It Was Rare, I Was There: Taylor Swift in Munich, Germany
My two teens and I traveled nearly 6,000 miles to see the Eras Tour. It was stressful, expensive, chaotic — and completely worth it.
Sitting at our local airport terminal awaiting our first flight, an older gentleman struck up a conversation. He was a surgeon, flying to San Diego for a nurse’s retirement party. I told him we were heading overseas, and our first stop was to see Taylor Swift in Munich.
“She’s certainly a marketing genius,” he replied.
“She is,” I said. “But she’s also an incredible singer-songwriter and a once-in-a-generation performer.”
“Well, she sure writes about all her ex-boyfriends,” he chuckled knowingly — even as surely as he knows nothing.
I’ve heard this dismissiveness before, and not just from older men. But there was a special sort of derision in his voice, an invisible eyeroll negating my opinion because, well, Taylor’s a beautiful female pop star. So surely, her work isn’t important, or relevant, to him. And therefore, it’s not important.
Conversation over, I turned back to my iPhone and he headed to his flight.
