“Only a few more minutes left now, she’s already singing ‘Bad Blood,’ ” I say. I sit huddled around a phone with two of my close friends. The night is warm, but I’m sweating from the anticipation of Taylor Swift’s performance, not the night’s heat. Suddenly the TikTok livestream glitches, and we let out a collective gasp. An additional 10,000 people have just joined in order to see her surprise songs at her concert in Chicago. The screen finally unfreezes, and we hear the opening notes of the first song. We all lean closer, our ears practically touching the screen of the phone straining to hear which song she is singing. I realize that I am holding my breath. “It’s definitely ‘I Wish You Would,’ ” my friend says. We all nod in agreement and immediately launch into discussing if (had we been at this particular concert in person) we would have been happy with this surprise song. As usual, there is some disagreement, and the conversation turns to discussing the pros and cons of her different songs and which albums have better concert vibes.
Since the beginning of May, it has become a weekly routine for me and my friends to livestream Taylor Swift’s concerts as she makes her way around the country for the Eras Tour. We will pull up one of the numerous TikTok livestreams that broadcast the concert for thousands of eager fans holed up at home. Most people begin to tune in about two and a half hours into the concert when she starts to transition to singing her surprise songs.
In addition to her predetermined setlist, at every performance, Taylor Swift sings two additional songs, which concertgoers do not know beforehand. These songs are labeled “surprise songs,” and in the days leading up to her performances, theories begin to accumulate on social media predicting what the surprise songs might be that weekend. When she was set to perform in Minneapolis, there was broad speculation that she would sing “Exile” as one of her surprise songs. The song features artist Bon Iver and, after discovering that he is based an hour and a half from Minneapolis, people became convinced that his close proximity meant he was likely to be a special guest during the concert.
Theories such as this are shared, liked and circulated broadly on social media. By the night of a concert, people are often confident that they have accurately predicted the songs Taylor Swift will sing that evening. My friends and I quickly became immersed in this guessing game, and on the night of every performance, we make our own guesses. Sitting on the couch with my friends and watching the reveal of the surprise songs at each concert has become a special part of my summer. It is a moment that I look forward to each week as I watch too many Instagram Reels and TikToks tracking the Eras Tour fashion trends and cultural impact. I do not have tickets to attend a concert, but watching these livestreams has made me feel like I’m part of something. I feel connected to the “Swiftie” fanbase and am reminded of how grateful I am for my own friendships as we sit on the couch together watching Taylor Swift perform in a city hundreds of miles away. Although I have long been a Taylor Swift fan, I have not always felt part of such a strong community — oftentimes because I did not have others to connect with about her music.
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During my freshman year of college, Taylor Swift released the re-recording of her album Red. Re-recording her albums was a project that she started in 2021 with the goal of owning her songs’ original recordings. I eagerly awaited the release of Red (Taylor’s Version) that fall. On the night it was released, I stayed up until midnight. As soon as it dropped on Spotify, I listened to the album all the way through.
Although I loved the record, I listened to it alone in my dorm room. And even though I was huddled under my blanket, I could still hear the sounds of people listening to the album together in the floor common room. They were loudly singing the words to the songs that they knew and, when a “From The Vault” song came on, they shrieked at certain lyrics. I had gotten used to being lonely at college. It was months into my first semester and I had not found a group of friends that I ate with regularly in the dining hall and hung out with on the weekends. However, in this moment, the loneliness felt unbearable. I could hear others enjoying something that I also loved, yet I was so far from being part of this shared joy. My love of Taylor Swift suddenly felt like something that only served to perpetuate my loneliness because, despite there being dozens of other Swifties in South Quad Residence Hall, I was not able to connect with them. Throughout freshman year, finding a group of friends that I could belt “Love Story” with remained one of my primary goals.
By the beginning of sophomore year, I had finally found that group. We had bonded over plans to attend a Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo night at Live in Ann Arbor, and after a night of screaming lyrics together, it felt like we were deeply connected. When Taylor Swift announced the upcoming release of her 10th studio album, Midnights, we made plans to host a listening party. On the night of the release, we bought an obscene amount of snacks and tensely awaited the moment the album dropped. We were within the first 0.1% of streams of Midnights, a fact which I share whenever the chance arises, and listened to the whole album twice. We picked apart the songs and discussed which might become potential new favorites. I was now partaking in the exact scene that I had only been able to observe a year before when Red (Taylor’s Version) was released.
Yet, the release of Midnights felt like a unique moment. While I had undeniably felt connected to my friends on the night it was released, this moment of intense shared joy and bonding was not something that I felt like happened regularly within my friend group. I sometimes still felt hesitant to state my true feelings and would agree to go along with things that I didn’t really want to do. The night of the Midnights release had shown me the ultimate form of connection I could feel within my group of friends — but I still had to work on vulnerability to feel this connection on an everyday basis.
However, while following the Eras Tour with my friends this summer, the depth of connection that I first had a glimpse of when Midnights was released has seeped into other facets of my friendships. Discussing different Taylor Swift songs has turned into deeper conversations about our own lives. I continually feel a growing closeness to my friends, and a large part of this started with following Taylor Swift and connecting about the joy that we feel while listening to her songs and watching her performances.
The Eras Tour has influenced my life this summer, and just by doing a quick Google search or spending an hour on social media, it is clear that the Eras Tour has also had a broad impact on the current cultural moment.
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Social media is swamped with videos of people getting ready to attend Taylor Swift concerts. These videos often amass hundreds of thousands of views, and they contribute to the idea that dressing in a carefully curated outfit (often with lots of glitter) is the best way to attend a Taylor Swift performance. Watching dozens of these getting-ready videos has set me up to receive dozens of advertisements for glittery cowboy boots, frilly dresses and accessories that would only be suitable for a Taylor Swift concert. This advertising is indicative of the broader impact on consumerism trends that the Eras Tour has had. Sites like Amazon and Poshmark have created pages that are curated to specifically advertise potential outfits and accessories one might wear to to an Eras Tour show. Beyond the economic impact for retailers, Forbes has estimated that the Eras Tour could generate as much as $4.6 billion for local economies.
Social media is not the only platform where Taylor Swift has taken over. Prominent news outlets have featured her as well. Both The New Yorker and The New York Times have published pieces about the impact of her music and stardom. Beyond written pieces and social media posts, the Eras Tour has also influenced the cities where Taylor Swift performs. When she appeared in Glendale, Ariz., the city temporarily renamed itself “Swift City” and in Nashville, Tenn., local bars and restaurants hosted special Taylor Swift-themed events.
The Eras Tour has undeniably become a prominent influencer of this summer’s trends. Almost every time I open social media, I am greeted with new video clips from a performance or people analyzing a certain Taylor Swift outfit to uncover a hidden meaning.
While I love watching getting-ready videos and imagining what I might wear to a concert, my favorite part of the Eras Tour remains sitting curled up on a couch with my best friends watching a glitchy livestream. Every time I sit on that couch, I am reminded of how far I have come with overcoming the loneliness of my freshman year. No longer do I have to listen to a Taylor Swift album alone under my blankets. Anytime I want, I can send a TikTok of Taylor Swift performing at a concert to my friends. Immediately, responses of “omg she is so gorgeous” or “LOVE HER” will flood my phone.
Even though Taylor Swift sings about loneliness, it is because of her music and the connections that I have made that I do not feel like I am on my own.
Statement Columnist Olivia Kane can be reached at ohkane@umich.edu