The Eras Tour: Another chapter in the epic Taylor Swift saga

A measure of Taylor Swift’s unparalleled standing in global culture can be gleaned from a simple Google search of recent news headlines. In The Guardian, in a piece headlined “Taylor Swift can teach us all a lesson in how democracy works”, columnist Margaret Sullivan saluted the 34-year-old pop superstar for a recent social media post, in which she encouraged US fans to vote on Super Tuesday.

Meanwhile, as reported in The New York Times, Swift’s recent stop-off in Singapore on the record-breaking Eras tour led to an actual diplomatic incident. Ahead of the concerts, Thailand’s Prime Minister, Sretta Thavisin, expressed unhappiness about the exclusivity around the Singapore shows – the only Southeast Asia tours on the Eras excursion – and suggested Singapore had shelled out up to $3 million per show for each of the six days.

Subsequently, a lawmaker in the Philippines also argued that it was “not what good neighbours do”. In response, Singapore said the figure was “nowhere near” $3 million, with one ex-official describing complaints about the deal as “sour grapes”. For his part, Singapore’s Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, insisted the arrangement was not diplomatically “unfriendly”.

Remarkably, political commentators were calling Swift’s Singapore gigs a soft power coup and vital to reinvigorating the country’s post-Covid economy. With tensions high in the region over the South China Sea and the war in Myanmar, some were even citing the exchanges over the Eras tour as a welcome change of pace.

Credit: Paolo Villanueva

“It’s refreshing to see them arguing over something this fun, I guess, instead of deeply difficult things,” The New York Times was told by Susan Harris Rimmer, an Australian law professor who has studied soft power in Southeast Asia. “But it does show there is tension and jealousy and rivalry”. Simultaneously, there was growing speculation amongst the Washington commentariat that a Taylor Swift endorsement could be enough to swing to the 2024 US Presidential election, thanks to her influence on the youth vote.

These days, it’s just one more chapter in the epic Swift saga. But how the hell did we end up here?

TICKETING CONTROVERSY & SENATE HEARING

Since the Eras extravaganza commenced on St. Patrick’s Day last year at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona – amidst the sort of hype that might make even the Stones blush – there has been endless analysis endless devoted to Swift as a cultural figure, songwriter and businesswoman. With the tour now officially the biggest of all time and the first ever to gross a billion dollars, there has certainly been plenty to discuss.

But it’s interesting that even with a phenomenon as quintessentially 21st century and post-modern as Taylor Swift, the moment she attained her current status – and probably eclipsed Michael Jackson to become the biggest pop star of all time – came via a time-honoured music industry approach: slightly underselling your appeal. Few things generate quite such a buzz as sold-out shows and an air of exclusivity, and given Swift’s widely acknowledged commercial savvy, it was undoubtedly high in her thinking as she plotted the Eras tour.

In October 2022, Swift first began dropping hints about her live plans whilst appearing on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon and The Graham Norton Show. She was making the publicity rounds to promote Midnights, a gloomy meditation on failed relationships and self-doubt, which – thanks to its inspired incorporation of ambient electronica – is probably her greatest artistic achievement to date. It was also her ninth consecutive US number one, meaning Swift entered a commercial realm occupied by precious few artists in music history.

On November 1, the singer announced on Good Morning America and via social media that 2023 would see her embark on her sixth concert tour, titled Eras, which would be a “journey through the musical eras of her career”. The initial block of dates would be confined entirely to the US, with only 27 shows announced. Even with her famous grasp of supply and demand economics, Swift herself can surely only be taken aback by the scale of what followed.

With the star at the peak of her career and a backlog of demand post-Covid – the pandemic caused her to cancel touring for 2019’s Lover – Swift was soon forced to add 25 additional dates to the tour, which was being promoted by Messina Touring Group, a partner of Anschulz Entertainment Group (AEG). In a further indication of Swift’s unrivalled commercial standing, there was also talk of a potential $100 million sponsorship deal with a now bankrupt cryptocurrency company, FTX, which ultimately came to nought.

With media outlets describing demand for the Eras tour as “astronomical”, 3.5 million people registered for Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan Pre-Sale programme. When tickets went on-sale on November 15, the website crashed within an hour, with many fans logged out or stuck in a frozen queue. Nonetheless, there were still 2.4 million tickets sold, breaking the all-time record for single day sales by an artist.

Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation, blamed the “staggering” demand for “overwhelming” them beyond capacity, and cancelled the general sale due to “insufficient” inventory along with an apology. However, it soon emerge that scalpers had purchased large volumes of tickets and put them up for resale at exorbitant prices, leading to widespread fan outrage.

The upshot: international controversy, political bust-ups, Senate committee hearings. First, spotting a political open goal and the opportunity for some free publicity, grateful US Congress members hopped on the bandwagon and began bemoaning the 2010 merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation. The US Department of Justice then initiated a federal probe.

The saga culminated in a 2023 hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, with Ticketmaster taking heat from sundry bipartisan senators. Following pressure from US President Joe Biden, Ticketmaster and other platforms abolished junk fees, while the Federal Trade Commission imposed a ban on all surprise fees.

Swift herself, meanwhile, got on with the business of performing a tour that was rapidly taking on unprecedented dimensions.

MEDIA FRENZY & THE TAYLOR SWIFT BOWL

As the tour progressed, many noted the extent to which – like The Beatles – Swift’s appeal was now universal. From seventy-somethings right down to their grandchildren, they all found something to love in Taylor. In a recent conversation with the podcaster Bill Simmons, the pop culture commentator, Chuck Klosterman, suggested the second half of the 20th century was the one point in history when youngsters put a premium on sticking it to their parents.

In these kinder and more generationally harmonious times, he mused, Swift acted as a welcome unifier. Whatever the reason, Taylor’s reach cannot be denied. The daughter of two financial industry professionals from Pennsylvania, it undoubtedly helps that she leans heavily into an all American, girl-next-door persona, even titling her compelling 2020 documentary Miss Americana. It is hard to imagine her trafficking, for example, in the kind of wild, sexually transgressive imagery Madonna embraced in the ’90s.

Even her reinvention with a stripped back brace of pandemic albums, Folklore and Evermore (the co-producers of which included The National pair Bryce and Aaron Dessner), emphasised an earthy, down-home vibe. In aesthetic contrast to generational rivals like Billie Eilish and Lorde (quirky outsiders), or Swift’s good friend Lana Del Rey (disenchanted party girl), Taylor’s mega-watt charisma stems from a straightforward sense of affability.

Amongst the older guard, Madonna may have inadvertently provided a welcome contrast, with Madge taking critical flak for reworked and shortened versions of her greatest hits on recent tours, as well as a series of underwhelming TV appearances. Swift, on the other hand, remains in the epicentre of her imperial phase.

A subplot of the Swift saga – which will no doubt receive the authorised biopic  treatment circa 2050 – has been the inevitable speculation about her relationship status. Both the media and the singer’s enormous fanbase of ‘Swifties’ have enjoyed participating in the parlour game of scrutinising certain songs, and speculating which ex they may concern. Was such-and-such a track about Jake Gyllenhaal? Harry Styles? Calvin Harris?

Like many great artists, Swift has at times brilliantly subverted the media’s fascination with her, no more so than on 2017’s classic Reputation, the arch cover – another classic – featuring her peering out from a background of scandalised headlines. Nor has she been averse to dropping the occasional breadcrumb on her albums, with ‘Sweet Nothing’ from Midnights even referencing a romantic getaway to Wicklow with another ex, actor Joe Alwyn.

With the Alwyn relationship having ended 12 months ago, there was more frenzied speculation later in 2023 when Swift was pictured out on the town with 1975 frontman Matty Healy, another pop-star who enjoys playing with his media image. However, it wasn’t until the autumn that it was officially confirmed Swift was seeing someone new, this time an American football star, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.

Swift was caught on camera at a series of Chiefs games, with NFL officials crediting her with bringing an entirely new audience to the sport. Even with a woman who can currently do no wrong, and the Chiefs established as one of the top teams in the game, it’s hard to credit how dramatic – melodramatic even – the ensuing high five months proved to be.

Led by star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, in February of this year, the Chiefs were looking to retain the Super Bowl when they faced off against the San Francisco 49ers at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium. With Swift having flown in specially from the Tokyo dates on the Eras tour, she watched on from the VIP boxes as part of a group that also included Lana Del Rey and New York rapper Ice Spice.

The Chiefs were under the kosh for a good portion of the game, with Kelce even screaming in the face of Chiefs coach Andy Reid, after being removed from the action early before returning to the field. A second half Chiefs rally bought the game level, before Mahomes set up the game-winning touchdown in overtime. As had happened throughout the game, the cameras cut to Swift’s box, where the singer – Del Rey having been knocked over in the pandemonium – was mobbed by her friends.

Subsequently, during the trophy presentation, an ecstatic Kelce howled an off- key version of ‘Viva Las Vegas’, before embracing and kissing Swift in the middle of the field. As with several other Taylor moments from through the game, it quickly burned the internet to the ground, yielding the predictable mountain of memes and re-edits.

The Swift phenomenon was once more in full effect. Many dubbed the occasion the Taylor Swift Bowl, and according to one widely cited estimate by a sports marketing company, her association with the Chiefs – between ticket sales, viewership and merchandise – had increased the value of the franchise by well in excess of quarter-of-a-billion dollars in six months.

Taylor’s reactions throughout the game again revealed the contradictory aspects of her character, which remain key to her wide appeal: here was the fabulously wealthy pop star, and politically influential businesswoman, behaving like a lovestruck teenager and having the time of her life. The Swift-Kelce relationship also played into that most all-American of archetypes: the high school football star dating the prom queen.

Credit: Paolo Villanueva

Was it also the moment when Swift’s cultural imprint hit overkill? Undoubtedly, in an earlier, more cynical era like the ’90s, the Taylor and Travis power-couple would have been ripe for a backlash, and it’s easy to imagine satirists and even other artists having a field day.

But as Bill Simmons noted in the aforementioned chat with Chuck Klosterman, Saturday Night Live is but the most high profile programme to avoid parodying her, and you risk the wrath of the Swifties at your peril (as Damon Albarn among others found out a couple of years back, with the Blur frontman having been forced into an apology after suggesting in passing Swift didn’t write her own songs).

Earlier in February, there was perhaps the merest hint of a possible backlash, when a few hacks grumbled about Swift taking over the Grammys to announce the release of her new album, The Tortured Poets Department. American satirist Bill Maher, meanwhile, was among those to roll his eyes at the ongoing hype over the Swift-Kelce power axis.

But with the Eras tour set to roll on until the end of this year – including a trio of hotly anticipated Dublin dates – Taylor’s star will remain in the ascendant for some time yet. After that, what does the future hold? What is certain is that the singer has a ferocious work ethic, having completed her latest album while playing a record-breaking tour. Then there’s her ongoing project to re-record her early albums, due a dispute over the masters of her back catalogue.

The most recent record to emerge as part of this process was last October’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version), which unsurprisingly topped the charts internationally, including in Ireland. Elsewhere, in discussion with one of the filmmakers she most admirers, Martin McDonagh, the singer has talked of her increased interest in directing, having helmed several short films and many of her own videos.

Whatever direction she takes next, it’s bound to be exciting – just as we’ve come to expect from the biggest pop star of them all.

• Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour is available to stream now on Disney+, with The Tortured Poets Department released on April 19. Taylor Swift plays the Aviva Stadium, Dublin on June 28-30.