These are boom times for pessimists. Wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, climate change, mass shootings, hate speech and threats to democracy all offer grounds for despair. Sometimes, it seems as if we are all doomed, and sometimes, it seems as if we deserve it.
But there is at least one reason for optimism: Taylor Swift, not to mention the millions — billions? — who adore her. Plenty of artists make good music. Swift has done something else as well: Restore my faith in humanity.
I say that after seeing “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” a film of her performance at SoFi Stadium outside Los Angeles — which like every other show draws a crowd of ardent followers who know every lyric of every song she’s ever recorded.
Her fan base skews toward younger than age 40 and female. But you don’t need two X chromosomes to appreciate her. Swift is not another pop princess. She’s the biggest musical star of the 21st century.
Her Eras Tour of the U.S. included 53 shows that each drew an average of 72,000 people, including three that sold out Soldier Field. The gross revenue for the tour amounted to $2.2 billion from North American ticket sales alone. “If Taylor Swift were an economy, she’d be bigger than 50 countries,” said Dan Fleetwood, president of QuestionPro Research and Insights.
That’s before she embarks on her world tour across five continents, before returning for more U.S. appearances. The movie had the biggest opening weekend of any concert film on record. Last year, she became the first artist ever to claim all of the top 10 spots on the Billboard charts at once, including her mammoth hit “Anti-Hero.”
Even the NFL has felt the Swift effect, getting a jump in TV ratings when she attended a Kansas City Chiefs game to watch her apparent new romantic interest, tight end Travis Kelce. Paul McCartney must be wondering: What’s it like to be that popular?
Like many daughters, mine is a longtime Swiftie, and she had the immense good fortune to snag a concert ticket at face value. But it was not she who acquainted me with the singer; it was the other way around, when both of them were teenagers. On my list of dad achievements, that ranks pretty high.
Swift is an accomplished singer and songwriter whose compositions, which abound in catchy melodies and unforgettable hooks, are notable for their heart and passion. She’s a marketing genius who has captivated fans through her emotional honesty. She’s a creative machine, turning out 14 albums over 17 years.
In concert, she dances in song after song, driving herself so hard that a Marine drill instructor would say, “Whoa! Pace yourself!” During this tour, she typically performed for 3 1/2 hours, time enough to run a marathon.
She’s no one’s passive victim. When a radio DJ sued her for defamation after she accused him of groping her, Swift countersued, gave withering testimony about his “grabbing my ass” and won a jury verdict. When her entire master catalog was purchased by someone she despised, she elected to rerecord every one of those albums — giving her control over what fans quickly came to regard as the definitive versions and, by design, greatly devaluing the rights she had lost. She’s the rarest of creatures: a beloved billionaire.
That brings up one of Swift’s more impressive feats. She has gone from gawky adolescent country singer to cultural colossus without losing the authenticity that binds her fans so closely to her.
They know enough about her breakups, disappointments and career travails to remember that she is only flesh and blood. Swift doesn’t need more money or awards. (She’s the only woman to win the Grammy for album of the year three times.) The things she clearly values above all are practicing her craft and connecting with her fans.
At the SoFi show, in a moment that didn’t make the movie, Swift captured something vital about that bond: “I go through this process where I feel things, I write a song about that thing, I show it to you, and I go, ‘Do you like it? Did you ever feel this way too?’ And so when you guys are at a show, if you even nod your head or make eye contact with me or sing the words to a song during a show, that to me validates that emotion and makes me feel like I wasn’t alone in feeling it.” It makes her fans feel the same way.
She appears in nearly every frame of this two-hour-and-48-minute movie, but at the center of her concerts is not her. At the center are love, hope and joy. Even in our often ugly world, there is still a place for those. And Swift is making it bigger.
Steve Chapman was a member of the Tribune Editorial Board from 1981 to 2021. His columns, exclusive to the Tribune, appear the first Thursday of every month. He can be reached at stephenjchapman@icloud.com.
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