🪩 An Eras Tour Preview: Miss Americana in Madrid
It's been a long time coming
Before I lived in Madrid, I spent three years in Memphis, Tennessee, during the pandemic, just hours away from Taylor Swift's old stomping grounds in Nashville. Sometime before folklore dropped on us without fanfare in 2020, I overheard two yoga teacher acquaintances discussing Taylor Swift after class. I was still new to town, so I subtly mentioned I was also a fan, hoping we three could become friends. It worked! Our pandemic-era friendship flourished over text messages and in-person through Athleta cotton masks (back when prevailing wisdom said those were safe enough). Our group text topics oscillated between asana and “All Too Well.” With nothing else to do but work from home, run, and teach or take yoga classes, I had plenty of time to dive deep into the Swifty universe.
What started in car rides to the Cascades with my trail-running friend in Oregon blossomed into a deeper awareness of who Taylor Swift is as an artist and how her experiences shape her music. With my Taylor trio and podcasts, my fandom took a turn down the rabbit hole, learning the Easter eggs she plants in her album notes, in-person appearances, and social media to drive her fans crazy with conspiracies enhance her fans’ listening experience. I discovered that track five on every album is tragic and emblematic. Living in Tennessee felt like a fitting place to get to know her better as an artist.
Like many, I first connected with her music in 2012 when Red, her crossover from country to pop album, was exploding off the charts and went on to be a global best-seller. How she spoke about matters of the heart in a funny and digestible manner resonated with me in ways that I couldn't articulate, but definitely felt. Hearing "22" for the first time, even though I was a decade past that age, still hooked me, and "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" quickly joined the canon of my favorite sing-along breakup songs.
The love affair grew deeper when 1989 came out during a tough relationship period for me. Every song felt medicinal, like Taylor somehow understood my confused and aching heart, and made an album just for me. Songs like "Stay" and "Clean" made me feel anchored and comforted during this tumultuous time. Later, I learned she, too, was experiencing social exile and romantic rupture, which inspired her to create reputation, another best-selling album.
Given her global popularity, it's striking how some people love to hate Taylor Swift. As a society, we’ll tolerate and maybe celebrate an artist until they make money; then, they're seen as salacious and subsidiary sellouts—doubling down on the hatred if the artist is a woman and tripling down if she’s a pop artist. Boy bands and male artists sell out shows on reunion tours and take up more than their fair share of space in art museums, yet society says nothing of their successes and chides young women for topping the charts despite shady back-door sales and sexual harassment, both of which Taylor has experienced and fought back against in her rise to superstardom.
Similarly, pop music haters dismiss the genre as artificial and commercialized, and I get that. But as Beyoncé reminds us with her latest album, Cowboy Carter, genre is at best a pigeonhole and at worst a limiting way to experience music and life. Villifying pop music places blame where it doesn’t belong: on artists who succeed due to a combination of talent, luck, and strategy rather than the cutthroat and separatist nature of the entertainment industry. Pop music is like dark chocolate; flavorful and full of health benefits.
I'm not here to defend Taylor Swift—her singing and songwriting, stage presence, loyal fan base, and business metrics speak for themselves. The Eras Tour has boosted our battered and bruised post-pandemic global economy. The athlete in me admires the incomprehensible physical and mental stamina needed to rehearse and perform two years’ worth of 152 sold-out shows that span an 11-album discography, performing choreographed routines while singing 46 songs over three and a half hours. Not to mention she wrote, recorded, and released the 31-song double album The Tourtured Poets Department (TTPD), added new TTPD songs and choreo to the European leg of the Eras Tour, and re-recorded and released 1989 (Taylor’s Version). Oh and the Eras Tour Movie. I don’t know what fuels this woman, but I’ll have what she’s having!
I admire Taylor as much as anyone can admire an untouchable celebrity of her magnitude. She is as talented as she is full of integrity and makes me proud to be an American. Unlike men, successful women are rarely allowed to be likable unless they also do good in the world. In spite of this double standard, she uses her influence to advocate for music ownership rights, is a feminist, and supports historically marginalized groups. In 2023, she posted on Instagram: “Go register to vote!” and 35,000 Americans did. The United States of America needs more role models like her.
Taylor, if you’re reading this, thank you for being you and for bringing the Eras Tour to Spain. If you want to hang out and have Spanish food after the Madrid show, I know places!
I'm eager to witness how Taylor Swift, as an iconic American powerhouse, is received in Spain. Which songs will fans sing along to? What Eras Tour looks will fashion-forward Spaniards show up in? Will I be the only one with 30-plus friendship bracelets? Back in 2021, my Taylor friendship trio surmised: since she had to cancel her Lover tour in the summer of 2020, then released acoustic-based folklore and evermore during the pandemic, what on Earth could we expect from her on tour, post-pandemic? It's been a long time coming, but I can't wait to trade my solo listening experience with AirPods for the company of 81,900 other Swifties at the Eras Tour in Madrid at Estadio Santiago Bernabéu. Stay tuned for the review!
P.S. Swifties: if you can find all six seven of the lyrical Easter eggs above (hints: the photo caption doesn’t count, and one lyric is repeated and counts as two!) you get bragging rights and the chance to choose a topic for me to write about in this newsletter! Leave a comment with your answers!
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