The madness of the Eras Tour in the southern hemisphere – and the antics of Taylor Swift’s fans – is just the latest example of how far certain people will go to gaze upon their favourite celebrity.
Yesterday, a record breaking 4 million Australians queued online for tickets as they were released.. Quickly, scalpers and scams descended to take advantage of the unlucky fans who missed out on tickets.
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The demand to see Taylor live is unprecedented not just in Oceania, but globally. In the US, 2.4 million tickets were sold the day tickets went live, breaking the record for the most concert tickets sold by an artist in a single day. In Canada, members of the parliament filed a grievance with the Speaker of the House of Commons, for the supposed “snubbing” of Canada as a performance destination. Additional shows have been announced left, right and centre to meet the public ticket pressure.
A few years ago I was put in the surreal position of meeting Taylor Swift, when a friend interviewing her was offered one-on-one time, in-person. It was Swift’s Reputation tour: the crowd was brimming with excitement and the snake imagery was bountiful. Before the show started we had our time with her and had one very tragic photo taken in which Taylor appeared to be posing with 2 wax figures.
She was a delight – smart, kind and engaging. And so unexpectedly tall.
Little did I know, this lucky chance meeting would bring on a barrage of anger from local, NZ-based Swifties.
On the train home from Mt Smart Stadium my phone dinged and I immediately pulled up the photo of me standing awkwardly, and out of place, alongside one of the most famous people in the world. My friend and I were gabbling in excitement to each other about how crazy the evening had been. But over our shoulder dozens of fans loomed and caught sight of us.The shouting started within seconds. “How did you get that?” “How did you meet her?” And to our shock, “That’s bullshit, what did you do to deserve it?”. There was jostling and swearing in disdain and the rest of the 20 minute ride home was rendered immeasurably uncomfortable as all eyes in our carriage were on us.
A few weeks later at a party a girl drunkenly flew over to me screaming, “that’s so fucking unfair, you didn’t deserve to meet her.” I can’t fully recollect the interaction, but what followed was several minutes of listening to someone shout in my face about how ungrateful I am and how bad I should feel. Unfortunately, this was my lasting impression of Taylor Swift Fans for a long time.
The impact Taylor Swift has on her fans is an unfathomable phenomena. She writes undeniable bops and is a brilliant live performer, but to inspire such insanity amongst people is hard to fathom. Despite the iconography of red lips and blonde bangs, her style doesn’t have much of an impact on the fashion and beauty industries, and beyond her (often cruelly) media-embellished romances, she gives little away about her personal life. Particularly for New Zealanders, her lifestyle far from reflects the life of an average kiwi. And yet, she is The Idol, for millions and millions globally – reflecting a conflicting vulnerability and untouchability craved by the masses.
As someone who doesn’t have much of an attachment to musicians or celebrity figures it’s hard to imagine how someone could be so riled up by a person, meeting with another person – especially when Taylor Swift’s image is synonymous with kindness and grace. But it was the Reputation Tour after all, so perhaps I should’ve expected some bad blood.
Rachel Barker is a writer / producer at VICE NZ in Aotearoa.
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