‘Her fans are on a pilgrimage’: How Taylor Swift’s Elas tour became a near-religious experience

Being relatable has long been Swift’s calling card. Even though her fame and fortune skyrocketed (she Joined Forbes Magazine’s list of the world’s richest people (earlier this year), she has kept her fans believing that she is actually not that different from them. This starts with her song. Universal experiences such as heartache, betrayal, loss, revenge, and regret are described in surprising detail. But she’s also carefully cultivated that sense of inclusivity in her live shows.

From a stage that stretches two-thirds of the way into the stadium, Swift will spend most of the show in the middle of the crowd, but her use of “we” and “we” (“We’re about to The whole thing feels like a collective experience, right down to the LED wristbands that make the audience part of the show (we pioneered this at Coldplay’s live shows), to the little adventures we go on together…” It’s designed to make you feel. Swift first ejects from a pastel-colored parachute with an ecstatic, ear-piercing scream. For a few minutes, she stood on the raised platform and looked divine. Then she smiled and said, “Oh, hello!” Untouchables suddenly become available, as if greeting an old friend.

Although the show progresses like clockwork, Swift brings enough variety to give the audience a unique impression each night. She never repeated the same combination of surprise songs and deep-cut mashups during her short acoustic set. She greeted the crowd in languages ​​including Welsh, Portuguese, Spanish and French. In each city, one of her backup dancers, Kameron Saunders, utters a vernacular phrase during “We Are Never Getting Back Together” (in Ireland it’s “your necks”). In London it was “Up Your Own…” and in Edinburgh it was “Bolt”) (Hi Rocket”). In May, Swift added a new segment to her setlist, featuring songs from this year’s Tortured Poets Department, including the single “I Can Do It with a Broken Heart.” songs written about doing things).

“community”

This tour was like a rolling stone, collecting new traditions and meanings, not moss, along the way. Fans created their own rituals that were incorporated into the show. A long, jubilant round of applause after the song “Champagne Problems” (Swift politely feigns surprise every time), chanting the “Bad Blood” line from Kendrick Lamar’s remix, and… Of course, friendship bracelets are a tradition that originated with the lyrics of her song “You’re On Your Own Kid.” At every stadium, thousands of forearms carry the weight of handmade bracelets, exchanged by strangers, security guards, and even at the London show. sir paul mccartney. For fans, participating in these moments is as much a part of the experience as the music.

It’s also customary for fans to yell, “Take me to church” when Swift belts out the high notes of her Reputation-era song “Don’t Blame Me.” philosopher Simon CritchleyHis recent book, On Mysticism, explores the transcendent powers of music and art, arguing that they may already exist. “I think her fans go to church, or the closest thing to church,” he told the BBC. Critchley, who sees music as “perhaps the last bastion of something like religious transcendence,” thinks Swift is scratching a metaphysical itch in her fans. “They don’t think she’s a god, but to them she’s a very special person, and she mediates a kind of community belonging that they lack in other areas of their lives. I’ll give it to you.”