s Day. “He and his wife have become some of my closest friends, and it’s very convenient because we all share the same first name,” said Swift onstage during the video announcement.

Two Surprise Songs at Each Show

Every single stop of the tour, Taylor Swift has performed two surprise songs that are unique to that tour stop, only repeating a handful of tracks from amongst her vast discography. Fans have tracked the songs online via Twitter — even maintaining complex spread sheets — hoping to get one of their favorites that isn’t a part of the main set list as a “surprise song.” Highlights have included “Hits Different,” “Death by a Thousand Cuts,” “Our Song,” “Tim McGraw” and many more.

Taylor Swift Fans Cause an Earthquake

At the Eras Tour stop in Seattle, fans partied so hard they caused the equivalent of a small earthquake . This rivaled Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch’s “Beast Quake” from 2011, thought Swift came out as the clear winner when measured on the Richter scale.

Taylor Swift Announces ‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’

On the last night of the first leg of her U.S. tour, Swift revealed that 1989 (Taylor’s Version) will release Oct. 27. Throughout her performance at sixth night of Eras Tour shows at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium, the singer teased the announcement by wearing several blue outfits to celebrate the occasion. Following the announcement, fans were treated to 1989 track “New Romantics.” The rerecorded version will feature 21 songs, including five previously unreleased songs from The Vault as described on Swift’s website.

“Surprise!! 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is on its way to you,” Swift wrote on social media. “The 1989 album changed my life in countless ways, and it fills me with such excitement to announce that my version of it will be out October 27th. To be perfectly honest, this is my most FAVORITE re-record I’ve ever done because the 5 From The Vault tracks are so insane. I can’t believe they were ever left behind. But not for long!”

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Here Are All the Songs in ‘Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour’ Movie

Find out which songs from the tour setlist were cut

Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” concert film premiered in October to an enthusiastic crowd of celebrities, fans and of course Taylor’s team, with the star of the film in attendance. As one of the first to see the film, TheWrap got the scoop on which songs from the wildly popular tour made the film, and which songs were cut.

After making speeches in multiple auditoriums for separate audiences, Swift, clad in a sky blue floral-patterned dress (probably in theme for “1989 (Taylor’s Version) with her hair pinned up like the signature bob she had when that album first came out), sat back to enjoy the film’s premiere in one of the IMAX screening rooms with her background vocalists and publicist Tree Paine.

The documentary runs 2 hours and 48 minutes, slightly shorter than Swift’s three-hour setlist and performance, which she has brought to 17 of the United States so far in addition to Mexico. The European leg will kick off in November, with Swift returning for 15 more U.S. shows in October and November of 2024. And now you can rent “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” on digital to watch at home. Read on for the 41 songs that made the cut to truly represent all 10 of Swift’s eras.

Now that the film is heading exclusively to Disney+ for streaming , additional acoustic surprise songs will make it into the film, all of which were filmed during the Los Angeles SoFi shows.

Here are all the songs in “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour”:

Lover (5 songs)

• “Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince”
• “Cruel Summer”
• “You Need to Calm Down”

Fearless (3 songs)

• “You Belong With Me”
• “Love Story”

Evermore (4 songs)

• “Champagne Problems”
• “Tolerate It”

Reputation (4 songs)

• “Ready for It”
• “Don’t Blame Me”
• “Look What You Made Me Do”

Speak Now (1 Song)

• “Enchanted”

Red (4 Songs)

• “We Are Never Getting Back Together”
• “I Knew You Were Trouble”
• “All Too Well (10-Minute Version)”

Folklore (6 Songs)

• “Last Great American Dynasty”
• “Illicit Affairs”
• “My Tears Ricochet”

1989 (4 Songs)

• “Blank Space”
• “Shake It Off”
• “Bad Blood”

Surprise (1 Guitar & 1 Piano)

• “Our Song” (Guitar)
• “You’re on Your Own Kid” (Piano)

Midnights (7 Songs)

• “Lavender Haze”
• “Anti-Hero”
• “Midnight Rain”
• “Vigilante Shit”
• “Bejeweled”
• “Mastermind”

* “Long Live (Taylor’s Version)” plays in the credits.

Songs From the Concert That Aren’t in the Film

• “The Archer”
• “Tis the Damn Season” which was later swapped for “No Body No Crime (Feat. Haim)”
• “Invisible String”
• “Cardigan” *
• “Wildest Dreams”

* “Cardigan” will be included in the version of the film that arrives on Disney+.

Surprise Songs Filmed (in Los Angeles at SoFi Stadium)

• “I Can See You”
• “You Are in Love”
• “Death by a Thousand Cuts”
• “You’re on Your Own Kid”

Songs Added Back Into the “Eras Tour” Film for the Digital Release

• “Long Live”

4 Secret Song in “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version)” on Disney+

• “Maroon” from “Midnights”
• “Death By a Thousand Cuts” from “Lover”
• “You Are in Love (Taylor’s Version)” from “1989 (Taylor’s Version)”
• “I Can See You (Taylor’s Version)” from “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)”

Read here for a full list of all the surprise songs Swift has performed so far.

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Taylor Swift tour has many 'eras.' We tracked her movements to give you the look and feel.

"It's been a long time coming ..."

Taylor Swift is performing her first stadium tour in five years, and she put in all the stops so fans can enjoy every second of the three-hour-plus-long concert.

With more than 2 million tickets sold on the first day they were available – the most sold by an artist in a single day – The Eras Tour is a historically monumental event that's breaking stadium records at nearly every stop.

Fifty-two shows are planned across 20 U.S. cities from March through August, and each show  boasts a 44-song set list spread out over 10 distinctly different sets, representing the albums – or eras – from the past 17 years of her career.

To see where Swift is on stage for each song through the show, Twitter user Vinoj @MRPERFECTLYFlNE  mapped her movements during each song on stage, and we confirmed them at the show in Tampa April 14. Here's a look: 

The 'Lover' era begins as Swift emerges from beneath the stage 

The show kicks off with dancers carrying large pastel-colored tapestries across the stage, then setting them down so Swift can emerge from underneath the stage in a bejeweled bodysuit .

She then performs six songs from her 2019 studio album "Lover." She had planned a tour to promote the album with dates in 2020, but it was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic .

Each era comes with its own stage props, costume changes and visual effects . The stage itself is a screen that changes throughout the concert, and it features multiple moving platforms.

The bedazzled 'Fearless' era follows 

Swift then changes into a golden dress with a bedazzled guitar to perform three songs from her 2008 studio album "Fearless." She also plays alongside a band, including guitarist Paul Sidoti and bassist Amos Heller , who have both been touring with her since 2007.

Fearless was the first of her albums to receive a Grammy for album of the year in 2010. The Fearless Tour was her first headlining tour , spanning 118 shows from April 2009 through July 2010. 

Earthy vibes for the 'Evermore' era

The stage then changes to feature trees and a moss-covered piano as Swift wears a yellow dress and plays five songs from her 2020 studio album "Evermore." 

It was her second "pandemic album," released less than five months after the first, and features folk music in contrast to her country and pop albums. 

Snakes and slithering: The 'Reputation' era excites

As Swift transitions into the "Reputation" era, a snake slithers around the screens and across the stadium through the crowd's lighted bracelets. She then enters in a black, one-legged catsuit featuring a red snake as she sings four songs from the 2016 studio album.

The Reputation Stadium Tour, which also kicked off in Glendale, Arizona, included 53 shows over seven months in 2018 and was the highest-grossing music tour by a female artist that year. 

Glamour and periwinkle: The 'Speak Now' era

The stadium then features purple visual effects on all its screens as Swift walks toward center stage in a ballgown to sing one song from her 2010 studio album.

"Speak Now," aside from its deluxe edition, is entirely self-written by Swift and is rumored to be the next rerecorded album she will release. She also did a concert tour to promote "Speak Now" that included 110 shows from February 2011 through March 2012.

Who's Taylor Swift anyway? The 'Red' era

The stadium then turns red as a dancer appears with a box that plays snippets of songs from Swift's 2012 studio album. She then emerges wearing a shirt that features lyrics or phrases from songs in the album.

She plays four songs from "Red," including the 10-minute version of "All Too Well" released in 2021. The song is so notable that Stanford University has an entire course devoted to examining its lyrics .  

"Red" also had its own world tour, including 86 shows from March 2013 through June 2014.

The visually impressive 'Folklore' era

Like the "Evermore" era, the "Folklore" era transformed the stage into a forest. Swift starts the set by singing while lying on the mossy roof of a cabin and wearing a flowing gown, then performs seven songs from her 2020 studio album.

"Folklore" was the first of Swift's two "pandemic albums" and won a  Grammy for album of the year , making her the first woman in history to win the award three times.

Neon lights hark back to the '1989' era

The forest fades away and a neon skyline emerges on the screens to signal the 1989 era. Swift wears a matching beaded top and skirt to perform five songs from her 2014 studio album.

"1989" received her second Grammy for album of the year, and its stadium tour ran for 85 shows from May to December 2015. The 1989 World Tour was the world's highest-grossing music tour in 2015 .

The acoustic set, unique song choices

Swift then puts on a matching dress over the "1989"-era outfit to perform two "surprise songs" that are unique to each show on the tour. She plays one song on guitar and the other on a piano painted with flowers.

MORE: Tracking The Eras Tour set list and surprise songs

There are no visual effects during this set, but she has brought guests out to play with her, including Marcus Mumford and Aaron Dessner.

Swift ends with the 'Midnights' era, her latest album

After finishing the acoustic set, Swift dives under stage and emerges in a faux fur coat and sparkly T-shirt dress to perform seven songs from her most recent studio album, "Midnights."

She announced the release of "Midnights " at the MTV Video Music Awards in August 2022, then released it two months later in October.  

Taylor Swift's 'The Tortured Poets Department' ushers in a new era of her music. Here's a guide to every era of her groundbreaking career.

• Taylor Swift's 11th studio album, "The Tortured Poets Department," officially comes out on Friday.
• Each of Swift's album cycles has had its own unique aesthetic expressed through fashion and staging.
• The "Fearless" era was full of sparkles and romance, while "Reputation" ushered in her villain era.

Taylor Swift's Eras Tour became the first tour in history to gross over $1 billion, making it the highest-grossing tour of all time, the Associated Press reported in December, citing Pollstar data.

With a nearly three-hour-long set list and sparkling costume changes , the Eras Tour pays tribute to Swift's 10 studio albums and the unique styles and staging that accompanied them.

Swift's 11th studio album, "The Tortured Poets Department," ushers in a new era of her music.

Here's a guide to every album era of her groundbreaking career.

When she released her self-titled debut album in 2006, Taylor Swift became known as a rising young country star with a talent for songwriting.

Swift, who was 16 when the album was released, sang hit tracks like "Tim McGraw," "Our Song," and "Teardrops On My Guitar" with a country twang, and she graced red carpets in sundresses and cowboy boots.

"I get so excited about these things because I love to dress up. But I wear cowboy boots so that when I walk down the stairs I won't fall," Swift told Entertainment Weekly in 2007 about attending award shows like the Country Music Awards.

The album earned Swift her first Grammy nomination, for best new artist, and a nomination for new female vocalist of the year at the Academy of Country Music Awards. "Our Song" made her the youngest artist in history to have written and performed a No. 1 song on the Hot Country Songs chart.

Swift's "Fearless" era was defined by sparkly dresses and hopeless romanticism.

Swift released her sophomore album, "Fearless," in 2008. It won four Grammys , including album of the year and best country album. It also won album of the year at both the Country Music Association Awards and the Academy of Country Music Awards.

Her music video for "You Belong With Me" won best female video at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. In the middle of her acceptance speech, Kanye West grabbed the microphone and declared that Beyoncé had been robbed, sparking a long-running feud .

Swift sang that she liked "glitter and sparkly dresses" and getting back at exes by "writing their names into songs so they're ashamed to go in public" when she hosted "Saturday Night Live" in 2009. Both were fixtures of her "Fearless" era, which explored the highs of grand romantic gestures in songs like "Love Story" and the lows of heartbreak in tracks like "Forever & Always." 

On the Fearless Tour, Swift wore ball gowns and sequins while performing on a stage featuring a fairy-tale castle.

During her "Speak Now" era, purple became Swift's signature color as she clapped back at critics and wrote increasingly confessional material.

Swift wrote the entirety of "Speak Now" (2010) by herself, without any cowriters, in response to critics who claimed she didn't write her own songs.

"I've had several upheavals in my career," she told Rolling Stone in 2019. "When I was 18, they were like, 'She doesn't really write those songs.' So my third album I wrote by myself as a reaction to that."

Swift's "Speak Now" era maintained some of the magic and whimsy of "Fearless" with tracks like "Sparks Fly" and the anthemic "Long Live," but it also included scathing songs like "Dear John," "Better Than Revenge," and "Mean," which won two Grammys for best country song and best country solo performance.

Swift appears in a purple dress on the original album cover of "Speak Now," and she wore a purple dress on the Speak Now World Tour. She also released a perfume in a purple bottle called "Wonderstruck" in 2011, referencing lyrics in the chorus of her song "Enchanted:" "I'm wonderstruck, blushing all the way home."

"Red" marked the beginning of Swift's shift away from country music with vintage looks and experimental sounds.

The "Red" era, naturally, featured lots of vibrant red colors. Swift also began experimenting more with her style and sound. She straightened her famously curly hair, traded sparkly dresses for vintage looks like high-waisted shorts, and collaborated with pop producers such as Max Martin and Shellback.

"Musically and lyrically, 'Red' resembled a heartbroken person," Swift wrote in a 2021 Instagram post announcing the release of her re-recorded album, "Red (Taylor's Version)." "It was all over the place, a fractured mosaic of feelings that somehow all fit together at the end."

"Red" was nominated for four Grammys, including album of the year and best country album. It spent seven weeks at the top of the Billboard 200, making Swift the first female artist and the second artist ever (aside from The Beatles) to have three consecutive albums spend at least six weeks at No. 1.

Swift's "1989" album cemented her as a global pop icon. It was also the era of her famous "squad."

When Swift released "1989" in 2014 with catchy tracks like "Shake It Off" and "Style," she left no doubt that she had transcended her country roots and become a full-blown pop star. It won three Grammys, including album of the year, and became the fastest-selling album of the last decade, Variety reported.

"The best choices are bold choices," Swift said in a 2014 interview with "On-Air With Ryan Seacrest," per Taste of Country . "With my last album 'Red,' I kind of had one foot in pop and one foot in country, and that's really no way to walk and get anywhere. If you want to continue to evolve, I think eventually you have to pick a lane, and I just picked the one that felt more natural to me at this point in my life."

Her "1989" era was dominated by her "squad" of famous friends . Squad members Karlie Kloss , Cara Delevingne, Selena Gomez, Gigi Hadid, Lena Dunham, and others starred in her music video for "Bad Blood."

On the 1989 World Tour, Swift debuted an edgier style with sequined bustiers and illusion jumpsuits.

"Reputation," released in 2017, ushered in Swift's villain era.

Swift went dark during this era, wiping her social-media accounts and refraining from interviews and public appearances. Her mantra was "There will be no further explanation. There will just be reputation."

In "Look What You Made Me Do," Swift declared that "the old Taylor can't come to the phone right now" because "she's dead." In music videos and on tour, she leaned into the snake imagery that emerged out of her feud with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West , when fans of the latter flooded her social media accounts with snake emojis.

"I went through some times when I didn't know if I was going to get to do this anymore," she told the crowd in Glendale, Arizona, on the opening night of the Reputation Stadium Tour, Buzzfeed reported. "I wanted to send a message to you guys that if someone uses name-calling to bully you on social media, and even if a lot of people jump on board with it, that doesn't have to beat you. It can strengthen you instead."

Despite the darkness of the era, songs like "Delicate" and "Gorgeous" also chronicle the beginning of her relationship with Joe Alwyn. The two dated for six years before breaking up in April 2023.

The album received one Grammy nomination for best pop vocal album. The Reputation Stadium Tour became the highest-grossing US tour in history — a record she has since beaten — Forbes reported.

The short-lived "Lover" era was full of rainbows, dreamy pastel colors, and political activism.

"Lover," released with Republic Records in 2019, was the first album that Swift fully owned after her master recordings were sold to music executive Scooter Braun . The acquisition caused a public feud, with Swift calling the acquisition her "worst case scenario" in a Tumblr post and Braun saying he "regrets" how it was handled . 

The singer leaned fully into political activism with her song and music video for "You Need To Calm Down" advocating for LGBTQ+ rights. She also wrote more upbeat autobiographical songs about her relationship, such as "London Boy" and "Paper Rings." 

"I'm in a much better mood," Swift said in a 2019 appearance on "The Graham Norton Show" when asked about her new music's bright pop aesthetic.

Lover Fest would have been her sixth concert tour, but all shows were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The album received three Grammy nominations, won four MTV Video Music Awards, and won favorite pop/rock album at the American Music Awards.

"Folklore" and "Evermore" emerged out of quarantine, with Swift embracing folk sounds, storytelling, and cottagecore.

Swift collaborated with producers Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner to craft a new sound and approach to songwriting. She also wrote a few tracks with Alwyn, who used the pseudonym "William Bowery."

Instead of writing purely autobiographical songs, Swift was inspired by characters and stories of her own creation.

"In isolation my imagination has run wild and this album is the result, a collection of songs and stories that flowed like a stream of consciousness," she wrote in an Instagram post announcing "Folklore." "Picking up a pen was my way of escaping into fantasy, history, and memory. I've told these stories to the best of my ability with all the love, wonder, and whimsy they deserve."

Swift left the sheen and vibrancy of "Lover" behind in favor of a more understated, woodsy style. She wore her natural curls in loose braids and buns, and her wardrobe consisted of cozy cardigans, plaid coats, and jewel-toned velvet.

Swift won her third Grammy award for album of the year for "Folklore," making her the first woman to win album of the year three times . "Folklore" was also the best-selling album of 2020, Rolling Stone reported.

Swift ushered in a new darker, '70s-inspired era with "Midnights."

"Midnights" explores Swift's feelings of wistfulness, self-loathing, and loneliness that keep her up at night. The album art and "Anti-Hero" music video feature the singer wearing retro outfits in spaces with wood paneling and warm colors straight out of the 1970s, while the music video for "Bejeweled" adds a glitzy, celestial element to the era.

"This is a collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams," she wrote on Instagram . "The floors we pace and the demons we face. For all of us who have tossed and turned and decided to keep the lanterns lit and go searching — hoping that just maybe, when the clock strikes twelve... we'll meet ourselves."

Swift became only artist in history to claim all top 10 entries on the Billboard Hot 100 in a single week when songs from "Midnights" filled all 10 spots.

At the 2024 Grammys, it won album of the year , making Swift the first person in history to win the award four times. "Midnights" also won best pop vocal album.

For her 11th studio album, "The Tortured Poets Department," Swift leaned into a greyscale color palate and academia themes.

When she announced the upcoming release of "The Tortured Poets Department" at the Grammys, Swift hinted at the album's black-and-white color theme with her outfit of a white Schiaparelli corset gown paired with black gloves and heels.

On the greyscale album cover, Swift appears lying mournfully in a pile of pillows on a bed.

"All's fair in love and poetry," Swift captioned the image on Instagram .

Ahead of the album's release, Swift shared themed playlists on Apple Music that categorized songs from her previous albums into the five stages of grief popularized by psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. Combined with the melancholy, tortured artist aesthetic, the album is widely believed to chronicle the end of Swift's six-year relationship with Alwyn.

A library-themed Spotify pop-up in Los Angeles featured books, statues, and typewritten messages teasing song lyrics from tracks on the new album. Typewriters also appeared in a video posted to Swift's Instagram.

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As Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Hits One Year, Let’s Take a Look at Its Staggering Numbers

O n March 17, it will officially have been one year since Taylor Swift's Eras Tour kicked off in Glendale, Ariz. In the 12 months since that fateful first show, Swift has broken untold records , made history as TIME's 2023 Person of the Year , cultivated a new legion of NFL fans , and announced her forthcoming 11th studio album— The Tortured Poets Department , out April 19—among a litany of other accomplishments.

By the end of 2023—less than halfway through its scheduled 152-show run—the Eras Tour had earned over $1 billion to become the highest-grossing concert tour of all time. During that period, every city where Swift played got a substantial economic boost from the so-called "Taylor Swift effect," a term that refers to the singer's unprecedented ability to influence consumer behavior. Following the inaugural U.S. leg of Eras, the U.S. Travel Association estimated that the tour's total economic impact likely exceeded $10 billion.

In the new year, Swift's staggering popularity seems to somehow still be on the rise. Less than a week after watching her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, win the Super Bowl, Swift played to the biggest concert crowd of her career while performing at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in Australia during the first run of 2024 Eras dates, following four shows in Tokyo.

In honor of the first anniversary of the start of the Eras Tour, we're taking a numerical look back at the biggest year of Swift's career to date.

Read More: 2023 Person of the Year: Taylor Swift

Number of Eras shows and cities

Swift will have played 83 shows across 30 cities as of March 17. Of those shows, 53 took place in the U.S. in 20 different cities stateside. The remaining 30 were part of the Latin America and Asia-Pacific legs of the tour. By the end of 2024, Swift is set to play a grand total of 152 Eras shows across 54 cities worldwide.

Number of surprise songs

In addition to her 40-plus-song set list, Swift has played at least two "surprise songs" per Eras show. Taking repeats into account, she has performed 145 different tracks (counting mashups of repeat songs as unique entries) as her 167 surprise offerings.

Number of special guests

From MUNA to Sabrina Carpenter to Haim, Swift's Eras stops have featured 10 different opening acts. She has also brought out eight other special guests, from Maren Morris to frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff, to join her on stage at various shows.

Number of people in attendance at her biggest show to date

Swift played three back-to-back shows at MCG on Feb. 16, 17, and 18 that were each attended by a record 96,000 people for a three-day total of 288,000 concertgoers. Ed Sheeran, who drew a crowd of around 109,500 each of the two nights he played at MCG in 2023, still holds the venue's single-night attendance record. But that's largely due to the fact that Swift's stage setup took up more room in the arena, cutting down on the number of available seats.

Number of Eras tickets sold

Swift sold an estimated 4.35 million tickets across 60 tour dates within concert trade publication Pollstar's chart year of Nov. 17, 2022 to Nov. 15, 2023. That's an average of 72,500 tickets per show, with each ticket costing an average of $238.95. Using those numbers to extrapolate across shows played since then, Swift has likely now sold around 6.02 million tickets.

Total Eras Tour gross

Based on the approximately $17.32 million in ticket revenue Pollstar estimates Swift earned for each of the first 60 Eras dates, her total tour gross currently sits somewhere around $1.44 billion. By the end of 2024, the tour is expected to have brought in an astronomical $2.165 billion. For comparison, the second-highest grossing tour of all time, Elton John’s multi-year Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour, sold six million tickets over the course of 328 shows to earn $939 million.

Total Eras merch revenue

According to reports from different venues, Pollstar estimates Eras attendees were spending an average of $40 per person on merch at the first 60 Eras shows. That puts Swift's tour merch revenue at an estimated $240.8 million—not including non-concert day purchases—following her first run of 2024 Eras dates.

Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour box-office earnings

Since its Oct. 13 release in theaters, Swift's record-breaking three-and-a-half-hour concert film has grossed $180,756,269 in North America and $261,656,269 globally at the box office. An extended edition of the movie became available to rent via video on demand services on Swift's birthday, Dec. 13, followed by the longest and most complete version of the film, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version) , arriving on streaming on Disney+ March 14.

Number of new songs

Since the Eras Tour began, Swift has released two re-recorded albums, Speak Now (Taylor's Version) and 1989 (Taylor's Version) , and one new single, "You're Losing Me (From the Vault)," for a total of 45 new songs (including re-recorded songs and vault tracks). In their first week of sales, Speak Now (Taylor's Version) , which featured one Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 hit, and 1989 (Taylor's Version) , which featured seven Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 hits, sold 716,000 equivalent album units and 1.653 million equivalent album units, respectively. "You're Losing Me (From the Vault)" tallied 8.7 million official streams and sold 19,000 downloads in the U.S. in the first two days after its Nov. 29 debut, according to Luminate .

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Taylor Swift shares big video hint that the 'Eras Tour' may be changing

Taylor Swift is taking fans behind the scenes of her “Eras Tour” with a series of clips, and Swifties now suspect there’s a hint as to changes coming to the world-renowned show.

Days after releasing her newest album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” Swift posted another YouTube Short video with her hit single “Fortnight,” featuring Post Malone,” playing over videos of her and her dancers rehearsing for the tour. But there’s one moment in the montage that has fans doing what they do best: speculating.

Fans will recognize many of the scenes being practiced, such as Swift's iconic entrance from the ground, her performance of "Lavender Haze" in a coat surrounded by clouds, playing "Champagne Problems" seated at a moss-covered piano and more. But one clip, in which Swift stands in the middle of a stage with her dancers lined up behind her wearing top hats and holding canes, did not appear in the original "Eras Tour."

“Since when do background dancers have a top hat and canes?!” one fan with the username armaisacat.1989 captioned a TikTok of the scene, adding “Taylor Swift you have some explaining to do!!”

The “Eras Tour” is a three-hour, 15-minute concert in which Swift performs songs from all of her albums since her 2006 self-titled debut record. Many — including the TODAY.com staff — have speculated whether or not the pop star would integrate “Tortured Poets Department” as another era in the show.

All will be (hopefully) be revealed when the tour begins again in Paris on May 9.

This is the second YouTube Short Swift has posted since the latest album release. On April 19, she shared glimpses of her personal life , again set to the tune of “Fortnight.”

In that compilation, her boyfriend, NFL star Travis Kelce, makes appearances with the star. The videos are in collaboration with YouTube, encouraging users to post their own “14 snippets” of their lives set to the same song.

Amy Eley is the assistant managing editor and oversees the West Cost digital team for TODAY.com, covering breaking news, what's happening in pop culture, those viral TikTok videos and everything in between. She's currently based in Colorado.

Amy’s been with TODAY.com since three days after she finished graduate school in 2013. She's covered breaking news, launched lifestyle verticals, taken readers to anchors’ homes (Al Roker’s kitchen remains a personal favorite), documented a surrogacy pregnancy, managed various editorial teams and even appeared on-air to tell America how to clean behind their refrigerators.

Expertise and Education

Amy graduated from CUNY's Graduate School of Journalism with a master's degree in journalism. Prior to that, she earned her bachelor's degree in Hawaii and worked for "Ski Racing" magazine.

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9 Things Other Artists Can Learn From Taylor Swift’s Blockbuster Eras Tour

The singer-songwriter's career-spanning trek set a new playbook for superstar tours.

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Taylor Swift ‘s Eras Tour has little precedent in the history of live entertainment, with the trek’s recent 52-date run in the United States capturing daily headlines and vaulting the singer-songwriter/marketing savant to an even higher peak of superstardom (and, according to Bloomberg , billionaire status ). Since launching on March 17 in Glendale, Ariz., the blockbuster trek set new benchmarks for superstar concert tours and looks on track to top $1 billion in ticket sales by the time it wraps — which would best the $939 million record set by Elton John this past July.

So what can other artists learn from Swift’s historic run? To be clear, none of her peers enjoy the same level of cultural cachet, not even Beyoncé — a trailblazer and powerhouse in her own right whose Renaissance world tour grossed nearly $580 million and sold 2.8 million tickets across 56 shows in North America and Europe this year. That’s because Swift is a rarity in the pop music landscape — not only a deeply talented songwriter and performer but a master marketer with an uncanny knack for making each one of her millions of fans feel seen and appreciated.

9 Ways Taylor Swift Has Changed the Music Business

With the Eras Tour set to resume on Nov. 9 in Buenos Aires, we’re taking a look at how Swift has changed the live-music game — and what other stars can take away from the savvy tactics employed to generate maximum exposure for Swift’s record-setting run of dates. From integrating surprise songs to setting a flexible touring schedule to dropping bombshell announcements into her shows, here are nine things other artists can learn from the megastar as she prepares to embark on round 2.

Build Flexibility Into Your Touring Schedule

Most tours are routed with one goal in mind: get from the first show on the tour to the last show on the tour as fast as possible, without experiencing any major hiccups or crises on the road. While that strategy allows artists to spend minimal time away from loved ones, it leaves artists few options to pick up more shows when demand exceeds expectations. When Swift first announced the routing for the Eras Tour in November 2022, each stop was scheduled on a weekend in a different city. Not only did her massive production need this much time to load and unload her gigantic show, but it also gave her the flexibility she needed to add shows on weekdays for fans who missed out on tickets when they first went on sale. The strategy allowed Swift to grow her initial 27-date announcement to 52 shows total, nearly doubling the number of fans who could see her on the historic tour. – Dave Brooks

Trust That the Fans Will Travel To See You

The massive Eras Tour can’t turn on a dime — it takes multiple days and teams of crew members to set up and take down the production in each city it visits. For many Swift fans, that means traveling to a major market hub, with some having to drive hundreds of miles to catch one of her shows. It can be a bit terrifying for an artist — even one as famous as Swift — to put tickets on sale knowing fans will have to travel long distances to attend her concerts, but asking them to commute allows for higher production values and more time spent on crafting mesmerizing sets rather than constantly moving from city to city. This also gives fans a better overall experience at the show, leading to the kind of strong word-of-mouth that allowed the Eras Tour to build up a full head of steam throughout its North American run. – D.B.

If You Have a Deep Discography, Lean Into It 

Artists of Swift’s size most often go one of three ways with their tour setlists: They either stack them with classic hits and long-proven crowd-pleasers, they put their most recent material front and center, or they toggle awkwardly between old and new. Swift’s innovation with her Eras Tour concept is to treat every (well, nearly every) part of her career with equal (well, almost equal) weight: Not to just load up on Fearless and 1989 smashes or Folklore and Midnights fan favorites, but to essentially recreate her entire career onstage — and bring fans along for the journey.

Again, this isn’t something that an artist with just a handful of albums or hits to their credit could easily emulate. But for artists of a certain size, stature and (most importantly) longevity, going the Eras route is now a proven way to allow fans to not only remember the songs they love but to truly relive them, one album at a time. And for a now-generation-spanning artist like Swift, it offers the extra bonus of making sure fans who weren’t along for the whole ride still feel catered to. Pre-teens in attendance can scream along to “Anti-Hero” and “Cruel Summer” while their older siblings (or parents) wait patiently for their turn to do the same with “Love Story” and “You Belong With Me.” – Andrew Unterberger

Orchestrate Viral Moments To Keep Your Tour In the Headlines

Even non-fans were doubtless bombarded by news of Swift’s tour stops across the United States earlier this year, given that every last one of them seemed to generate a fresh wave of headlines. Part of the reason for this was Swift and her team’s savvy way of engineering viral moments at each performance. These included recurring bits — including Swift giving her “22” fedora to a young fan at every stop (including Bianka Bryant, daughter of the late Kobe Bryant, as well as Selena Gomez ‘s sister, Gracie) and adding two new surprise songs to the setlist every night (more on that below). Swift also sprinkled bigger one-off moments throughout, including special guest appearances from stars like Ice Spice , Maren Morris and Taylor Lautner (to premiere the music video for her Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) track “I Can See You”) and shriek-inducing reveals of the release dates for her re-recorded Speak Now and 1989 albums. While few stars can command headlines the way Swift does, other high-profile artists would do well to study her strategy of keeping the Eras Tour in the news cycle. – Chris Eggertsen

Change Up the Setlist to Make Each Show Feel Unique

Swift proved just how much of a “mastermind” she really is while planning her Eras Tour. One of the best examples is the genius inclusion of two surprise songs each and every night — one performed acoustically on guitar and the other on piano. The benefits of this are plentiful. Despite devouring footage on social media, fans can show up at each show with the guarantee that they will see and hear something new, something included  just   for them . Additionally, with each passing night, fans could also update the list of what songs were left, creating a guessing game between each show. And finally, there are the headlines. There’s no better way to guarantee that every show will make news than by doing something new for each one. Considering the endurance needed for her Eras Tour, for which each set typically lasts three hours, the fact that Swift decided to further challenge herself was no easy feat. But hopefully, the deafening screams in support of each surprise song — and the online virality of each clip — was a decent reward.  – Lyndsey Havens

Create Merch That Can Only Be Purchased In-Person at Shows 

There’s nothing better than show-specific merch. Sure, it creates a sense of urgency that results in incredibly long lines at the venue. But, much like the friendship bracelet frenzy that has become a key part of Swift’s shows, owning a piece of merch that could only have been purchased at a specific show helps foster the communal aspect that has made the Eras Tour so much fun to dissect. Plus, at the end of the day, who doesn’t love to say: “I was there.” In this case, the merch does the talking.  – L.H.

Don't Be Afraid to Put On a Long Show 

Most artists still not even old enough to run for president would blanch at the idea of performing (or expecting fans to sit through) a setlist with a runtime nearly as long as Lawrence of Arabia . But Swift correctly gauged that after a near-half-decade absence from touring — and with four entirely new albums and four major re-recordings to draw from since her last global trek — appetite for her live experience was high enough that going the double-VHS duration would not only be tolerated, but celebrated, by her rabid fanbase.

It’s not something that every artist could get away with, of course: Many touring artists, big ones included, don’t even have catalogs that could last three and a half hours if you stacked them front to back. But if you’re already playing stadiums — and particularly if you’re charging the kind of prices that could otherwise be spent on week-long vacations — you may as well make sure fans leave feeling they got their money’s worth. And chances are, you’re not gonna see many folks leaving their Eras Tour date early to try to beat the traffic. – A.U.

Be Generous With the Crew

While they say there’s no such thing as bad press, good press is undeniable — and for Swift, her acts of kindness often result in  great  press. Though she made news for the generous $100,000 bonuses she gave to each one of the 50 Eras Tour truck drivers, in addition to bonuses for her band, dancers, caterers, lighting and sound technicians, and other crew members, it’s been said that the superstar has always looked out for her team. However, the eye-opening $5 million sum for her drivers alone could help set a precedent that caring for your own should always be a priority — within the limits of one’s own budget, of course.  – L.H.

Planning To Release a Concert Film? Consider a Non-Traditional Distribution Model

Probably no other artist alive could pull off the kind of blockbuster opening that Swift managed with her Eras Tour concert film, which debuted to a jaw-dropping $92.8 million on its debut weekend last month and has grossed a total of $166 million in North American theaters to date. And due to a savvy distribution deal Swift’s parents reportedly struck with AMC Theatres — after talks with several Hollywood studios reportedly broke down — Swift will receive an unprecedented cut of the film’s profits. It’s the kind of deal that could well shake up the concert film model, leading other music stars to go around the middle man (a.k.a. traditional studios and distributors) for their own concert films and keep a greater percentage of their earnings as a result. Clearly, Swift isn’t content to blaze new trails in music alone; she’s now shaking up the movie business as well. – C.E.

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Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department is here, but it could be a logistical nightmare for the Eras Tour

Get ready for another Taylor Swift era.

The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD) is the superstar's 11th studio album and is being released around the world today.

It'll be dropping the second the clock hits midnight on the east coast of America, which will be this afternoon in Australia.

• 2pm AEST : ACT, New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria
• 1:30pm ACST : Northern Territory and South Australia
• 12pm AWST : Western Australia

So far, we know the album is a whopping 16 songs (not including bonus vinyl tracks) and features multiple collaborations, including with Florence + The Machine.

We also know the first single will be Fortnight featuring Post Malone, with a music video dropping tomorrow morning as well.

Despite no singles being released in its lead up, clues point to TTPD seemingly being inspired by the five stages of grief : denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

Plus, many fans have speculated that the album title is a reference to the name of a group chat Swift's ex was part of – The Tortured Man Club.

And while The Tortured Poets Department could very well set new streaming records, it also poses a logistical nightmare for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour: how do you include yet another album into a show that is over three hours long?

Below, two ABC reporters and Swifties weigh up the likelihood of how the megastar might adapt her sell-out tour when it recommences in Europe next month.

We could lose some songs from every era to make room

Jessica : This seems like the most likely course of action. To put things into perspective, the Eras Tour includes songs from nine albums, but their airtime varies wildly. Lover, Folklore and Midnights have at least six songs, while Speak Now gets just two. So this might be a chance to balance things out?

Georgie : It would make the most sense to me. I can't imagine a tour that doesn't spend at least some time on the freshest music. But, this is a unique scenario. You have an artist who is essentially doing a greatest hits tour at the age of 34 while she is still churning out new music.

If she does cut music to make room for Tortured Poets, it will be very divisive. Every fan has their favourite era. But, I think if she was to I would hope she cuts songs she has already toured. You have to remember she put out four (now five) albums since her last tour and I imagine it would make the most sense for her to give more air time to Lover, Folklore, Evermore, Midnights and TTPD.

Jessica : If you were in charge of Taylor Swift's setlist, which songs would you cull? I'd ditch The Archer from the Lover era so it ends with, well, Lover. I'd be ruthless and cut most of the songs from the Red era as nothing compares to All Too Well (10 Minute Version). But keep the Reputation portion as is! It's perfect.

What if smaller eras, like Fearless and Speak Now, got cut altogether?

Jessica : I love chaos so I would not bat an eye if Taylor Swift dropped the entire Speak Now era from her tour. (But Enchanted is such a core memory for a lot of fans.) I know this might be a wild concept but there's not one song from her self-titled debut album in the Eras Tour (justice for Our Song!), so make of that what you will.

Georgie : I think this will cause a major generational divide. The beautiful part about the Eras Tour is you have fans new and old coming together. Taylor has been making music since 2009 and the Eras Tour has been a chance for people in their twenties and thirties to dress up in glitter and be teenagers again while sharing the new music with teenagers today. I'm a folklore girl through and through so I am hoping if any eras get sacrificed it's the older ones. But I can't lie, it's pretty special to belt out Love Story with thousands of other people.

Could we lose the two surprise songs for a few Tortured Poets hits?

Georgie : Controversial opinion but I would be ok with this. Although, take this as you want because I have experienced the Eras Tour. But the section is a gamble anyway. You never know what she's going to play and someone is always disappointed or their top pick is played another night. If you cut this section, no-one gets hurt. Maybe she subs it out for three best songs from TTPD?

Jessica : I missed out on tickets for the Eras Tour altogether so I was taken aback seeing fans who did score tickets complaining about which night got "better" surprise songs. You can't please everyone! I agree, this would level the playing field and take the comparison factor out of the tour… but I wonder if that uniqueness is a marketing factor as some super fans attend multiple concerts in the same city.

Imagine if she just… didn't play her new album

Georgie : Don't say it or it might come true!

Jessica : I think this would be the riskiest option. Imagine the disappointment on the first night when the tour recommences in Paris on May 9. But some fans, especially in America, who witnessed the Eras Tour last year before this album was announced feel it's unfair if other countries get a different experience. But that's what happens with the passage of time!

Georgie : I see your point but you have to remember we're in an age where many people have watched the Eras Tour happen through TikTok and the cinema release. So is it really missing out when it's been inescapable for over a year? This could be a chance for the people who have waited so long for the Europe leg – who have basically watched the tour on streaming and all over TikTok – to have something unique and worth the cash.

Or she could just include the new album and make the show nearly *four hours* long?

Jessica : I think this option would please the most fans, but I genuinely don't know how she performs for hours on end each night and then travels through different time zones. Oh,  to be a billionaire with a whole team taking care of everything all the time.

Georgie : I don't see this happening. Costs would skyrocket and many stadiums have a noise curfew. That's new costumes, sets and dance routines.

Jessica : But I would eat up new costumes, sets and dance routines! A four-hour concert is outrageous, which makes me think she might very well pick this option. Time will tell.

Georgie : I'm obviously a Swiftie but when I found out about the new album and what that might mean for the tour I just felt… overwhelmed. I'm still processing the release of four albums and two Taylor's Versions in four years. And now she's putting out new music? It's simply too much! The concert is a marathon but if I did have to go to a four-hour show, I'd do it for Ms Swift.

The worst option: Swapping All Too Well (10 Minute Version) for the radio edit to save time

Jessica : Sacrilegious.

Georgie : The people would riot. Jake Gyllenhaal would be thrilled though.

Final thoughts

Jessica : With everything going on in the world, I think this is a fun problem to ponder, and an interesting one for Taylor to tackle. I wish her well in whatever form the Eras Tour takes, because fans are going to have strong opinions either way.

Georgie: I worry that Taylor needs a holiday but, as you said, she's a billionaire now so I think she'll be fine. I hope she tours future albums but I also support her having a rest. Go chill with the cats and Travis. You've danced in high heeled boots for two years.

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Taylor Swift Displays Friendship Bracelets Received from Fans on Eras Tour at Country Music Hall of Fame

I nstruments and outfits from the "Fortnight" singer's career are also on display at the Nashville museum's Taylor Swift Education Center

Where are all the friendship bracelets Taylor Swift has received from fans throughout the Eras Tour?

In conjunction with the release of Swift's new album, The Tortured Poets Department , on April 19, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville began displaying a new artwork in its Taylor Swift Education Center featuring many of the bracelets fans have given the pop superstar.

The new artwork commemorates the 2023 leg of Eras Tour shows in North America, featuring unique posters labeled with specific dates and cities as well as what appears to be hundreds of friendship bracelets gifted to Swift, 34, by concertgoers, according to a press release.

Related: Taylor Swift Gives Fans a Glimpse Behind the Scenes of Making TTPD with 'Fortnight' Challenge Video

Several other new artifacts have been added to the Taylor Swift Education Center around the release of TTPD , including a custom Taylor PSGA Koa guitar featuring her name engraved into the fingerboard that was played by the "Karma" singer during The Red Tour.

Also on display is the Deering Boston B6 six-string acoustic-electric banjo played by Swift for her performance of "Mean" on the 2012 Grammy Awards — where the song won both best country solo performance and best country song. She even decorated the instrument by hand with "13" on the banjo head as well as lyrics from "Mean" and doodles of clouds and stars.

Swifties will also be able to view the "Fortnight" musician's outfit from both the 2006 ACM Awards and CMA Music Festival: a sequined BCBG Max Azria silk handkerchief dress adorned and BCBGGirls decoratively-stitched metallic bronze boots.

Related: Taylor Swift Explains the Meaning Behind 'Fortnight,' 'Clara Bow' and More The Tortured Poets Department Tracks

The Eras Tour kicked off in March 2023 and marked Swift's first tour since releasing the albums Lover , Folklore , Evermore and Midnights. Many fans took it upon themselves to create beaded bracelets utilizing phrases or titles from her music, inspired by a lyric from "You're On Your Own, Kid," where she sings, "Everything you lose is a step you take / So make the friendship bracelets / Take the moment and taste it / You've got no reason to be afraid."

Friendship bracelets have since become something of a phenomenon at Swift's concerts. Even celebrities have joined in on the fun , with Lupita Nyong'o , Sarah Paulson , Kumail Nanjiani , Mindy Kaling , Simu Liu, Joe Locke, Selena Gomez , Mariska Hargitay ,  Savannah Guthrie , Halsey , Lance Bass , Flavor Flav and more sharing photos from the Eras Tour after receiving bracelets.

Related: See All the Celebrities Who Swapped Friendship Bracelets at Taylor Swift's Eras Tour

Before Swift officially entered a relationship with Travis Kelce, the NFL star was already in the know regarding the friendship bracelet trend — and attempted to use one to make a move on her .

"If you’re up on Taylor Swift concerts, there are friendship bracelets, and I received a bunch of them being there, but I wanted to give Taylor Swift one with my number on it," said Kelce on a July 2023 episode of his New Heights podcast, noting that he wasn't ultimately able to meet her and give the gift. (Luckily for him, they connected through other avenues and have remained together since going public in September 2023 .)

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Donna Kelce Plans to ‘Ask’ Taylor Swift Which Songs on ’TTPD’ Are About Travis Kelce  (Exclusive)

Donna Kelce has listened to all of Taylor Swift’s new album, The Tortured Poets Department — and she plans to find out which songs are inspired by her son, Travis Kelce .

“I  know there’s a  few that some people think are about Travis but we’ll just see,” Donna, 71, exclusively told Us Weekly while attending the QVC Women’s Summit in Las Vegas on Wednesday, April 24. “You know,  I’ll have to ask her when I see her. “

QVC hosted the first-of-its-kind Summit to kick off the brand’s new platform, Age of Possibility. Empowering women over 50 from all walks of life attended in celebration of who they are during this chapter of life. In addition to Mama Kelce, Q50 members in attendance included dozens of high-profile stars like Christina Applegate , Patti LaBelle , Rita Wilson , Naomi Watts , Martha Stewart and Queen Latifah .

While speaking with Us at the event, Donna noted that she wasted no time listening to Swift’s record — which consists of 31 songs total — on the “day it was released.” While she admitted she doesn’t “really” have a favorite track, her review of the album as a whole is clear, telling Us , “It’s her best one!”

Swift, 34, released The Tortured Poets Department on Friday. April 19. While much of the breakup-inspired album seemingly revolves around her splits from exes Joe Alwyn and Matty Healy , many fans were delighted to discover more than one song seemingly touched on her romance with Travis, 34.

Related: All the Famous Names Taylor Swift Drops on ‘The Tortured Poets Department’

The most obvious track dedicated to the NFL star lives on the back half of the record, which dropped two hours after the initial 16 songs. Titled “So High School,” the song compares Swift’s feelings for her boyfriend to being sixteen again.

“Truth, dare, spin bottles / You know how to ball, I know Aristotle / Brand new, full throttle / Touch me when your bros play Grand Theft Auto ,” Swift sings in the second verse, referencing the twosome’s dichotomy of athlete and pop star.

“So High School” is also riddled with Kelce-isms and shoutouts to the pair’s romance, including the use of Travis’ favorite phrase “full throttle” — words he used to describe going “all in” on a relationship during a March episode of Kristin Cavallari’s “Let’s Be Honest” podcast — his “crinkling eyes” and Travis’ first attempt to get her attention.

“You knew what you wanted, and boy, you got her,” she says in the chorus, in reference to Travis attending her Eras Tour with his phone number on a bracelet in hopes of meeting the singer.

“The Albatross,” another bonus track, appears to touch on the warning Travis received when he began dating Swift in summer 2023. “Cautions issued, he stood / Shooting the messengers / They tried to warn him about her,” Swift croons on the track of the early days of showing up to his Kansas City Chiefs games during the 2023-2024 NFL season.

“The Alchemy,” meanwhile, uses sports metaphors like making “touchdowns” and cutting loser exes “from the team” when giving a subtle nod to the football player.

In addition to getting closer with Travis, Swift has also bonded with Donna since attending her first Chiefs game in September 2023. After spending much of the NFL season cheering side by side, they were reunited at the team’s AFC Championship Game against the Baltimore Ravens, where they celebrated — along with Donna’s other son Jason Kelce , his wife Kylie Kelce and Travis’ dad, Ed Kelce — by high-fiving and hugging.

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Related: Taylor Swift's Best Moments With Travis Kelce's Family

After Travis took home his second consecutive Super Bowl win in February, Donna and Swift walked hand in hand to congratulate him. “I”m going to do what Donna does,” Swift could be heard telling her security guard as they walked on the field post-game.

The Tortured Poets Department is out now.

With reporting by Rachel Smith. 

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Taylor Swift’s ‘Poets’ Arrives With a Promotional Blitz (and a Second LP)

The pop superstar’s latest album was preceded by a satellite radio channel, a word game, a return to TikTok and an actual library. For her fans, more is always welcome.

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By Ben Sisario

Taylor Swift was already the most ubiquitous pop star in the galaxy, her presence dominating the music charts, the concert calendar, the Super Bowl, the Grammys.

Then it came time for her to promote a new album.

In the days leading up to the release of “The Tortured Poets Department” on Friday, Swift became all but inescapable, online and seemingly everywhere else. Her lyrics were the basis for an Apple Music word game . A Spotify-sponsored, Swift-branded “ library installation ,” in muted pink and gray, popped up in a shopping complex in Los Angeles. In Chicago, a QR code painted on a brick wall directed fans to another Easter egg on YouTube. Videos on Swift’s social media accounts, showing antique typewriters and globes with pins, were dissected for clues about her music. SiriusXM added a Swift radio station; of course it’s called Channel 13 (Taylor’s Version).

About the only thing Swift didn’t do was an interview with a journalist.

At this stage in Swift’s career, an album release is more than just a moment to sell music; it’s all but a given that “The Tortured Poets Department” will open with gigantic sales numbers, many of them for “ghost white,” “phantom clear” and other collector-ready vinyl variants . More than that, the album’s arrival is a test of the celebrity-industrial complex overall, with tech platforms and media outlets racing to capture whatever piece of the fan frenzy they can get.

Threads, the newish social media platform from Meta, primed Swifties for their idol’s arrival there, and offered fans who shared Swift’s first Threads post a custom badge. Swift stunned the music industry last week by breaking ranks with her record label, Universal, and returning her music to TikTok, which Universal and other industry groups have said pays far too little in royalties. Overnight, TikTok unveiled “The Ultimate Taylor Swift In-App Experience,” offering fans digital goodies like a “Tortured Poets-inspired animation” on their feed.

Before the album’s release on Friday, Swift revealed that a music video — for “Fortnight,” the first single, featuring Post Malone — would arrive on Friday at 8 p.m. Eastern time. At 2 a.m., she had another surprise: 15 more songs. “I’d written so much tortured poetry in the past 2 years and wanted to share it all with you,” she wrote in a social media post , bringing “The Anthology” edition of the album to 31 tracks.

“The Tortured Poets Department,” which Swift, 34, announced in a Grammy acceptance speech in February — she had the Instagram post ready to go — lands as Swift’s profile continues to rise to ever-higher levels of cultural saturation.

Her Eras Tour , begun last year, has been a global phenomenon, crashing Ticketmaster and lifting local economies ; by some estimates, it might bring in as much as $2 billion in ticket sales — by far a new record — before it ends later this year. Swift’s romance with the Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has been breathlessly tracked from its first flirtations last summer to their smooch on the Super Bowl field in February. The mere thought that Swift might endorse a presidential candidate this year sent conspiracy-minded politicos reeling .

“The Tortured Poets Department” — don’t even ask about the missing apostrophe — arrived accompanied by a poem written by Stevie Nicks that begins, “He was in love with her/Or at least she thought so.” That establishes what many fans correctly anticipated as the album’s theme of heartbreak and relationship rot, Swift’s signature topic. “I love you/It’s ruining my life,” she sings on “Fortnight.”

Fans were especially primed for the fifth track, “So Long, London,” given that (1) Swift has said she often sequences her most vulnerable and emotionally intense songs fifth on an LP, and (2) the title suggested it may be about Joe Alwyn, the English actor who was Swift’s boyfriend for about six years, reportedly until early 2023 . Indeed, “So Long” is an epic breakup tune, with lines like “You left me at the house by the heath” and “I’m pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free.” Tracks from the album leaked on Wednesday, and fans have also interpreted some songs as being about Matty Healy , the frontman of the band the 1975, whom Swift was briefly linked to last year.

The album’s title song starts with a classic Swift detail of a memento from a lost love: “You left your typewriter at my apartment/Straight from the tortured poets department.” It also name-drops Dylan Thomas, Patti Smith and, somewhat surprisingly given that company, Charlie Puth, the singer-songwriter who crooned the hook on Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again,” a No. 1 hit in 2015. (Swift has praised Wiz Khalifa and that song in the past.)

Other big moments include “Florida!!!,” featuring Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine, in which Swift declares — after seven big percussive bangs — that the state “is one hell of a drug.” Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, the producers and songwriters who have been Swift’s primary collaborators in recent years, both worked on “Tortured Poets,” bringing their signature mix of moody, pulsating electronic tracks and delicate acoustic moments, like a bare piano on “Loml” (as in “love of my life”).

As the ninth LP Swift has released in five years, “Tortured Poets” is the latest entry in a remarkable creative streak. That includes five new studio albums and four rerecordings of her old music — each of which sailed to No. 1. When Swift played SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles in August, she spoke from the stage about her recording spurt, saying that the forced break from touring during the Covid-19 pandemic had spurred her to connect with fans by releasing more music.

“And so I decided, in order to keep that connection going,” she said , “if I couldn’t play live shows with you, I was going to make and release as many albums as humanly possible.”

That was two albums ago.

Ben Sisario covers the music industry. He has been writing for The Times since 1998. More about Ben Sisario

Inside the World of Taylor Swift

A Triumph at the Grammys: Taylor Swift made history  by winning her fourth album of the year at the 2024 edition of the awards, an event that saw women take many of the top awards .

‘The T ortured Poets Department’: Poets reacted to Swift’s new album name , weighing in on the pertinent question: What do the tortured poets think ?  

In the Public Eye: The budding romance between Swift and the football player Travis Kelce created a monocultural vortex that reached its apex  at the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. Ahead of kickoff, we revisited some key moments in their relationship .

Politics (Taylor’s Version): After months of anticipation, Swift made her first foray into the 2024 election for Super Tuesday with a bipartisan message on Instagram . The singer, who some believe has enough influence  to affect the result of the election , has yet to endorse a presidential candidate.

Conspiracy Theories: In recent months, conspiracy theories about Swift and her relationship with Kelce have proliferated , largely driven by supporters of former President Donald Trump . The pop star's fans are shaking them off .