Summer of the Swifities continues this week as Taylor Swift plays sold out shows in the Los Angeles area. With every tour date, lore about the record-breaking star and her Eras tour continues to grow.
It is already on pace to be the highest grossing concert tour of all time at $1.4 billion, has basically caused an earthquake, and has managed to maintain a constant presence on TikTok, according to The Los Angeles Times.
Why do Swift and the Eras tour have so many people mesmerized? This week, The Harvard Gazette brought together a group of experts to weigh in on Taylormania.
What the experts are saying
“She has a terrific ear in terms of how words fit together,” explained Stephanie Burt, poet and Donald P. and Katherine B. Loker Professor of English of Swift’s lyrical skills. “She has a sense both of writing songs that convey a feeling that can make you imagine this is the songwriter’s own feelings.”
“A lot of Millennials, as well as Gen Z now, are fans of Taylor Swift,” said Alexandra Gold, clinical fellow in psychology at MGH and Harvard Medical School, of the deep connection fans appear to have to Swift. “With the Millennials, a lot of people grew up alongside her. When they were having some of these first experiences, maybe with relationships or entering adulthood, she was doing that at the same time and singing about that. Her life story mapped onto their life story, in some way.”
“She’s imprinted her fans in such a way that they want everything about her. The day before a big stadium show, the T-shirt stand is open and there’s thousands of people in line,” said Ralph Jaccodine, assistant professor of music business/management, Berklee College of Music. “They hang on to every word of her social media posting, look at all the pictures. They share it; they talk about it; they have groups. That’s really hard to pull off.”
In fact, some of Swift’s fans are so dedicated that they were devastated at the thought of her dating 1975 front man Matty Healy. He has come under fire for participating in a podcast episode that included racist and fatphobic comments, per Vogue.
Eras’ economic impact
Even before the tour started fans were outraged when a Ticketmaster debacle prevented them from getting tickets. They took it all the way to Congress.
Since then, Audacy has reported on the economic boost Eras has carried with it as it moves through the country. The overall economic impact for host cities is expected to hit $5 billion.
“The thing that is so amazing about the Taylor Swift concert, in particular, is that it goes from city to city, and you see the same kind of impact in city after city,” said Matthew Andrews, Edward S. Mason Senior Lecturer in International Development at Harvard Kennedy School, of the economic impact the Eras tour has had as it rolled through the U.S. “You do see it with some other musicians, as well. But this is something that’s on a scale and a consistency that we haven’t really seen before.”
Swift quake
When Swift played two shows at Seattle’s Lumen Field late last month, her enthusiastic fans danced so hard that they created seismic activity on par with a 2.3 magnitude earthquake, according to seismologist Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, per a CNN report.
“Seattle that was genuinely one of my favorite weekends ever,” said Swift of the two-night dance party.
While in the Pacific Northwest, Swift also made a massive donation to Food Lifeline, a charity that supplies food banks with food. It was possibly one of the largest charitable gifts the group has received this year, KIRO reported.
Big bonuses
Local economies and food banks aren’t the only ones benefitting from the tour’s windfall. According to People magazine, sources confirmed that Swift’s hardworking tour crew recently got bonuses that add up to $55 million.
Dancers, riggers, sound technicians, catering people and more benefitted from the bonus pay. TMZ also reported that Swift gifted truckers working on Eras $100,000 each ahead of her concert stop in Santa Clara, Calif.
Album re-releases continue
Swift has been an advocate for better artist compensation from streaming platforms and record labels. She even started re-recording her old work as (Taylor’s version) in 2021, according to Vox.
“The general music fan isn’t aware of streaming revenues or master rights or re-recording rights. They don’t know or really care, but she shines a light on all these things,” said Jaccodine.
“Midnights”, Swift’s last album, was released less than a year ago, in October 2022. It was the bestselling album of the year. With “Midnights” tracks like “Anti-Hero” still playing on the radio, and while playing sold out shows, Swift released Speak Now (Taylor’s version) last month and it reached No. 1, giving her the record for most No. 1 albums by a female artist.
More to come
Shows at SoFi stadium in Inglewood mark the end of the first leg of Swift's Eras tour in the U.S. She’s heading abroad for the rest of 2023 and most of 2024, but she’ll be back in the U.S. for more dates next October.
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