Why Taylor Swift’s the Eras Tour is a Pop Culture Moment
In honour of the 96,000 people attending the Eras tour each night in Melbourne across the 16–18th February 2024 with a further at least 10,000 outside the Melbourne Cricket Ground, one has to ask why she has created a phenomenon across the globe that spans borders, continents and a general human experience beyond what was Beatlemania. Is it about the music or is it about the experience?
Firstly, what is the Eras Tour? It is a 3.5-hour long concert spanning 18 years’ worth of music of Taylor Swift with elaborate costumes, projections and dancing, lots and lots of dancing held across 2023–2024. Swift performs a selection of songs from each album (except Debut) along with acoustic renditions of other songs that are (mostly) excluded from the setlist. This concert sent ticket vendors to crash and left many fans disappointed without the ability to enjoy the show. This has sparked a building of the fanbase through social media providing more people with the feeling that they can experience the phenomenon even without acquiring tickets with people live-streaming concerts, posting snippets across social platforms and of course, the concert film, which is available for streaming now. Fans create inspired outfits based on different albums and the corresponding “era” hence the name of the tour. But it is more than that, with fans creating friendships, creating, and exchanging friendship bracelets and creating a community centred around this one event.
Nostalgia
It is no secret that the last few years, well, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, most people have felt that nothing feels normal anymore, that while the world is supposed to have mostly recovered, it could be argued that the veil has come off, and we’re now seeing the world, without thinly veiled optimism. There has been a mass return to the things that people once loved, with people having returned to childhood/teenage hobbies, re-watching nostalgic tv shows and just doing things they enjoy for fun. Music is linked to memories, like a movie soundtrack, it can underpin how we felt at a certain time.
Nostalgia is often a way to forget the harshness of the world or situation, and what many rely on after a mass trauma (looking at you 2020–2023). The Eras Tour banks on this by revisiting music from childhood/teenagerhood creating that feeling that everything will be okay, even if it is only temporary. It’s a signal of familiarity and safety that we all are still craving, even four years after 2020. One could argue that it’s a three-hour long stint in the rose-coloured glasses (enhanced by the colourful nature of the sets and projections). Given that Swift has been part of the music industry for the past 18 years, it only sounds to reason that she would be a large part of the soundtrack of Millennial/Gen Z/Gen Alpha lives in some shape or form.
Community
Almost every musician who has made it to radio play has a large fan base, regardless of if they have a specific name that they call themselves or not. Swifties are no exception. But the Eras tour has invited people to join the fan club in a way that was once protected by so many, offering a community that many have never been a part of before. It spans across borders, continents, and friendship bracelets. As Swift has been releasing music over the majority of the 21st Century at this point, it only stands to reason for this community to grow. People are encouraged to make friendship bracelets (as a reference to a line in “You’re on Your Own Kid” from Midnights) and build that community, and this is exactly what people are doing. Social media only powers this community forward, allowing people to keep in contact despite those geographical boundaries.
One only has to look at the Rio de Janeiro shows to show how exemplary the community can be with the procurement of extra water, the cancelling of shows because the heat was too dangerous, and no one wanted more lives to put at risk. The Swiftie community has the power to influence, bound together by the love of music and shared experiences, that they share. This was also exemplified by showings of the concert film where fans treated it as a live concert, dressing up in Eras tour outfits and singing and dancing with just as much energy as they do at the live shows.
Relatability
Taylor Swift has a large discography both in front of and behind her spanning 10 albums (11 if we count the unreleased The Tortured Poet’s Department) with additional songs from the Vault, spanning different genres, themes, and subjects. One would be hard-pressed to find a person who could not relate to at least one of the sentiments expressed across this large discography: from love to revenge, from betrayal to grief, self-love to self-loathing, there is something for everyone, even if it is only one lyric.
Further to this, Swift has grown up with most of her audience, having released Debut when she was 15 years old, creating a feeling that the audience has truly matured with her. The re-release project, or the Taylor’s Version albums have only reinvigorated the audience, with people feeling more connected to the music than they possibly did the first time, particularly with the reclaimed narrative and additional vault tracks.
Shared Experience
No matter how the concert is experienced, the sense of community seems to prevail, whether through the film, livestreams, social media posts or actually attending the concert there is this feeling of a shared experience. In the aftermath of the world turning itself upside down, many, if not all of us had to forego important events due to interruptions caused by lockdowns that we will never be able to recreate. Graduations, high school experiences, weddings, funerals, birthdays, and other achievements we will never be able to get back. In a way, the Eras tour banks on that, even without it being specifically said, allowing people for one night to forget what we’ve collectively endured and how we’ve changed to get a different experience to somewhat, even if only a little bit, fill that void. The sense of community around these shows is somewhat healing for that time that we weren’t able to connect with others.
It is also significant that the Eras Tour started in 2023, a year of change, a year of pop-culture phenomena centred around nostalgia, in particular for women. 2023 was the year of Barbie, mermaids and the exploration of femininity and its relationship to feminism. The Eras Tour is a continuation of this, with a highly decorated music artist performing the soundtrack of many women’s lives, balancing femininity with power and self-worth.
So, to answer why is this tour so important to people, because it’s a moment, a distraction, an experience that we can join in after having so much ripped away as we all try to rebuild. For some, this is the most fun they’ve had in years, it’s about healing through music, friendship and generally just embracing the moment while enjoying the soundtrack of our lives. While we may not be able to wind back the clock and undo what has been done, we can momentarily forget and create some new memories.