It’s unlikely that the subject of this article needs an introduction, after the year Taylor Swift has had. Not only did her first official pop album become the biggest selling album of 2014, despite only being released in October, but for Taylor Swift, it has also been a year of sharp business nouse and personal development. Beginning by refusing the powers of Spotify and revealing an earnest focus on feminism; Swift’s intentions are as clear as her influences, as she convinced technology giant Apple to revoke their three months trial-without-pay policy in defense of smaller artists with a simple blog post.
However, it is when turning attention to Swift’s treatment of her fans that it becomes crystal clear just how much she has grown from small town Nashville songwriter to one of the biggest artists in the business, in just nine years. As a fan since her country days, no one knows more than I that Swift is famous for her treatment of her fans – even leaving an online response in my defense when I was left an unkind Anonymous message.
To those who follow her music, Swift is not a superstar, but a companion, an agony aunt, a friend (her words, not mine.) To many, Taylor Swift is a confidant first, and a world-famous Grammy winning singer/songwriter second. Consequently her live concerts are designed to reflect this, and always have been: filled with candid, chatty monologues stocked with advice and insights into her life, receiving enthusiastic responses from kids, teenagers and adults alike. A few songs in, one is honestly left wondering, “No, really – is there anything she can’t do?”
The answer is – not really.
The acoustic charms of Vance Joy opened all Swift’s UK tour dates, setting a delightfully serene, friendly pub vibe – a considerable achievement considering large echoing arenas like the SSE Hydro are built for thumping bass and full band sounds.
At 8:30pm promptly, the lights cut out, and little imagination is needed to picture the screams that followed from 12,000 people, as the woman of the hour- well, year – rose up through the stage to the sizzling sound of her 80’s synth pop anthem ‘Welcome to New York’, clad in almost as much shine and sparkle as her fans.
It is at this point that the absolutely unexpected occurred. A hand grabbed my arm and I was shocked to find the face of Taylor Swift’s mother, affectionately known as ‘Mama Swift’, as she hauled me from my seat – “Get your stuff – come with me!” – leading us into the bouncer-guarded soundstage area, directly in front of the end of Swift’s arena-length catwalk. It seems likely we had been spotted by the star herself via social media and allowed such a privilege; which demonstrates just what Swift attempts to achieve: intimacy and connection, even when amongst 12,000 people. Two hugs and a little warm conversation didn’t seem enough of a thank you for the view we were granted for the rest of the show – Swift’s passionate, strong delivery of an almost unrecognizably sultry remix of ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’ seen by me, from all but two meters away.
Most notable of all performances was most definitely an expressive, rock re-envisioning of everyone’s guilty pleasure of 2013, ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’; brought to a brand new level of irresistible with its inclusion of Swift’s angry electric guitar in replacement of its original pop sound. Also in the spirit of Swift’s self-reinvention was the 80’s synth, almost haunting keyboard remix, of Swift’s first UK number one, ‘Love Story’, as Swift panned the width of the arena on a giant check-picker crane, allowing fans on upper levels eye-to-eye contact too
Swift performed the entirety of her album 1989, bonus tracks and all – yet another decision taken from fan requests online. This did mean practically no older tracks, and not a country twang to he heard..
Notably on the album was a song Swift wrote called ‘Clean’ with Imogen Heap, which collates a heady mix of droning 80’s synth with calming xylophone and, perhaps unintentionally, it has become an anthem among fans for ‘finding yourself’ after a dark period of sadness and depression – symbolic of Swift’s own emergence from her heartbroken, more somber days which informed almost the entirety of Red, which she referred to ‘a devastating heartbreak record.’
She then carried on into the song of the year you either love, or love to hate; ‘Shake it Off.’ Clad in yet more sparkles, she danced unashamedly – her new metaphor for living – “dance like no one can see you”– and mouthed “I love you” repeatedly as made her way past the crowds for her final bow. All in all the experience was a solid two hour set filled with colour, copious hair flips, remixes, impressively ‘Swiftie’-esque costumes and bucketfuls of admiration, from both performer and audience.
The one thing that will remain with me, however, are these words from Swift’s final monologue. “It occurs to me how difficult it is to be happy in 2015… You see the highlight reel of someone else’s life, but only the behind the scenes of your own…but I want you to remember something, next time you don’t feel good enough, okay? You are not going nowhere just because you haven’t gotten where you want to go yet. I want you to know that you are not someone else’s opinion of you.” She may have been speaking to an arena of twelve thousand, but it really did feel as though she were speaking to each of us individually; sat on her sofa with a glass of wine.
That though, I have learned, is the way with Swift. Once you let her in, you wonder why you ever resisted.
India Meade
India is Social Media Manager from IMPACT Magazine and her blog, as followed by Taylor herself, is here at www.goodgirlwhoshopeful.tumblr.com
India is currently listening to ‘Fight Song’ by Rachel Platten.
