On November 1st of this year, Taylor Swift took to Instagram to announce her next tour, “The Eras Tour,” which will kick off in March of 2023. Just like every other Swiftie, I took this emotional and long awaited announcement very seriously. I texted my hometown friends immediately, and we strategized a plan for how we would make this happen. After registering for Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan Club to hopefully receive an access code for one of the shows, we sat back and waited patiently. We knew at this point it was up to the universe to decide if we were going to get to see Miss Swift in concert, but we felt it in our bones that this would be no easy feat.
You see, Taylor Swift’s fan base is seriously like no other. Her fans are CRAZY, myself included. I remember attending my first meeting of Taylor Swift Club here at UConn, and being told I “didn’t deserve rights,” because I disliked a popular Taylor song I know better now not to repeat. Most Swifties know that it’s not uncommon to meet a fan who claims to be “her biggest fan.” We understand the loyalty and devotion Taylor Swift fans have for their queen, even the most rational among us. It was for this reason that my friends and I recognized just how crazy the demand for tickets would be, and just how small we would feel when it came to securing those tickets ourselves. When 14 million people say they’re going to try to get tickets, they mean it. Sure enough, when Tuesday the 15th came around, attempting to buy tickets was an impossible and agonizing experience. My friend was the only one of us who received an access code and kept her laptop open for hours, while I decided to power my phone off by noon. After she tried all day, updated us every time she got close, and continuously lost the tickets, I understood what the outcome would be.
I’ve always enjoyed Taylor Swift’s music, but this week I found myself thinking back to the moment when I became enthralled by her artistry. It was October of my sophomore year of college, and I was feeling pretty lonely. This was the fall of 2020, and even though I returned to campus to gain a sense of normalcy, UConn’s Storrs campus could still very much be considered a ghost town. It wasn’t going well, and I would spend hours during the day alone, wondering how I could improve my situation. Around the same time, my friends (the same ones I would attempt to buy tickets with two years later), were encouraging me to listen to Folklore, Taylor’s 8th studio album which released on July 24th, 2020. I hadn’t paid the album much attention when it dropped over the summer, but when I listened to it all the way through that fall, I had no idea it would be the album that I truly felt changed my life forever. I know, that’s corny to say and it seems like a crazy exaggeration, but I know that I felt a shift in my outlook after I listened to the songs on that album. I remember so clearly, sitting by Mirror Lake while I listened to “August” for the first time. I remember feeling excitement, but also a peace like no other. Taylor’s lyrics astounded me and truly made me feel like I was being told a story, one I might even get the chance to recreate one day.
They say that your favorite songs are your favorites because you connect them to an emotional time in your life, and I think there is a lot of truth in that. While living on campus during the pandemic was incredibly hard, I really did feel hopeful when I listened to Taylor’s music; it was like she had an answer for every question my confused and anxious, 19-year-old self had. While my connection to Taylor’s music is something I hold dear to me, I won’t pretend my experience is unique. I know that almost every Swiftie out there can draw a special connection to their favorite songs by her, which many probably made long before I started taking her seriously only a couple of years ago. My love for Taylor’s music makes me feel like she’s been with me my whole life when I only really let her in recently.
These past couple of years, Taylor Swift has been killing the game when it comes to producing music, having released four more albums since I sat on the hill and listened to Folklore for the first time. Her decision to re-release Fearless and Red became highly anticipated events, perpetuated by the hype they got on apps like TikTok, especially. I do believe that her fanbase has skyrocketed since the pandemic and that is certainly not a bad thing, but when it comes to gaining access to her tour dates, fans that once bonded over their love for her, seriously turned against each other. On Twitter, specifically, the main conversation surrounding Taylor has been a heated discussion of who deserves to see her more than others.
Twitter has become a war with die-hard fans slamming casual listeners of Taylor who got tickets, claiming them to be selfish, whereas casual listeners will fire back, calling the loyal Swifties, ‘entitled.’ Where I stand on this issue, it is probably best not to say, but I do know Taylor Swift would be heartbroken to see fans pitting themselves against each other.
I do feel that at this point I have to take a step back, and attempt to separate myself from the drama which will only infuriate me unnecessarily. While many have argued whether Taylor Swift can be blamed for any of this drama, I have chosen not to consider her a part of this. Her fan base is ruthless; I know this because I’m part of it. I know that Swifties just like myself would do anything to get those tickets, but most of us never had a fighting chance. We all deserve to be there and we all deserve to be sad that we won’t be. Taylor’s music means the world to all of us and we have a right to feel defeated. Despite this, I know that not getting to see her live won’t change the fact that her songwriting has and will continue to impact my life, and that is all I have left to focus on now.
I honestly didn’t mean for this piece to be a love letter to Taylor Swift, but I think that’s what it became because I could never hate Taylor. To just exist in the same lifetime that she’s making music feels like a blessing to me. To get to have Taylor’s music in every season of my life has been a gift. What I have realized this week is that unless I can somehow manage to swing a plane ticket to Europe to catch the international leg of her tour, I won’t be seeing my favorite artist live in concert. Regardless, I will think about every time Taylor’s music yanked me out of a slump, allowed me to wallow in heartbreak, or ride with the windows down in the summer, feeling excited about the rest of my life. Taylor’s music lets me feel what I want to feel whenever I want to feel it. I could even cry about not getting tickets to her concert to her music, which I have definitely done this week. To all my Swifties, this sucks, but I take comfort in knowing most of us are going through it together. Let’s just, shake it off, right? I’m sure we’ll make it to the next one.
