By: Kiersten Sipe

While many of us Swifties have seen her on stage, Taylor takes her talents to the movie theater. On August 31st, Swift announced that her phenomenon of a tour, the Eras Tour, was coming to the big screen. In its first 24 hours, the Eras Movie made $25 million and has recently surpassed $100 million. The recording of Swift’s tour took its place among the top 10 best first-day sellers at Fandango, joining the ranks of “Avengers: Endgame”, “Spider-Man: No Way Home”, and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”. 

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Poster for The Eras Movie

So why did Swift release a film version of her billion-dollar tour? The answer lies in her unwavering devotion to her fans. Since the very beginning, Swift has gone above and beyond to give her fans, whom she coined “Swifties”, more than they could ever ask for. In the past, Swift has invited her fans to “secret sessions'', meet and greets at her house where she played her newest album before it came out and discussed track meanings, and famously declared at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards that “[her fans] are the longest and best relationship [she] has ever had”. Just recently, during the Eras Tour, she told Swifties, "I've just never been this happy in my life in any aspect of my life ever. And I just want to thank you for being a part of that”. So it’s no surprise that Swift was devastated when Ticketmaster crashed and failed at letting millions of fans purchase tickets to see her first show in five years, leading to a lawsuit filed against Ticketmaster due to their ticket sale monopoly. Swift does not view concerts as a means to make money or just something that she alone enjoys. She has worked to form extremely personal connections with each and every one of her fans through live performances to better relate to and form bonds with the people who have loved her and been loved in return since 2006. So in an attempt to make up for the lost experience, Swift released a nearly full-length recording of her three and a half-hour show.

In order to do this, Swift took a rather unconventional approach. While most films of this sort go through studios, which then make deals with theaters, Swift cut out the middleman and went straight to AMC with her deal. Another major influential female artist, and one of Swift’s friends, Beyoncé, also used a similar tactic with her upcoming film, “Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé”. Beyoncé also just attended Swift’s LA Premier for the Eras Movie.

                           

 

 

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Taylor Swift and Beyoncé at Swift’s LA Premier

As a die-hard Swiftie, born and raised, a fan since I was three months old and would cry if Love Story wasn’t playing in the car, I made sure I got tickets to opening night. AMC theaters did not take the superstar’s movie lightly, decking itself out with posters, displays, a separate stand to buy exclusive Eras Tour popcorn buckets, cups, and light-up wands, and even an employee handing out handmade AMC friendship bracelets. The culture Swift has cultivated amongst her fans is something the likes of which have never been seen before. Walking into that theater is like stepping into another world—one where children, teens, and adults alike gather to laugh, mingle, trade homemade friendship bracelets, and exchange inside fandom jokes. The bonds made with other Swifties, strangers who you've met only moments before, cannot be broken, as we scream fan-made chants and connect through the woman we lve. 

As for the film itself, Swift blew me and other critics away with her performance. She performed for three hours straight, singing, dancing, and giving speeches. Complete with a rising stage, backup dancers dressed in ball gowns, past Taylor eras trapped in boxes, and billowing fans, Swift stuns and amazes viewers with her renditions of each of her past eras.

                                                      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taylor Swift’s “The Man” performance

Swift has proven her chops through this show in ways no one could have imagined. From the costumes to the dancing to the three and a half-hour-long performance, Swift showed the world that she is never ever going out of style. Swift has many things on the horizon, like 1989 Taylor’s Version coming out on October 27th and rumors of a self-written and directed movie, but this tour, film, and cultural phenomenon will go down in history. Swift captured the hearts and attention of the entire world, proving once again that she is the music industry

 

Image Citations

1. IMDb

2. The New York Times

3. WSJ

4. Fox News

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