The Eras Tour Is An Amalgamation Of Taylor Swift’s Greatest Strengths

Taylor Swift is not a normal pop star. Her numbers are not normal. Her statistics, achievements, and broken records are not normal. And her fans — we are not normal. 

So when the 12-time Grammy winner announced her Eras Tour back in November, I couldn’t help but wonder how she would manage to sum up, honor, and represent her inimitable career. But she did. Flawlessly. And I got to witness it at the last MetLife show Sunday.

Customizing An Un-customizable Show

By now, we’ve all seen the TikTok clips, watched the performances on YouTube, and read the articles. If you’re even a casual fan, you know Taylor powers through a 44-song set for 3.5 hours, belting out hit after hit after hit. And because of the cult-like allure of the Eras Tour — and its inescapable viral presence on social media — almost every fan walks into the stadium having a pretty good idea of what’s about to happen. Taylor’s aware of this, as she’s mentioned in the past. And yet, she still managed to customize a nearly un-customizable show.

The surprise song section of the show has everyone on the edges of their seats. Will she perform your favorite? Your friend’s favorite? That song you predicted in a TikTok draft you’re getting ready to post? The song you’re dressed up as?  It’s a mystery. 

By the surprise song portion of the show, fans have barely recovered from the long-awaited Lover performances, still basking in the nostalgia of the Fearless and Speak Now songs, wiping the sweat from their faces after flame-throwers have torched the sky during 1989, mesmerized by the intense visuals of Reputation, emotionally rattled from the 10-minute “All Too Well” of Red, and hoarse from finally screaming the mega-bridges of "Champagne Problems" and "August" during Evermore and Folklore.

Yup, that is when T decides it’s time to grab her guitar and sing a surprise song. MetLife attendees heard “Maroon,” “Clean,” “Getaway Car,” “Holy Ground,” “False God,” and “Welcome to New York,” — a string of almost all fan favorites, with multiple references to New York. Taylor knows her audience, and she plays to us like we’re in her kitchen. 

The customization didn’t stop there. Taylor debuted several new looks at MetLife — a new “Cruel Summer” jumpsuit, a new “'Tis The Damn Season” and “Fearless” dress, a new “Enchanted” gown, and more. 

And not to mention, Taylor — as she loves to do! — brought out a special guest, Ice Spice. They sang the “Karma” remix, as fans sang back, word-for-word, a verse that was released a mere 48 hours prior. Surprise songs, brand new outfits, and a celeb guest — fans got the Eras Tour (MetLife Version). We won.

Lightning On Her Feet

Since she was a teenager, Taylor has toured the world for years. She’s comfortable in stadiums of people, and it shows. But on the Eras Tour, Taylor seemed even more comfortable, more powerful, and more confident. Even when she makes a “mistake.”

There were very few moments where things for the “Mastermind” didn’t go as planned. But when it did happen, it was almost like a treat. You get to witness Taylor’s innate quickness — or  “lightning” as “Shake It Off” goes — on her feet.

When it was time to play guitar early in the show, her guitar malfunctioned and didn’t play. Much to the amusement of the crowd, she subtly sang, “Will someoneeee bring me a guitar that works?” During the surprise song section of the show, Taylor referenced her slight discontent with how she performed “Clean” in Arlington. “I try to not ever repeat a song...However I have stupid little rules that I come up with that I change periodically, depending on my feelings,” Taylor told the crowd. “One of the rules was that if I mess the song up, I'm allowed to do it again. So, I didn't really mess this one up badly or embarrassingly. But I did play it before, and I thought I could've done it in a higher key." 

When she missed her opening cue during “Karma,” she played it off by doing a Tayloresque dance move. For fans, Taylor’s mishaps — as minuscule or unnoticeable to the untrained un-Swiftie eye as they are — add to the experience. We get to see Taylor off-the-cuff, unrehearsed, and authentic, which is essentially part of why we all became obsessed with her in the first place.

Gave Her Blood, Sweat, and Tears For This

An underrated element of the Eras Tour is its unmistakable intentionality. Before beginning the 44-song tour-de-force, “You Don’t Own Me” by Lesley Gore plays, referencing Scooter Braun hijacking Taylor’s masters. Perhaps the darkest point of the show is “My Tears Ricochet,” a song that seems like an odd choice for a stadium tour — until you witness the performance, and thus the importance of its message. Taylor sings about what it feels like for her art to be stolen, as she does in MTR — and it makes total sense why it’s on the setlist.  And further, you start to understand why the show ends with “Karma,” and not “Bejeweled.” As she croons in “You’re On Your Own, Kid,” Taylor gave her blood, sweat, and tears for this, and this tour represents a lot of that journey.

While the show references the drama slightly, the show references the magic of her previous tours and her relationships with her fans even more. Whether it’s her gesturing for “1-2-3 let’s go, bitch!” during “Delicate,” or acknowledging the power of her bridges during “Cruel Summer” (“Alright, Jersey, we have arrived at the very first bridge of the evening. I would prefer if we crossed it together. And by cross it, I mean scream it very loudly. GO!”), it’s clear Taylor is aware of what her fans care about.  Take her performances of “Fearless” and “You Belong With Me,” for example. By initially trotting down the stage with her iconic Fearless gallop and twirl, making heart hands right before the bridge, and her quick two-clap during “You Belong With Me,” she harkens back to 2009 when we all started to mythologize these gestures.  She knows we’ll appreciate these minute, albeit crucial, details — and frankly, we eat this shit up.

“But I Got Stronger” 

“But I got stronger, I got harder,” Taylor sings in “Look What You Made You Me Do.” And that’s exactly what she did. A lot of reviews haven’t discussed her vocals, which have improved tenfold. I always loved Taylor’s voice, her tone, her vocal delivery, and her breath control. And in the Eras Tour, her vocals are strong, thick, powerful, and confident. She’s comfortable with her ad-libs, courageous with her belts, and smart with her delivery. Night after night, she’s supporting an E5 belt with “Don’t Blame Me.” Her third-octave lows during Evermore performances are divine. Her mic is on, and she’s serving consistently stellar vocals. 

It’s also worth mentioning that Taylor’s dancing is relaxed, confident, and more mature. During “Vigilante Shit” and “Ready For It” performances, Taylor proves just how much more comfortable she is with her sexuality and her role as a pop culture icon.

In essence, the Eras Tour is the fusion of all of Taylor’s strengths — her ability to make a packed stadium feel like her kitchen, her on-the-fly adaptability, her skillful intentionality when crafting her performances, and ultimately, her undeniably stronger stage presence. The word iconic is beyond overused, but the Eras Tour further solidified Taylor Swift as an iconic global superstar.