The End of an Era Recap (Episodes 1–2): The Shadow of the Showgirl and Taylor Swift’s Self-Narrative

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Welcome back to the Swiftly Song Stories podcast.
I'm your host, Jen, and today we have brand new Taylor content to talk about the end of an era.
Episodes one and two just dropped, so I wanna recap those for you today.
But I don't wanna do this from a, oh, look at these cool moments that we got to see standpoint.
I wanna look at it from a storytelling standpoint.
How does it connect to the larger story that Taylor's been telling? How does it connect to showgirl? Every piece of content that Taylor puts out is telling a story, whether it's an album or a docuseries, or a documentary or a music video, they're all telling stories and they all connect together.

(00:32):
So how does this docuseries connect? So we're gonna see what all these through lines look like, and we're gonna see what new information Taylor has told us about her larger story and about where she's going next.
In my last episode, I talked about the themes of life of a showgirl, the stories that she's telling on that album, and I wanna see how the docuseries connects and maybe how it's gonna lead into her, writing and recording of the life of showgirl.

(00:55):
So what's the story that she's telling with this doc? Because it's, it's not just behind the scenes of the ERAS tour.
It's so much more than that.
And we get so much new information here about her process and her values and her worldview, and I think it really fills in a lot of blanks from these last few areas and answers a lot of these long running questions that we've had about her career and about her life.
So I wanted to make a prediction video about TS 13 where she's maybe going next, but I think I'm gonna hold off on that until the rest of the docuseries drops.

(01:22):
'cause I think she might be leaving us some Easter eggs for the future.
So let's roll our intro and get right into the recap of the story of episode one. 16 00:01:32,305.605666389 --> 00:01:38,5.605666389 Welcome to swiftly sung Stories where we unpack the Taylor Swift Universe one era album and lyric at a time. 17 00:01:38,185.605666389 --> 00:01:42,505.60566639 Think of it like English class, but it's all Taylor Swift and none of the boring stuff. 18 00:01:42,955.60566639 --> 00:01:48,355.60566639 I'm Jen, your Swifty English teacher and classes in session, so come on in and meet me in the margins. 19 00:01:48,641.60566639 --> 00:01:50,261.60566639 Just a quick little announcement for you guys. 20 00:01:50,261.60566639 --> 00:01:52,541.60566639 I might be in the eras Tour documentary. 21 00:01:53,141.60566639 --> 00:02:09,321.60566639 It might happen About six months ago, I was contacted by a documentarian who wanted to license one of my tiktoks and that TikTok video was my thoughts on about the end of the ERAS tour, how it was this kind of collective grief that we were all feeling and how special and unique this cultural moment was. 22 00:02:10,11.60566639 --> 00:02:11,61.60566639 A link it below in the show notes. 23 00:02:11,61.60566639 --> 00:02:13,166.60566639 Gimme a follow if you head on over there to TikTok, but. 24 00:02:13,721.60566639 --> 00:02:23,81.60566639 It wasn't a viral video by far, and so I was a little suspicious when this person reached out to me because the contents of this video was, was very specifically about the eras tour. 25 00:02:23,351.60566639 --> 00:02:29,771.60566639 She said it was for a documentary about concert tours and what they mean in our larger cultural landscape. 26 00:02:30,521.60566639 --> 00:02:35,51.60566639 I didn't wanna get my hopes up, but like it's kind of suspicious, right? So mental note. 27 00:02:35,51.60566639 --> 00:02:42,911.60566639 This was before the end of an era docuseries was even announced, and I got kind of excited, but I didn't wanna like freak out and tell the world because it wasn't a for sure thing. 28 00:02:43,31.60566639 --> 00:02:50,351.60566639 So yesterday as I'm finishing episode one, I see this documentarians name in the credits as they're rolling. 29 00:02:50,891.60566639 --> 00:02:52,301.60566639 It is a very unique name. 30 00:02:52,841.60566639 --> 00:02:57,731.60566639 There's no possibility that this is just someone else who licensed my video who has the same name. 31 00:02:57,941.60566639 --> 00:03:00,491.60566639 So that's when I freaked out. 32 00:03:00,851.60566639 --> 00:03:04,361.60566639 I did agree to license this video and they did pay me for it. 33 00:03:04,871.60566639 --> 00:03:08,141.60566639 Uh, but just because they did that doesn't mean it's gonna end up in the final cut. 34 00:03:08,141.60566639 --> 00:03:08,471.60566639 But. 35 00:03:09,461.60566639 --> 00:03:12,161.60566639 They are using other creators videos in these episodes. 36 00:03:12,161.60566639 --> 00:03:13,151.60566639 So far we've seen that. 37 00:03:14,21.60566639 --> 00:03:17,261.60566639 Is it a possibility that I'm gonna be in the documentary? Maybe I don't. 38 00:03:17,471.60566639 --> 00:03:17,861.60566639 I don't know. 39 00:03:18,101.60566639 --> 00:03:20,891.60566639 Anyway, keep your eyes peeled for me and the rest of the episodes. 40 00:03:20,891.60566639 --> 00:03:24,251.60566639 I'm wearing a red and white striped shirt in this TikTok. 41 00:03:24,551.60566639 --> 00:03:28,571.60566639 I think if they do use it, it will probably be in later episodes, like five or six. 42 00:03:29,106.60566639 --> 00:03:35,16.60566639 Narratively, my video's about the end of the ERA tour, so it makes sense that it would come towards the end of a series. 43 00:03:35,16.60566639 --> 00:03:36,966.60566639 But anyway, I'm excited. 44 00:03:36,966.60566639 --> 00:03:42,216.60566639 I wanna share, I, I don't wanna count my eggs before they hatch, but maybe, maybe it'll happen. 45 00:03:42,216.60566639 --> 00:03:48,486.60566639 So today I'm gonna recap episodes one and two in the context of the larger story that Taylor's been telling us all along. 46 00:03:49,56.60566639 --> 00:03:56,466.60566639 Next week will be episodes three and four, and then five and six drop on Boxing Day, and I'll try to get those out after Christmas if I can. 47 00:03:56,466.60566639 --> 00:04:08,556.60566639 But you know, life happens and it's Christmas, so then I'll be taking a break because it has been a long few months of starting this channel, putting out a whole bunch of content, and I desperately need a break, but. 48 00:04:09,6.60566639 --> 00:04:15,426.60566639 I'll be back sometime in January and we will pick up with predictions for TS 13 and where Taylor could be going next. 49 00:04:15,696.60566639 --> 00:04:19,56.60566639 So let's start at an era, episode one. 50 00:04:19,56.60566639 --> 00:04:28,146.60566639 We opened the episode with an overhead shot of Vancouver, BC and BC Place where the final eras tour performance took place on December 8th, 2024. 51 00:04:28,896.60566639 --> 00:04:32,886.60566639 And the screen says the last show of the airs tour 15 minutes until Showtime. 52 00:04:33,301.60566639 --> 00:04:34,861.60566639 The final huddle begins. 53 00:04:34,861.60566639 --> 00:04:37,921.60566639 So we are backstage and we see Taylor's arms around her dancer. 54 00:04:37,921.60566639 --> 00:04:46,111.60566639 She's giving this final speech before they're about to take the stage for the last time, and she's giving this really meaningful monologue about how much hard work this has taken. 55 00:04:47,11.60566639 --> 00:04:49,501.60566639 But it's really the way in which she says this. 56 00:04:49,501.60566639 --> 00:04:53,941.60566639 That's incredible to me because it shows you so much about how her mind works. 57 00:04:54,31.60566639 --> 00:04:54,631.60566639 She says. 58 00:04:55,566.60566639 --> 00:05:00,696.60566639 I think about every single one of you as little kids, I think about the moment you decided dancing was your calling. 59 00:05:00,756.60566639 --> 00:05:04,206.60566639 The moment you first saw a band and thought, man, I wanna save up for an instrument. 60 00:05:04,896.60566639 --> 00:05:08,706.60566639 Every single one of us has picked professions that categorically. 61 00:05:09,21.60566639 --> 00:05:12,111.60566639 People for most of the time, they tell you, you shouldn't do it. 62 00:05:12,861.60566639 --> 00:05:14,631.60566639 They tell you you should not try to do this. 63 00:05:14,631.60566639 --> 00:05:21,441.60566639 You have to love the things so much that you override 85 to 95% of the advice that you were given along the way. 64 00:05:21,771.60566639 --> 00:05:32,301.60566639 By oftentimes people that you respect, people you trust, people in the field, everyone in dance, everyone in music, everyone will tell anyone younger that if there's anything else that you can do, do that. 65 00:05:33,231.60566639 --> 00:05:37,491.60566639 And so I'll see you getting rejected, not getting the job, not getting the part, not getting the solo. 66 00:05:37,881.60566639 --> 00:05:40,431.60566639 I'll see all of those things that happened all along the way. 67 00:05:40,671.60566639 --> 00:05:44,361.60566639 The doors that were shut, the doors that were open, the windows you pried open. 68 00:05:46,581.60566639 --> 00:05:52,281.60566639 It's at this point that she tears up and her voice breaks, and I teared up and my voice broke. 69 00:05:52,281.60566639 --> 00:05:53,751.60566639 But she continues. 70 00:05:54,531.60566639 --> 00:06:06,681.60566639 And sometimes I'll see you when you're older and I'll think about what you're gonna tell your family or the people that you mentor, because every single person in here has the spirit to mentor others and to tell them, yes, do it. 71 00:06:06,741.60566639 --> 00:06:07,791.60566639 Try it, go for it. 72 00:06:07,791.60566639 --> 00:06:16,11.60566639 You have that same love for it, and I think about whether that's your grandchildren or to little neighborhood kid who just wants to talk about what that was like. 73 00:06:17,481.60566639 --> 00:06:40,101.60566639 So she's seeing this whole confluence of events in her mind's eye, right? She's imagining all of the things that it took for all of these people to get to this place, and she's telling a story about their story, and she goes on, everyone likes to talk about phenomena like the eras tour, almost as if it were pieces falling into place in some sort of accidental confluence of events that. 74 00:06:40,161.60566639 --> 00:06:47,931.60566639 Just happened, right? When I'm thinking about the people that are in this circle, I don't think of it as pieces that fell into place. 75 00:06:48,411.60566639 --> 00:07:01,971.60566639 I think of each of you as like tectonic plates on the earth that took millions of microdecisions and forces of you pushing inch by inch closer together, and the eras tour wasn't when all the pieces fell into place. 76 00:07:02,661.60566639 --> 00:07:07,11.60566639 That was just when every single one of us had done so much work to where this tour. 77 00:07:07,521.60566639 --> 00:07:09,831.60566639 Was when we all clicked together. 78 00:07:10,821.60566639 --> 00:07:15,681.60566639 It is our job to make this look accidental and it is our job to make this look effortless. 79 00:07:15,831.60566639 --> 00:07:21,876.60566639 But I just want every single one of you to know that I in no way, shape or form, look at this as the piece falling into place. 80 00:07:22,736.60566639 --> 00:07:24,516.60566639 You put the pieces where they are. 81 00:07:25,611.60566639 --> 00:07:29,661.60566639 This is the biggest challenge any of us has ever done tonight. 82 00:07:29,841.60566639 --> 00:07:31,461.60566639 We complete that challenge. 83 00:07:32,421.60566639 --> 00:07:32,661.60566639 Whew. 84 00:07:33,951.60566639 --> 00:07:44,31.60566639 I mean, the final pep talk, this is, and they're like, they're all in tears, right? They are all losing it, and the entire audience watching this at home is losing it. 85 00:07:45,51.60566639 --> 00:07:58,191.60566639 And while all of this is happening, while we are seeing Taylor give this super emotional speech, there is footage of her on the way to the stage, from the car, to the cleaning cart, to the under stage to the platform. 86 00:07:58,701.60566639 --> 00:08:13,96.60566639 So it's building this emotional tension, right? And if you're like me, you were already bawling but this speech, I think this gives us the most amount of insight in this entire episode about Taylor as a storyteller, because she's not just saying, I see you and I appreciate you and all your hard work. 87 00:08:13,96.60566639 --> 00:08:14,86.60566639 I couldn't do this without you. 88 00:08:14,836.60566639 --> 00:08:17,116.60566639 No, it is so much more than that. 89 00:08:17,806.60566639 --> 00:08:27,256.60566639 And it's so much more than that because she's telling a story and because she's damn good at telling stories and telling stories that resonate and tug at our heartstrings and punch us in the gut. 90 00:08:28,126.60566639 --> 00:08:29,656.60566639 But above all, her stories connect. 91 00:08:30,376.60566639 --> 00:08:38,976.60566639 They foster connection and it's here in this moment where she's fostering connection with her teammates and we can see how her mind works. 92 00:08:39,276.60566639 --> 00:08:50,646.60566639 She's not only focused on the here and now, she's like zoomed out and she's looking at all the pieces of all of the lives and all of the decisions that it took, working in just the right way so that they reach this place. 93 00:08:51,326.60566639 --> 00:09:09,296.60566639 And we kind of always knew that her mind worked this way because she does this in her storytelling all the time, right? This like zooming in and out, looking at both the large and the small, and her mind works in this natural storytelling narrative way, but to see it in context when it's not in songwriting, but looking at the larger picture. 94 00:09:10,26.60566639 --> 00:09:22,596.60566639 That is a really cool moment to see, and it's like a movie reel playing in her mind and she sees all of her dancers and her band as children and how they had to do all of the hard work and not listen to the naysayers and push through to get to where they're today. 95 00:09:23,46.60566639 --> 00:09:27,996.60566639 They all beat these incredible odds to get to this place where they are the exception, not the rule. 96 00:09:27,996.60566639 --> 00:09:31,656.60566639 And when she's speaking about all of them, she's thinking about all of their stories. 97 00:09:32,226.60566639 --> 00:09:34,86.60566639 She's also telling her own story. 98 00:09:34,536.60566639 --> 00:09:37,26.60566639 And it's the story that she's been telling us all along. 99 00:09:37,26.60566639 --> 00:09:38,346.60566639 I've never been a natural. 100 00:09:38,766.60566639 --> 00:09:40,596.60566639 All I do is try, try, try. 101 00:09:40,806.60566639 --> 00:09:51,701.60566639 She's been on this journey filled with pitfalls and trials and tribulations, and this story that she tells us that she's always told us is that she gets through those things by working her ass off. 102 00:09:52,311.60566639 --> 00:09:55,131.60566639 And with a lot of creativity and with a lot of help from her team. 103 00:09:55,731.60566639 --> 00:10:05,721.60566639 But what I like most about this speech is that we can so clearly see that she not only thinks and speaks in narratives, in stories, but she thinks in metaphors. 104 00:10:05,721.60566639 --> 00:10:11,871.60566639 And she takes one metaphor pieces falling into place, and she uses that to make a leap into another metaphor. 105 00:10:11,871.60566639 --> 00:10:13,161.60566639 Tectonic plates. 106 00:10:13,641.60566639 --> 00:10:16,941.60566639 And they're both these like jigsaw like metaphors, right? But one is. 107 00:10:17,706.60566639 --> 00:10:18,486.60566639 Miraculous. 108 00:10:18,486.60566639 --> 00:10:23,256.60566639 It just happened, and the opposite, it's full of time and pressure. 109 00:10:23,256.60566639 --> 00:10:46,626.60566639 So she compares this team to tectonic plates rubbing up against one another with all of this pressure of the industry and expectations, and being the mirror balls spinning on your tallest tiptoes to entertain, but instead of breaking, instead of shattering, with all that pressure, they sync up and this pressure pushed them into the exact right configuration to be together. 110 00:10:47,316.60566639 --> 00:10:53,46.60566639 And there's a lot of pressure in this environment still, but it's not an earthquake that ruptures and destroys everything. 111 00:10:53,466.60566639 --> 00:10:59,256.60566639 It just kind of rumbles beneath the surface with this excitement and energy and connection. 112 00:10:59,706.60566639 --> 00:11:04,326.60566639 So she's used these incredibly emotional metaphors in a speech to her team, like. 113 00:11:04,671.60566639 --> 00:11:08,331.60566639 Who does that? What kind of boss does that? But of course she does. 114 00:11:08,331.60566639 --> 00:11:09,231.60566639 Of course she does. 115 00:11:09,291.60566639 --> 00:11:10,311.60566639 It's Taylor Swift. 116 00:11:11,301.60566639 --> 00:11:22,791.60566639 So we see this incredibly emotional moment, and then she gets on her platform, it rises up, and she goes out to perform one last time in this career defining tour. 117 00:11:23,511.60566639 --> 00:11:27,471.60566639 And we get our title card, the End of An Era, episode one. 118 00:11:28,11.60566639 --> 00:11:29,451.60566639 Welcome to the ERA'S tour. 119 00:11:30,756.60566639 --> 00:11:37,986.60566639 So now that she's shown us how it ended, we are gonna go back to how it began and we get to hear about how she came up with the ideas for the eras tour. 120 00:11:37,986.60566639 --> 00:11:47,226.60566639 She says the idea came to her about two years before she came up with the idea for the eras tour because of two very unpleasant factors, the Master's heist and the pandemic. 121 00:11:48,216.60566639 --> 00:11:54,126.60566639 And she says, of the sales of her masters, I decided to sort of defiantly rerecord all of my music. 122 00:11:54,126.60566639 --> 00:11:58,926.60566639 And in doing that, she revisited her old stories, her old lives. 123 00:11:59,136.60566639 --> 00:12:04,86.60566639 And in going back through her first six albums, she said it was like reading her old diaries. 124 00:12:04,596.60566639 --> 00:12:15,96.60566639 And she says, quote, all this work is so indicative of the time I was in in my life thinking about all of the different girls I was until I was this one unquote. 125 00:12:15,516.60566639 --> 00:12:19,296.60566639 And this is what she says, plants the seeds of the hes tour. 126 00:12:19,296.60566639 --> 00:12:21,876.60566639 The idea of celebrating your past. 127 00:12:22,746.60566639 --> 00:12:26,226.60566639 But I think it's important to note that this is kind of a new mindset. 128 00:12:26,496.60566639 --> 00:12:27,36.60566639 For Taylor. 129 00:12:27,36.60566639 --> 00:12:33,336.60566639 She hasn't been so celebratory of her past, of her past eras, of her past selves leading up to this. 130 00:12:34,26.60566639 --> 00:12:40,866.60566639 We've just gone through folklore, evermore and midnights, which are not really albums that celebrate your past. 131 00:12:40,866.60566639 --> 00:12:49,446.60566639 Check out the video right before this one, um, where I dissect all of the themes of showgirl, if you wanna deep dive about where she was during this time because she wasn't super optimistic. 132 00:12:50,436.60566639 --> 00:12:53,646.60566639 But then she really clues into her new mindset with what she says next. 133 00:12:53,646.60566639 --> 00:12:54,126.60566639 She says. 134 00:12:54,741.60566639 --> 00:12:58,281.60566639 We think these bad things are happening to me or to us. 135 00:12:58,371.60566639 --> 00:13:04,521.60566639 If you flip it around correctly and you react in a certain way, those can, things can be happening for you. 136 00:13:05,151.60566639 --> 00:13:12,891.60566639 So she has a new mindset and remember that she is recording this particular interview that we're now seeing probably after the years tour is over. 137 00:13:13,251.60566639 --> 00:13:21,951.60566639 So she's looking back over these past events and reinterpreting things that are happening to her as things that are in the long run happening for her. 138 00:13:22,191.60566639 --> 00:13:24,561.60566639 They're opportunities, not pitfalls. 139 00:13:25,401.60566639 --> 00:13:34,131.60566639 This is a major theme on showgirl, which hopefully we get to see a little bit of the making of showgirl and future episodes, but this is this new mindset that she has. 140 00:13:34,131.60566639 --> 00:13:42,501.60566639 The sky is now opalite and it's opalite Because she changed her tune, she changed her mindset, and the seeds of this new mindset are planted when she's thinking about the eras store. 141 00:13:42,501.60566639 --> 00:13:47,871.60566639 About a tour that celebrates her past, even when she doesn't own all of her past. 142 00:13:48,771.60566639 --> 00:13:49,641.60566639 This is growth. 143 00:13:49,671.60566639 --> 00:13:50,841.60566639 This is change. 144 00:13:50,991.60566639 --> 00:13:58,731.60566639 And in this incredibly difficult time in her career, she's still choosing to celebrate everything that came before she says of creating the tour that she thought of. 145 00:13:59,61.60566639 --> 00:14:02,751.60566639 Chapters divided by albums and everything changes when the chapter changes. 146 00:14:03,861.60566639 --> 00:14:11,31.60566639 And that isn't only a great description of the errors to her sets and set lists, but it's also a great metaphor for life when the chapters change in our life. 147 00:14:11,31.60566639 --> 00:14:13,281.60566639 When we move from one season to the next, everything does change. 148 00:14:14,91.60566639 --> 00:14:15,201.60566639 Because we change. 149 00:14:16,41.60566639 --> 00:14:19,911.60566639 So during this voiceover, we're seeing mockups of the errors tour stage, and sets. 150 00:14:19,911.60566639 --> 00:14:27,51.60566639 And I wanted to point out in these renderings, they are labeled Sparkle Stadium, which isn't a stadium that exists. 151 00:14:27,51.60566639 --> 00:14:30,681.60566639 It's just a fake name in case any of these renderings leaked. 152 00:14:30,681.60566639 --> 00:14:32,721.60566639 But just a cute, funny note. 153 00:14:33,861.60566639 --> 00:14:42,141.60566639 Then she goes into explaining how this all came together and it took a village, and we get a scene of her coming into rehearsal to meet the dancers for the first time. 154 00:14:43,71.60566639 --> 00:14:44,331.60566639 She is in tears of joy. 155 00:14:44,541.60566639 --> 00:14:50,901.60566639 She shakes everyone's hand and introduces herself to everyone each time by saying, hi, I'm Taylor. 156 00:14:51,351.60566639 --> 00:14:55,851.60566639 Which is incredible that she doesn't assume that everyone knows who she is. 157 00:14:56,856.60566639 --> 00:15:10,206.60566639 And I think this speaks to ego, right? Like of course everyone in the room knows who you are, not just because you're Taylor Swift, the most famous person on the planet, but because you're their boss, they know where they are, they're at work and they're working for you. 158 00:15:10,206.60566639 --> 00:15:12,516.60566639 They know who you are, but she doesn't assume. 159 00:15:13,851.60566639 --> 00:15:17,61.60566639 Even if you've never met your boss or your boss's boss, you know their name. 160 00:15:17,91.60566639 --> 00:15:20,181.60566639 But anyway, she is in tears of joy and excitement. 161 00:15:20,181.60566639 --> 00:15:24,531.60566639 To see her dancer's reactions to this, to meeting her is just so incredibly sweet. 162 00:15:25,191.60566639 --> 00:15:28,431.60566639 So the team is in rehearsals and then we get a montage of how this all came together. 163 00:15:28,431.60566639 --> 00:15:38,481.60566639 We see dance practice, we see choreography prep, and then we kind of fast forward through the months leading up to the show and how large this thing became almost immediately. 164 00:15:38,481.60566639 --> 00:15:41,871.60566639 We get some really sweet fan videos of scoring tickets. 165 00:15:42,231.60566639 --> 00:15:45,711.60566639 We see, uh, the ticket master crash, and then we get to opening night. 166 00:15:45,711.60566639 --> 00:15:50,631.60566639 And this is kind of a montage of the popularity and the power of the A Tour. 167 00:15:50,631.60566639 --> 00:15:53,631.60566639 Glendale Renames itself, swift City for opening night. 168 00:15:53,991.60566639 --> 00:15:55,761.60566639 We see this Seattle earthquake. 169 00:15:55,761.60566639 --> 00:15:56,781.60566639 Shout out to my hometown. 170 00:15:57,111.60566639 --> 00:16:01,671.60566639 We see the "swiftnomics" of it all and the incredible amount of business that Taylor brought to each tour. 171 00:16:01,671.60566639 --> 00:16:02,121.60566639 Stop. 172 00:16:02,571.60566639 --> 00:16:06,831.60566639 Uh, Taylor Gating, which someone says is like Woodstock, but without the drugs. 173 00:16:07,451.60566639 --> 00:16:10,601.60566639 I like to think of it as a Grateful Dead show, also without the drugs. 174 00:16:10,601.60566639 --> 00:16:16,751.60566639 But anyway, we're seeing just not how the tour affected physical places, but how it affected us emotionally. 175 00:16:17,591.60566639 --> 00:16:28,381.60566639 Then we see Andrea react to all this and Andrea says, it became this movement, and Taylor says, it's like a force to be reckoned with in global culture, and it really was. 176 00:16:28,381.60566639 --> 00:16:38,311.60566639 Whether you got to go or not, if you're a swifty, it brought us together at a time when the world had never been more uncertain and more scary and more overwhelming. 177 00:16:38,671.60566639 --> 00:16:43,561.6056664 We could count on that live stream or we could count on that show that we had tickets for it in the future. 178 00:16:43,561.6056664 --> 00:16:45,451.6056664 We had something to look forward to. 179 00:16:45,451.6056664 --> 00:16:48,571.6056664 But then in this story, we take a little bit of a darker turn. 180 00:16:48,841.6056664 --> 00:16:52,531.6056664 We zoom in on Vienna, Austria, August 8th, 2024. 181 00:16:52,741.6056664 --> 00:17:00,451.6056664 Those three shows of course, were canceled after a terrorist plot was discovered, and we get some news clips describing this horrific situation. 182 00:17:00,451.6056664 --> 00:17:04,861.6056664 But thankfully, a situation that was disarmed before anyone was hurt. 183 00:17:05,911.6056664 --> 00:17:11,366.6056664 We see Taylor after this event in her hotel room in London, gearing up for the last shows of the European leg, and she says. 184 00:17:12,721.6056664 --> 00:17:18,811.6056664 We've done like 128 shows so far, but this is the first one where I feel like I'm skating on thin ice or something. 185 00:17:20,41.6056664 --> 00:17:23,71.6056664 You can tell in this moment that she's not in a great frame of mind. 186 00:17:23,71.6056664 --> 00:17:29,131.6056664 She's going through it and she says, we've had a series of very violent, scary things happen to the tour. 187 00:17:29,731.6056664 --> 00:17:32,401.6056664 We dodged like a massacre situation. 188 00:17:32,911.6056664 --> 00:17:36,691.6056664 And you can tell how freaked out she is by all of this, as, as anyone would be. 189 00:17:36,781.6056664 --> 00:17:43,921.6056664 And I can't really imagine the weight of this situation on the person whose name is on the letterhead. 190 00:17:43,921.6056664 --> 00:17:44,31.6056664 You know, who's. 191 00:17:44,341.6056664 --> 00:17:45,481.6056664 Name is on the tickets. 192 00:17:45,991.6056664 --> 00:17:51,961.6056664 It is such a huge responsibility and that much visibility unfortunately makes you a target. 193 00:17:52,471.6056664 --> 00:17:55,321.6056664 And it also unfortunately makes your fans a target. 194 00:17:56,101.6056664 --> 00:17:58,561.6056664 Uh, but then we get really, really heavy. 195 00:17:59,881.6056664 --> 00:18:03,31.6056664 Taylor says There was this horrible attack in Liverpool. 196 00:18:03,181.6056664 --> 00:18:09,91.6056664 She goes on at a Taylor Swift themed dance party, and it was little kids. 197 00:18:09,886.6056664 --> 00:18:14,806.6056664 And here her voice breaks and she starts crying and the rest of the world did too. 198 00:18:14,806.6056664 --> 00:18:19,666.6056664 And I am right now just thinking about this, she whispers. 199 00:18:19,726.6056664 --> 00:18:21,616.6056664 I have a hard time explaining it. 200 00:18:22,696.6056664 --> 00:18:35,716.6056664 And then they insert a news clip recalling this horrific incident and she is speaking about the attack on children in Southport Mercy side here in England, in which three young girls were killed and many more were injured. 201 00:18:36,196.6056664 --> 00:18:44,596.6056664 I can't speak about this too much without getting really emotional, but I do wanna say that we remember Alice, Bebe and Elsie, and to their families. 202 00:18:44,596.6056664 --> 00:18:48,46.6056664 We send all of our love and this community of Swifties is here for you. 203 00:18:48,46.6056664 --> 00:18:52,156.6056664 Just like your amazing community of Southport has rallied around you. 204 00:18:53,836.6056664 --> 00:19:08,671.6056664 We see Taylor in tears and she says, I'm going to meet some of these families tonight and put on a pop concert, you know? And it's at this point where I'm struck by just how odd her life must be, and also struck by how different these two selves have to be. 205 00:19:08,671.6056664 --> 00:19:24,511.6056664 Taylor Swift human who cries and worries and has the world on her shoulders and Taylor Swift Pop star who has to entertain and put on a happy face and put all of those human worries and needs and desires on hold when she puts on this persona. 206 00:19:25,381.6056664 --> 00:19:29,701.6056664 I talked a lot about this dual self in my last video about the themes of showgirl, but. 207 00:19:30,196.6056664 --> 00:19:32,776.6056664 This is just really the ultimate display of these two selves. 208 00:19:32,776.6056664 --> 00:19:40,546.6056664 At this moment, human Taylor wants to break down and lose it and support these families, and she probably blames herself for so much. 209 00:19:41,386.6056664 --> 00:19:47,596.6056664 But Pop Star Taylor is at Wembley and has 90,000 people coming to her show tonight, and she can't let them down. 210 00:19:47,596.6056664 --> 00:19:48,916.6056664 So she's really emotional. 211 00:19:48,916.6056664 --> 00:19:50,86.6056664 She's really tearful. 212 00:19:50,716.6056664 --> 00:19:55,276.6056664 She's describing these hard parts of her life and her career, and she goes on. 213 00:19:55,696.6056664 --> 00:19:58,996.6056664 It's gonna be fine because when I meet them, I'm not gonna do this. 214 00:19:59,26.6056664 --> 00:20:00,496.6056664 I swear to God, I'm not gonna do this. 215 00:20:00,496.6056664 --> 00:20:01,546.6056664 I'm gonna be smiling. 216 00:20:01,756.6056664 --> 00:20:05,146.6056664 So any of this gets outta the way before you ever go on stage. 217 00:20:05,146.6056664 --> 00:20:07,516.6056664 You lock it off three and a half hours. 218 00:20:07,546.6056664 --> 00:20:09,286.6056664 They don't have to worry about you. 219 00:20:10,306.6056664 --> 00:20:14,56.6056664 She has to put human and Taylor aside and put on the pop star persona. 220 00:20:14,716.6056664 --> 00:20:17,446.6056664 Then when those three and a half hours are over, she can fall apart again. 221 00:20:17,506.6056664 --> 00:20:21,136.6056664 But this is the life of the showgirl spinning on her tallest tiptoes. 222 00:20:21,586.6056664 --> 00:20:24,586.6056664 And when she breaks, it's in a million pieces, but no one gets to see that break. 223 00:20:24,826.6056664 --> 00:20:26,656.6056664 Um, that's hidden behind the curtain. 224 00:20:28,276.6056664 --> 00:20:40,456.6056664 It is now 10 hours to Showtime at Wembley, and we see some of the backstage and costume goings on, and then we get into a little bit about how the entire goal of this production is really to provide escapism. 225 00:20:40,606.6056664 --> 00:20:47,686.6056664 We hear from Amos Taylor's bass player who tells us that the only thing that we're trying to do is to make the world go away for a little while. 226 00:20:48,1.6056664 --> 00:20:52,411.6056664 And make people feel seen and let them scream lyrics that they love at the top of their lungs. 227 00:20:53,431.6056664 --> 00:20:56,881.6056664 And I think this is a beautiful and ironic juxtaposition. 228 00:20:56,881.6056664 --> 00:21:08,881.6056664 All of this work, all of this money, all of these logistics that exist in the real world done by real people, it's all with the goal of making all of that stuff go away, right? Like it's this. 229 00:21:09,376.6056664 --> 00:21:10,816.6056664 Elaborate Magic Act. 230 00:21:10,996.6056664 --> 00:21:14,686.6056664 And like she says in Mirrorball, I'll show you every version of yourself tonight. 231 00:21:15,436.6056664 --> 00:21:25,996.6056664 It's all a ploy to make us forget about our real lives and to get to live in this fantasy world where we're entertained so elaborately that we forget all of those. 232 00:21:26,296.6056664 --> 00:21:27,256.6056664 Everyday struggles. 233 00:21:27,256.6056664 --> 00:21:38,806.6056664 We get to be different versions of ourselves as we consume the show and we get to forget about the versions of ourselves that have to pay bills and go on the school run and nurse their dying parents and fight with their boss. 234 00:21:39,286.6056664 --> 00:21:43,396.6056664 We get to live in an alternate reality, and that is the goal. 235 00:21:43,696.6056664 --> 00:21:46,786.6056664 That's the reality for all of these people putting on the show. 236 00:21:47,416.6056664 --> 00:21:48,736.6056664 It's to make the world go away. 237 00:21:48,736.6056664 --> 00:21:56,736.6056664 So when Taylor says she wanted to overdeliver, this is what she's talking about, she wanted to make it so all consuming, so enchanting that we forget ourselves. 238 00:21:57,396.6056664 --> 00:22:03,996.6056664 It's escapism and it's escapism at a time when people need it the most in this absolutely crazy time to be alive. 239 00:22:05,166.6056664 --> 00:22:07,596.6056664 Now we're in the car that is taking Taylor to Wembley. 240 00:22:07,596.6056664 --> 00:22:10,206.6056664 We see her driving through London and she is practicing. 241 00:22:10,206.6056664 --> 00:22:13,116.6056664 Everything has changed to perform with Ed Sheeran that night. 242 00:22:13,506.6056664 --> 00:22:15,516.6056664 And then we get this very sweet phone call with Travis. 243 00:22:16,116.6056664 --> 00:22:24,336.6056664 And in any other world, this is just a regular partner phone call, right? Like it's me calling my husband to check in and talk about our days and what time we're gonna be home. 244 00:22:24,516.6056664 --> 00:22:26,166.6056664 But these are not everyday people. 245 00:22:26,166.6056664 --> 00:22:28,176.6056664 These are not everyday things they're talking about. 246 00:22:29,316.6056664 --> 00:22:32,886.6056664 And I don't think Taylor's ever been this candid about a relationship. 247 00:22:32,886.6056664 --> 00:22:36,426.6056664 She certainly never allowed us hear phone calls between herself and a partner. 248 00:22:37,176.6056664 --> 00:22:41,916.6056664 So it was very candid and very vulnerable, and I think that tells us all we need to know about this. 249 00:22:42,441.6056664 --> 00:22:46,491.6056664 The coolest part of this phone call to me is when she says, some people get a vitamin drip. 250 00:22:47,61.6056664 --> 00:22:57,141.6056664 I got this conversation and what that says to me is that this relationship feeds her and he says, thank you for making my life better. 251 00:22:58,551.6056664 --> 00:23:01,41.6056664 That is food that is sustenance. 252 00:23:02,1.6056664 --> 00:23:04,671.6056664 You finally left the table and what a simple thought. 253 00:23:04,671.6056664 --> 00:23:06,51.6056664 You're starving till you're not. 254 00:23:06,561.6056664 --> 00:23:07,371.6056664 She's fed. 255 00:23:08,211.6056664 --> 00:23:09,171.6056664 She's finally fed. 256 00:23:10,911.6056664 --> 00:23:12,441.6056664 Then we get another time marker. 257 00:23:12,441.6056664 --> 00:23:18,891.6056664 It is six hours to Showtime at Wembley, and we are back to Amos who tells us that he started working with her in 2007. 258 00:23:19,11.6056664 --> 00:23:22,221.6056664 That is 18 years to work together, which is incredible. 259 00:23:22,881.6056664 --> 00:23:28,341.6056664 And he tells us, although a lot has changed, the thing that remains really constant is that there's not a challenge. 260 00:23:28,341.6056664 --> 00:23:31,251.6056664 She isn't going to meet head on and decide to conquer. 261 00:23:31,251.6056664 --> 00:23:36,986.6056664 And that tenacity, Taylor's tenacity is a big part of why we all love her, right? Like when she's faced with an obstacle. 262 00:23:37,656.6056664 --> 00:23:41,526.6056664 She pivots and she finds a way around and pretty soon she's on the other side of the mountain. 263 00:23:42,396.6056664 --> 00:23:48,66.6056664 This footage is spliced with a clip of what Amos calls Taylor casting the vision for the show. 264 00:23:48,396.6056664 --> 00:23:59,526.6056664 And it's this incredible clip of Taylor basically laying out the brainchild, how this show is gonna go, including these epic moments where she plays air guitar and air drums, which is really funny. 265 00:24:00,6.6056664 --> 00:24:06,546.6056664 Um, she's going through what songs are gonna be included, and she's just going over the basic sort of layout for the show, for the band. 266 00:24:07,231.6056664 --> 00:24:11,161.6056664 And you can see how visually this is all playing in her head already. 267 00:24:11,161.6056664 --> 00:24:12,811.6056664 She knows exactly what it wants to be. 268 00:24:12,961.6056664 --> 00:24:16,501.6056664 She knows exactly what emotion she wants people to feel at what time. 269 00:24:17,71.6056664 --> 00:24:27,841.6056664 And I think this really shows her ability to translate these visions and these dreams that happen in her mind's eye and sort of cast them into reality, as Amos calls it, casting the vision. 270 00:24:28,831.6056664 --> 00:24:35,221.6056664 And really what that is, that knowing that describing that, creating that is storytelling. 271 00:24:35,916.6056664 --> 00:24:39,456.6056664 So it's again, this incredible peek at how the wheels churn for her. 272 00:24:40,56.6056664 --> 00:24:49,326.6056664 And how everything is a story that she wants to tell, and she now has all of these tools at her disposal that can help her relay these stories to her audience. 273 00:24:49,326.6056664 --> 00:25:00,576.6056664 She can tell them with music, with words, with lighting, with movement, and she has combined all of these stories into a three and a half hour set that tells a complete story back to front from beginning to end. 274 00:25:01,496.6056664 --> 00:25:02,336.6056664 And it's beautiful. 275 00:25:02,336.6056664 --> 00:25:08,546.6056664 I wish we all had that ability to translate our ideas and sort of manifest them into reality like she can. 276 00:25:09,746.6056664 --> 00:25:16,346.6056664 So we are counting down, it's four hours until Showtime and then we get these really sweet clips of fans outside Wembley who've been waiting for hours. 277 00:25:16,436.6056664 --> 00:25:21,116.6056664 And I do remember London was tense in those few days leading up to the show. 278 00:25:21,116.6056664 --> 00:25:25,106.6056664 Wembley were the first shows back after the terrorist plot in Austria. 279 00:25:25,736.6056664 --> 00:25:28,616.6056664 And the messaging here in London from the mayor was basically like. 280 00:25:29,121.6056664 --> 00:25:30,381.6056664 You're not getting away with anything. 281 00:25:30,381.6056664 --> 00:25:39,261.6056664 We are tightening security beyond anything you've ever seen, and I saw more police out and about in London in those few days than I've ever seen before living here for many years. 282 00:25:39,261.6056664 --> 00:25:45,501.6056664 We were all just hoping that it would go off without a hitch, but the excitement, the energy was also just. 283 00:25:45,921.6056664 --> 00:25:46,671.6056664 Magic. 284 00:25:47,181.6056664 --> 00:25:49,221.6056664 So now we are back inside the stadium. 285 00:25:49,281.6056664 --> 00:25:51,531.6056664 We get to meet Taylor backstage in her dressing room. 286 00:25:51,531.6056664 --> 00:25:55,821.6056664 She's laying down on her sofa and she puts on an audio book to try to calm her nerves. 287 00:25:55,851.6056664 --> 00:26:01,341.6056664 That audio book, by the way, is The God of the Woods by Liz Moore and has a great read or a great listen. 288 00:26:01,341.6056664 --> 00:26:06,171.6056664 It's very much in the vibe of audio books that Taylor described in her Colbert interview. 289 00:26:06,301.6056664 --> 00:26:14,401.6056664 Except it's not an English manner covered in Ivy, it actually takes place in the Adirondacks with this wealthy family palatial estate. 290 00:26:14,401.6056664 --> 00:26:18,751.6056664 And there's a mystery that unfolds this shrouded secrecy in the woods. 291 00:26:19,441.6056664 --> 00:26:20,581.6056664 Uh, Liz Moore is a great writer. 292 00:26:20,581.6056664 --> 00:26:22,231.6056664 Definitely go read it or listen to it. 293 00:26:22,951.6056664 --> 00:26:29,581.6056664 And we hear from Taylor in a voiceover and she's describing this really tense moment, going back out on stage for the first time since Vienna. 294 00:26:30,721.6056664 --> 00:26:33,661.6056664 I want to keep all of the nerves I have away from the crowd. 295 00:26:33,661.6056664 --> 00:26:34,231.6056664 She says. 296 00:26:34,671.6056664 --> 00:26:45,231.6056664 Because when you're sort of the ringleader of this show, they can sense any kind of shift energetically in you, and you really have to focus on that and factor that in that you're the eras tour. 297 00:26:45,231.6056664 --> 00:26:46,101.6056664 Nothing's wrong. 298 00:26:46,101.6056664 --> 00:26:48,231.6056664 This is again, the life of a showgirl. 299 00:26:48,591.6056664 --> 00:26:52,551.6056664 And she says in the prolonged poem for the album, you will cover the wound. 300 00:26:52,611.6056664 --> 00:26:53,991.6056664 No matter how deep it is. 301 00:26:54,261.6056664 --> 00:26:59,966.6056664 You have to make it look planned and you have to make it look effortless, and you have to lay on the plane without letting them see you sweat. 302 00:27:01,476.6056664 --> 00:27:08,106.6056664 Then we see Ed come in to prep for the show and they're having catch up, and she's describing all of these intense feelings of being hunted lately. 303 00:27:08,541.6056664 --> 00:27:09,891.6056664 E and Ed says. 304 00:27:09,891.6056664 --> 00:27:13,761.6056664 I feel like people have forgotten that you're a human being amongst all of this. 305 00:27:13,761.6056664 --> 00:27:18,171.6056664 And he's sort of gesturing to, you know, the wider world, the wider production of the show. 306 00:27:18,951.6056664 --> 00:27:20,871.6056664 And Taylor, agrees, a hundred percent. 307 00:27:21,171.6056664 --> 00:27:22,41.6056664 Taylor Swift Inc. 308 00:27:22,41.6056664 --> 00:27:25,881.6056664 Is so much larger than Taylor Swift human girl. 309 00:27:25,881.6056664 --> 00:27:32,841.6056664 And this whole scene is really describing these two selves that the life of a showgirl goes so deeply into the showgirl versus the girl. 310 00:27:32,841.6056664 --> 00:27:38,271.6056664 And what happens to the girl when the show takes over and she's no longer human or no longer allowed to be human. 311 00:27:39,556.6056664 --> 00:27:47,956.6056664 Then we get a very heavy and very sad reminder of how these two selves affect one another and how these two selves are actually at war. 312 00:27:48,616.6056664 --> 00:28:00,76.6056664 We get a paragraph on a black screen that says, before each of the five Wembley shows, Taylor meets privately with the survivors and families of the victims of the tragic attack in Southport. 313 00:28:01,6.6056664 --> 00:28:06,46.6056664 She and her mom come out of that room both fully in tears, and the atmosphere is very, very heavy. 314 00:28:06,666.6056664 --> 00:28:07,686.6056664 Back in the dresser room. 315 00:28:07,686.6056664 --> 00:28:10,326.6056664 Taylor's mom says, I know you helped them. 316 00:28:10,596.6056664 --> 00:28:12,756.6056664 I know it doesn't seem like it, but I know you helped them. 317 00:28:13,866.6056664 --> 00:28:20,346.6056664 Taylor is in full costume and makeup crying on the couch, and we know that she has to pick herself up and get out on that stage. 318 00:28:20,346.6056664 --> 00:28:23,916.6056664 Soon we get a voiceover from Taylor at this point, and it says. 319 00:28:24,831.6056664 --> 00:28:34,341.6056664 I really do live in a reality that's very unreal a lot of the time, but it is my job to be able to kind of handle all of these feelings and perk up immediately to perform. 320 00:28:35,61.6056664 --> 00:28:36,436.6056664 That's just the way it's gotta be. 321 00:28:38,16.6056664 --> 00:28:43,746.6056664 Because bottom line, that's her job to entertain and no one will be entertained if you can't make it through the set list. 322 00:28:44,466.6056664 --> 00:28:50,796.6056664 And while I think we really can't compare our struggles to Taylor struggles, we have very different means to deal with our problems. 323 00:28:51,246.6056664 --> 00:28:52,926.6056664 The scale of our problems are very different. 324 00:28:52,926.6056664 --> 00:28:54,561.6056664 I think this is one thing that money can't buy. 325 00:28:56,46.6056664 --> 00:29:09,396.6056664 And while Taylor gets a lot of flack for being out of touch or complaining about her situation, or just being a billionaire in her castle, this issue she's describing here can't be solved with money or success or notoriety. 326 00:29:09,426.6056664 --> 00:29:11,106.6056664 Money can't buy the kind of strength. 327 00:29:11,766.6056664 --> 00:29:20,916.6056664 And the kind of compartmentalization that it takes to meet with families of murder victims whose murders you probably feel partially responsible for, but you are not. 328 00:29:21,606.6056664 --> 00:29:32,706.6056664 To try to comfort them and relate to them and reassure them and have all of that heaviness and all of that weight on your shoulders, and then moments later, forget all of that and go out on stage and entertain 90,000 people. 329 00:29:33,321.6056664 --> 00:29:34,911.6056664 That is not a normal person problem. 330 00:29:34,911.6056664 --> 00:29:41,931.6056664 That is not a normal person life, and that is also not a normal amount of strength and resilience and tenacity. 331 00:29:42,231.6056664 --> 00:29:45,411.6056664 That is a remarkable amount of strength and composure. 332 00:29:45,921.6056664 --> 00:29:56,511.6056664 And while I think this life has tried to tear her down and many people have tried to make her feel small and not good enough and not worthy, I do believe that all of these trials have built her into this person who can do it. 333 00:29:56,916.6056664 --> 00:29:59,586.6056664 And can make it look effortless while she's doing it. 334 00:30:00,246.6056664 --> 00:30:15,846.6056664 And I think a part of what this docuseries is showing us is behind that curtain, what's really going on behind the scenes and not in a look how amazing and strong I am sort of way, but in a way that builds connection because that's always been the goal of her stories, to build connection. 335 00:30:15,846.6056664 --> 00:30:22,446.6056664 No matter if she's singing a song or writing a poem, or Miss Americana or showing us these six episodes behind the scenes, she's saying. 336 00:30:22,951.6056664 --> 00:30:25,981.6056664 Yes, I have an abnormal life, but I am not inhuman. 337 00:30:25,981.6056664 --> 00:30:27,91.6056664 I am very human. 338 00:30:27,991.6056664 --> 00:30:33,1.6056664 And these things, all these things that you say about me and all these things, you sling at me, they affect me. 339 00:30:33,961.6056664 --> 00:30:37,741.6056664 And I think this series is showing us that incredibly effectively. 340 00:30:37,741.6056664 --> 00:30:48,856.6056664 Next we at a bit of a mood lightener as we move towards Showtime and we get finally, for the first time footage of her riding inside the cleaning cart, we always kinda wondered what it was like in there. 341 00:30:48,966.6056664 --> 00:30:49,696.6056664 We'd seen photos. 342 00:30:50,821.6056664 --> 00:30:56,911.6056664 But to see it actually move with her inside being swept away to the stage? Pun intended. 343 00:30:57,301.6056664 --> 00:30:58,951.6056664 It's, it's really sweet to see that. 344 00:30:58,951.6056664 --> 00:30:59,611.6056664 It's really cool. 345 00:31:00,331.6056664 --> 00:31:02,11.6056664 So we see her under the stage. 346 00:31:02,11.6056664 --> 00:31:06,91.6056664 We see the LED screen countdown, and the crowd at Wedley is pumped. 347 00:31:06,601.6056664 --> 00:31:14,311.6056664 And then we finally see her appear, and through this montage of that first night back at Wembley, we get a voiceover and she talks about locking eyes with the crowd. 348 00:31:15,301.6056664 --> 00:31:18,691.6056664 I see the mass quantities of joy that everyone's feeling, she says. 349 00:31:19,561.6056664 --> 00:31:28,51.6056664 What's interesting is like there's some joy in the show, but there's a lot of emotions that aren't just like put on your smiley face and come to the eras tour. 350 00:31:28,111.6056664 --> 00:31:29,6.6056664 It's so much more. 351 00:31:30,661.6056664 --> 00:31:34,861.6056664 And this is a really interesting point from Taylor because it's not a totally happy show. 352 00:31:34,981.6056664 --> 00:31:50,41.6056664 And looking at the set list, I would say that maybe 30% max are happy songs because most of her catalog aren't fully happy songs, right? So like what makes it translate into joy in the crowd when she's singing about really heavy stuff and emotional stuff. 353 00:31:50,941.6056664 --> 00:31:53,911.6056664 She explains her theory on that next, and it's a good one. 354 00:31:54,651.6056664 --> 00:31:58,761.6056664 You look out into the crowd, she says, and it isn't just like a blob of lights. 355 00:31:58,761.6056664 --> 00:32:08,1.6056664 These are millions of stories and all of these counter narratives all colliding in one place where we feel safe to be demonstrative of a whole spectrum of emotion. 356 00:32:09,81.6056664 --> 00:32:10,761.6056664 That stuff is really powerful. 357 00:32:11,91.6056664 --> 00:32:16,161.6056664 Life contains multitudes and we're kind of exploring all of the dramatic edges of those things. 358 00:32:16,641.6056664 --> 00:32:22,71.6056664 That's what might be unlocking feelings of joy, feelings of euphoria, and it still gets me. 359 00:32:22,161.6056664 --> 00:32:22,941.6056664 It does. 360 00:32:24,271.6056664 --> 00:32:32,701.6056664 So her theory on why the eras tour brought so much joy to so many was that it allowed a space for us to feel our feelings no matter what those feelings are. 361 00:32:32,971.6056664 --> 00:32:43,351.6056664 And it's that release where you have the freedom to be sad, the freedom to be happy, to be angry, to be all of those feelings, even if they're contradictory feelings. 362 00:32:43,351.6056664 --> 00:32:48,841.6056664 It's validated in song and in your cohorts in the crowd and the energy in the room. 363 00:32:49,441.6056664 --> 00:32:51,111.6056664 And that's the magic of the eras tour. 364 00:32:51,931.6056664 --> 00:32:56,731.6056664 But one piece that I wanna add is that if you're a long time Swiftie, like me, you've grown up alongside these stories. 365 00:32:57,91.6056664 --> 00:33:05,581.6056664 Taylor's stories have become your stories and Taylor's eras coincide with your eras, and you have emotional ties to each one of these songs. 366 00:33:06,91.6056664 --> 00:33:12,151.6056664 So going into that stadium, especially after she hadn't toured for what I consider to be her most. 367 00:33:12,741.6056664 --> 00:33:14,811.6056664 Vulnerable albums of powerful albums. 368 00:33:15,441.6056664 --> 00:33:18,351.6056664 All of that energy was built up and needed to be released. 369 00:33:19,71.6056664 --> 00:33:26,121.6056664 And what she says about all of these millions of stories and counter narratives, each one of those are stories in their own right, in their own lives. 370 00:33:26,121.6056664 --> 00:33:31,431.6056664 But they were also tied to the story of Taylor Swift because she's been narrating our lives as we've been living them. 371 00:33:32,421.6056664 --> 00:33:40,221.6056664 And then to finally hear those songs live directly from the person who wrote them, that's like having an audio book of your life narrated before your eyes. 372 00:33:40,771.6056664 --> 00:33:49,501.6056664 And it's doing what stories are supposed to do, which is to foster connection not just with the audience, but with one another and within ourselves. 373 00:33:50,191.6056664 --> 00:33:54,841.6056664 So that's the alchemy of the eras tour and why it was so magical and why it felt so joyful. 374 00:33:55,771.6056664 --> 00:34:01,411.6056664 Because we were allowed and we were allowing ourselves to revisit our past lives together. 375 00:34:01,711.6056664 --> 00:34:17,641.6056664 We were grieving them and then releasing those past selves together, and Taylor was essentially modeling this for us, right? Like by revisiting her eras and roleplaying these past versions of herself, remembering both the bad and the good, we could look back at our past eras in the same way. 376 00:34:18,181.6056664 --> 00:34:25,111.6056664 It allows us a framework for processing our inner lives and writing our own stories, and then letting those stories go. 377 00:34:26,401.6056664 --> 00:34:34,741.6056664 And I think the joy in the eras Tour is this collective release, this mass letting go and shedding of our skins in a safe place. 378 00:34:35,791.6056664 --> 00:34:38,581.6056664 And one more thought on this and then we'll wrap up episode one. 379 00:34:38,701.6056664 --> 00:34:44,341.6056664 I think this is the same reason why events like Southport and why Vienna felt so terrifying. 380 00:34:45,511.6056664 --> 00:34:53,11.6056664 Not just because they were terrifying, but because the Taylor Swift universe has always been our safe space and should be a safe space. 381 00:34:53,701.6056664 --> 00:34:55,351.6056664 And there are people who tried to take that away. 382 00:34:55,351.6056664 --> 00:35:24,111.6056664 So we're at the end of the show and we get a clip of her overcome with emotion on stage, and then she's taking her final bow and one of the first things she asks her tour manager as she comes off stage is, did anything bad happen that I need to know about? So even though she's back and she's just had this cathartic three and a half hour show that went off without a hitch, she's immediately worried about the wider world that her fans live in and that her fans need to experience. 383 00:35:24,111.6056664 --> 00:35:27,381.6056664 When they leave those doors, we see her in the car going back to a hotel. 384 00:35:28,401.6056664 --> 00:35:29,301.6056664 And she calls Travis. 385 00:35:29,301.6056664 --> 00:35:33,921.6056664 They have a a sweet conversation where she tells him how happy is how the crowd must have known. 386 00:35:33,921.6056664 --> 00:35:36,831.6056664 She needed to pick me up after the events of the past month. 387 00:35:37,581.6056664 --> 00:35:40,521.6056664 And then we see her get back to a hotel and greet her cats. 388 00:35:40,911.6056664 --> 00:35:43,821.6056664 And I have to go over this one line because it's so funny to me. 389 00:35:43,821.6056664 --> 00:35:49,521.6056664 She's petting one of her cats who is, seems like mad that she was gone and she says, I know I was at work. 390 00:35:50,811.6056664 --> 00:36:02,601.6056664 And it just struck me how odd her job is, right? Like, can you imagine coming home after performing for that many people? You Taylor f-ing swift in your midnight's body suit and you're just telling your pets. 391 00:36:02,811.6056664 --> 00:36:03,51.6056664 I know. 392 00:36:03,51.6056664 --> 00:36:03,411.6056664 I'm sorry. 393 00:36:03,411.6056664 --> 00:36:07,761.6056664 I was at work, work, like, just, just crazy, crazy life. 394 00:36:07,761.6056664 --> 00:36:16,941.6056664 This woman has, she's running the bath and she's talking about how she winds down and how does she wind down? Oh, just by signing 2000 CDs like. 395 00:36:17,886.6056664 --> 00:36:22,296.6056664 What? I don't think I could do that if I had all week, like my hand would fall off. 396 00:36:23,466.6056664 --> 00:36:31,956.6056664 And if you saw that giant marble bathtub that looked so amazing, if you wondered what hotel that is, that is the Rosewood London and it is just as posh as you think it is. 397 00:36:31,956.6056664 --> 00:36:33,636.6056664 I've never stayed there because I live here. 398 00:36:33,636.6056664 --> 00:36:38,526.6056664 I don't need a hotel room in London, but I had a friend stay there once, so it was absolutely insane. 399 00:36:38,556.6056664 --> 00:36:44,466.6056664 He stayed there during Christmas time and he had two full Christmas trees decorating his suite, like amazing. 400 00:36:44,466.6056664 --> 00:36:49,586.6056664 If you have a few spare grand a night, you can have mermaid time in Taylor Swift's bathtub. 401 00:36:50,696.6056664 --> 00:37:02,456.6056664 So that's where we wrap up with episode one and diving into episode two entitled Magic in the Eras, which is of course alluding to a lyric from today's, A fairytale from Speak Now Magic in the Air. 402 00:37:02,966.6056664 --> 00:37:08,816.6056664 So it's appropriate that we open with Taylor in her purple sparkly ball gown for the Speak Now set. 403 00:37:09,331.6056664 --> 00:37:12,811.6056664 And she's prepping to go out and this purple fog comes in. 404 00:37:12,811.6056664 --> 00:37:13,771.6056664 It's a beautiful shot. 405 00:37:13,821.6056664 --> 00:37:20,871.6056664 And she's talking about going into the last night at Wembley in London, which closed that part of the European leg. 406 00:37:21,681.6056664 --> 00:37:28,281.6056664 She's about to have a well-deserved break after the show, and she's talking about how much work they've all put in to make this tour so special. 407 00:37:28,881.6056664 --> 00:37:33,381.6056664 And while we're getting this voiceover, we see shots of the dancers and the band and the crew. 408 00:37:33,471.6056664 --> 00:37:46,361.6056664 So we get the title card, episode Two, magic in the Eras, and we're getting the sense that this episode is going to be about the people behind the scenes who created the, the magic in the eras, the magic behind the scenes and on the stage. 409 00:37:46,811.6056664 --> 00:37:48,731.6056664 And that's exactly what this episode is. 410 00:37:48,731.6056664 --> 00:37:52,211.6056664 It's all about the whole team and all the teamwork that went into this. 411 00:37:52,871.6056664 --> 00:37:59,951.6056664 Then we get shots of rehearsals, which would be the brand new TTPD set that would debut in Paris in May of 2024. 412 00:38:00,261.6056664 --> 00:38:12,321.6056664 She talks about writing and recording the torture poets during the first half of the tour, and then she talks about how they're gonna incorporate this new set into a show that's already running like clockwork and the show that already tells a story. 413 00:38:12,321.6056664 --> 00:38:15,231.6056664 How are you gonna add, insert a new chapter. 414 00:38:15,261.6056664 --> 00:38:22,781.6056664 So they're in a break between Asia and Europe, which was really only like eight weeks between closing in Singapore and opening in Paris. 415 00:38:22,811.6056664 --> 00:38:25,751.6056664 So how are they gonna do this? And here's the timeline. 416 00:38:25,751.6056664 --> 00:38:27,941.6056664 I had to go back because this kind of blows my mind. 417 00:38:27,971.6056664 --> 00:38:30,161.6056664 The last show in Singapore was March 9th. 418 00:38:30,651.6056664 --> 00:38:35,366.6056664 TTPD comes out on April 19th, and then the first show back is May 9th. 419 00:38:36,86.6056664 --> 00:38:42,776.6056664 So she and her team have two months to number one, hopefully take a break, but it sounds like they didn't really do that. 420 00:38:43,166.6056664 --> 00:38:46,526.6056664 And number two, release and promote a brand new massive album. 421 00:38:46,976.6056664 --> 00:38:53,786.6056664 And number three, learn an entire new set for this show and figure out how to rearrange the entire thing so it fits in. 422 00:38:53,906.6056664 --> 00:38:55,346.6056664 That is a huge undertaking. 423 00:38:56,126.6056664 --> 00:38:58,466.6056664 I don't think she or her team ever really stopped working. 424 00:38:58,616.6056664 --> 00:39:03,716.6056664 So she tells us that they built a top secret rehearsal facility to rehearse torture posts together. 425 00:39:04,316.6056664 --> 00:39:07,316.6056664 And we see her with the band practicing just the music portion. 426 00:39:07,366.6056664 --> 00:39:16,96.6056664 She's talking about the transition into TTPD musically, and she says, this feels like a highly elevated chapter, which. 427 00:39:16,816.6056664 --> 00:39:17,656.6056664 Yes, it is. 428 00:39:17,716.6056664 --> 00:39:26,896.6056664 In terms of storytelling of the eras, TTPD is really sort of the climax of all these really big, heavy emotions that she's been grappling with for a long time. 429 00:39:27,676.6056664 --> 00:39:32,416.6056664 And this is another point in the series where we really get to see the inner workings of her brain. 430 00:39:32,446.6056664 --> 00:39:35,86.6056664 She talks about surgically tweaking these songs. 431 00:39:35,146.6056664 --> 00:39:47,106.6056664 I'll do a verse and a pre-course of this, or I'll cut out the second verse of Down Bad and what she's doing when she's putting these puzzle pieces together is figuring out narratively, what makes the most sense. 432 00:39:47,106.6056664 --> 00:39:55,506.6056664 She's picking pieces of these stories, pieces of her songs that convey the emotions she wants to convey or to tell this larger story of the TTPD set. 433 00:39:56,16.6056664 --> 00:40:02,526.6056664 So she's like taking a red pen to her lyrics, splicing up all of these poems and combining them, and she's telling this. 434 00:40:02,801.6056664 --> 00:40:05,471.6056664 Chapter of a story of the book within the eras tour. 435 00:40:05,651.6056664 --> 00:40:13,841.6056664 And the result, when we finally saw the TTPD set was this incredible narrative where she starts with, but Daddy, I love him going into so high school. 436 00:40:13,841.6056664 --> 00:40:17,801.6056664 She's found this new incredible love and she doesn't care what anyone else thinks. 437 00:40:18,41.6056664 --> 00:40:22,781.6056664 But then the outside world gets very loud and very critical with who's afraid of little me. 438 00:40:22,811.6056664 --> 00:40:26,111.6056664 She can't ignore all of this criticism, and she's getting worried. 439 00:40:26,111.6056664 --> 00:40:26,981.6056664 She's getting annoyed. 440 00:40:27,456.6056664 --> 00:40:28,806.6056664 And then it falls apart. 441 00:40:29,256.6056664 --> 00:40:37,206.6056664 They break up, she is down bad, she's grieving, and then she moves further into grief with Fortnite, looking back on what it was and what it meant. 442 00:40:38,16.6056664 --> 00:40:42,111.6056664 And then she goes full into anger and rage and regret with the smallest man who ever lived. 443 00:40:43,236.6056664 --> 00:40:46,806.6056664 Then she picks herself up, dusts herself off, and she can do it with a broken heart. 444 00:40:47,766.6056664 --> 00:40:53,16.6056664 She's combined these songs, parts of these songs to create a cohesive story, and this scene is really cool. 445 00:40:53,16.6056664 --> 00:41:02,411.6056664 Looking at how she's using all of these tools at her disposal, the band, the music, the dancer's, choreography, the sets, the costumes to bring the story to life. 446 00:41:03,261.6056664 --> 00:41:07,101.6056664 And they of course, have to rearrange the entire set list to tell this new part of the story. 447 00:41:07,911.6056664 --> 00:41:13,611.6056664 And she says it feels crazy to like take all of the pieces apart and then put them together in a different order. 448 00:41:14,181.6056664 --> 00:41:17,541.6056664 So they're redoing the entire show during this very short break. 449 00:41:18,201.6056664 --> 00:41:26,571.6056664 And she takes this not as an obstacle to fear, but as a challenge, she says, we are here because we accepted challenges our whole lives. 450 00:41:27,696.6056664 --> 00:41:38,46.6056664 And this is one thing I really admire about her is her ability to look at these really hard things as opportunities and as stepping stones and not as a chore or as a burden. 451 00:41:38,46.6056664 --> 00:41:40,476.6056664 I wish I could look at more things in my life that way. 452 00:41:41,376.6056664 --> 00:41:47,766.6056664 So they've perfected this new chapter and we are now backstage in Paris about to perform it for the first time. 453 00:41:48,426.6056664 --> 00:41:51,756.6056664 They are in the pre-show huddle, and I love what she says here. 454 00:41:52,171.6056664 --> 00:42:00,871.6056664 I would imagine they're all incredibly nervous, not only because they've been on a break and this is their first show back, but it's an entirely new show. 455 00:42:00,901.6056664 --> 00:42:02,701.6056664 They've never done the show this way before. 456 00:42:02,701.6056664 --> 00:42:04,351.6056664 It's been entirely rewritten. 457 00:42:04,921.6056664 --> 00:42:13,801.6056664 But she says to her team, we're gonna get to watch 45,000 people experience the fact that they're seeing something that's never been seen before. 458 00:42:15,1.6056664 --> 00:42:18,451.6056664 She doesn't say, I know you guys are nervous, but you're gonna do great. 459 00:42:18,451.6056664 --> 00:42:19,171.6056664 No, she says. 460 00:42:19,716.6056664 --> 00:42:21,456.6056664 Basically, this is an opportunity. 461 00:42:21,486.6056664 --> 00:42:22,806.6056664 We get to watch them. 462 00:42:23,76.6056664 --> 00:42:25,326.6056664 We get to experience this energy in the room. 463 00:42:25,326.6056664 --> 00:42:31,776.6056664 We get to perform for them, and think about how powerful that is as a leader to have that energy. 464 00:42:31,876.6056664 --> 00:42:35,416.6056664 Your boss saying, not like, I know you're scared, but you have to do this. 465 00:42:35,416.6056664 --> 00:42:37,906.6056664 It's your boss saying, look what we get to do. 466 00:42:38,746.6056664 --> 00:42:40,6.6056664 Look what you get to do. 467 00:42:41,281.6056664 --> 00:42:51,31.6056664 Uh, not all of our jobs are as rewarding as the errors to her and our bosses are not as cool as Taylor Swift, but I think a huge part of her success in business is due to this kind of leadership. 468 00:42:51,31.6056664 --> 00:42:55,441.6056664 She's heading out to the stage and she's excited, and she gets everyone else excited. 469 00:42:56,341.6056664 --> 00:42:58,21.6056664 She says she's walking to the stage. 470 00:42:58,51.6056664 --> 00:43:00,211.6056664 I love having a good secret. 471 00:43:00,391.6056664 --> 00:43:08,701.6056664 And we all rolled our eyes with that one, right? Like, we know you love a good secret Taylor, and you love torturing us with anticipation, but all of that anticipation paid off. 472 00:43:08,911.6056664 --> 00:43:31,571.6056664 TTPD was a welcome, celebrated, new addition to the show, and we all collectively lost our minds and now we're fast forwarding a little bit or we're circling back around to the last show in London and there are more good secrets to come for the fans, even though Taylor tells us that it is huge amount of extra work to keep things a surprise because she wants to give us even more. 473 00:43:31,571.6056664 --> 00:43:36,521.6056664 She wants to perform Florida with Florence, and we get to see how that all came together. 474 00:43:37,301.6056664 --> 00:43:40,61.6056664 We are now watching the behind the scenes of how Florida. 475 00:43:40,236.6056664 --> 00:43:48,276.6056664 Was conceptualized and we zoom in on Amanda Balen and Mandy Moore, the choreographers who are putting together the choreo for the song. 476 00:43:48,966.6056664 --> 00:43:51,126.6056664 And we get to learn a little bit of backstory for both of them. 477 00:43:51,126.6056664 --> 00:43:55,836.6056664 And we learned that Taylor met Mandy through Emma Stone because she did the choreo for Lala Land. 478 00:43:56,481.6056664 --> 00:44:01,851.6056664 But she's mostly worked in TV and movies, so moving to a live tour was kind of a departure for her. 479 00:44:02,451.6056664 --> 00:44:10,191.6056664 But as it turns out, this was a really good fit because what is dance and movement in film and tv? It's storytelling. 480 00:44:10,281.6056664 --> 00:44:13,11.6056664 And what did Taylor want the ERAS tour to be? Storytelling. 481 00:44:13,851.6056664 --> 00:44:17,511.6056664 And Mandy tells us, now I understand why I was brought in. 482 00:44:17,631.6056664 --> 00:44:19,641.6056664 'cause she really wanted to do something different. 483 00:44:19,701.6056664 --> 00:44:21,741.6056664 And she likes the storytelling. 484 00:44:21,891.6056664 --> 00:44:24,321.6056664 I mean, her songs are mini movies. 485 00:44:25,316.6056664 --> 00:44:27,446.6056664 Yes, that's exactly it. 486 00:44:27,446.6056664 --> 00:44:39,26.6056664 I'm so happy to see how Mandy incorporates her storytelling and Taylor's storytelling, and this really became this symbiotic relationship that is a huge part of what I think made these performances so special. 487 00:44:39,656.6056664 --> 00:44:48,876.6056664 Then we get to know Amanda, who's also a choreographer, but it seems like she's more specifically for Taylor's moves, like modeling these moves that Taylor is going to do. 488 00:44:49,836.6056664 --> 00:45:01,956.6056664 So Amanda is was a professional dancer and she's worked on tours with Janet Jackson, lady Gaga, Celine Dion, et cetera, and she'd done movies and TV shows too, but her body had started to give out. 489 00:45:02,346.6056664 --> 00:45:03,486.6056664 She had retired. 490 00:45:03,486.6056664 --> 00:45:15,966.6056664 She hung up her dancing shoes and she was just doing choreo and behind the scenes stuff when she started working with Taylor and Mandy and Amanda tells us as much as you want it to last forever, dance isn't a forever career. 491 00:45:16,626.6056664 --> 00:45:20,616.6056664 And this quote is so interesting to me because Taylor knows the exact same thing about her career. 492 00:45:20,616.6056664 --> 00:45:21,816.6056664 It's not gonna last forever. 493 00:45:22,266.6056664 --> 00:45:30,606.6056664 And she's had these worries about the shelf life of a pop star, the longevity of especially being a female pop star for a really long time. 494 00:45:30,696.6056664 --> 00:45:34,986.6056664 And she's told us that in her lyrics, in her interviews for ages. 495 00:45:35,586.6056664 --> 00:45:38,856.6056664 So Amanda has kind of accepted this was it for her. 496 00:45:38,856.6056664 --> 00:45:41,676.6056664 She wasn't dancing on stage, she was just working behind the scenes. 497 00:45:41,676.6056664 --> 00:45:45,426.6056664 But then Taylor and the team asked her to be one of the dancers on the eras tour. 498 00:45:46,206.6056664 --> 00:46:06,6.6056664 And she says, but at the end of the day, even though there was a lot of fear, it was just too wonderful of an opportunity and it's this beautiful moment where she thinks she's done and then this new door opens and she says it was a second chance that most people don't get to have, and you can tell she's getting emotional saying this. 499 00:46:06,6.6056664 --> 00:46:07,386.6056664 It's, it's a beautiful story. 500 00:46:08,316.6056664 --> 00:46:15,366.6056664 Now we're back to Mandy and we get to see some earlier clips coming up with the original show and Mandy says, Taylor can gimme thoughts or. 501 00:46:15,441.6056664 --> 00:46:19,851.6056664 Colors or ideas and I think I'm able to understand what she wants visually. 502 00:46:20,661.6056664 --> 00:46:26,631.6056664 So they have this really cool relationship and I think their creativity works in a lot of the same ways they're on like the same wavelength. 503 00:46:27,471.6056664 --> 00:46:35,11.6056664 For example, Taylor says, I want it to be like a girl in an insane asylum slash wooden nymph, and Mandy doesn't miss a beat. 504 00:46:35,31.6056664 --> 00:46:36,531.6056664 She's just like, yes, okay, got that. 505 00:46:36,531.6056664 --> 00:46:37,71.6056664 Let's do it. 506 00:46:37,821.6056664 --> 00:46:39,651.6056664 Which is like, just blows my mind. 507 00:46:40,161.6056664 --> 00:46:52,251.6056664 But we do get the sense that even though Mandy is coming up with the moves, Taylor is coming up with the concepts and Taylor is totally in charge of the story that she's telling and the emotions that she wants to convey with these movements. 508 00:46:53,61.6056664 --> 00:47:00,291.6056664 So we see this demonstrated when they're practicing Florida in Wembley and Taylor sees all of this great choreo on stage and the automations. 509 00:47:00,291.6056664 --> 00:47:02,661.6056664 There's the stage sort of wave going up and down. 510 00:47:03,426.6056664 --> 00:47:12,126.6056664 And Taylor's worried that the crowd won't see it or won't care about it if she and Florence are standing in the front of the stage and then all of this choreo is happening in the back. 511 00:47:12,906.6056664 --> 00:47:15,216.6056664 So she changes up their positions. 512 00:47:15,696.6056664 --> 00:47:18,696.6056664 She wants to be with the dancers on the risers. 513 00:47:18,756.6056664 --> 00:47:21,576.6056664 And this tells me a couple interesting things. 514 00:47:21,966.6056664 --> 00:47:24,816.6056664 One, she knows she's the main attraction. 515 00:47:25,506.6056664 --> 00:47:29,16.6056664 But two, she wants people to see the whole thing. 516 00:47:29,16.6056664 --> 00:47:41,436.6056664 She wants more attention on the dancers and the whole story that she's telling, and she doesn't want people just watching her or just watching Florence, because if you're only watching one person, you're ignoring all the rest. 517 00:47:41,436.6056664 --> 00:47:43,176.6056664 You're missing out on the magic of the whole. 518 00:47:43,176.6056664 --> 00:47:49,326.6056664 Then we get a little backstory about how the whole was created, and specifically how the dancers came to be a part of the tour. 519 00:47:50,166.6056664 --> 00:47:58,716.6056664 And Taylor tells us that the she very intentionally did not want a uniform look or just these bland professional dancers who are all just in the background. 520 00:47:58,716.6056664 --> 00:48:06,66.6056664 She wanted them each to stand out on their own, and she wanted the audience to be able to connect not only with her, but with everyone on that stage. 521 00:48:06,186.6056664 --> 00:48:09,816.6056664 She wanted a group of diverse people who could represent what the world looks like. 522 00:48:10,491.6056664 --> 00:48:14,721.6056664 So it's more relatable and so it's easier to see yourself in these people who are on the stage. 523 00:48:15,411.6056664 --> 00:48:25,581.6056664 And then we get an interview with everyone's favorite ERAS tour dancer Kam Saunders, and he opens with spaces like the space that Taylor is curating on a night to night basis. 524 00:48:25,701.6056664 --> 00:48:28,851.6056664 I wish we had more of that even outside of entertaining. 525 00:48:29,161.6056664 --> 00:48:32,671.6056664 It's so important to be seen, to be heard, to be understood. 526 00:48:33,661.6056664 --> 00:48:43,261.6056664 And I love this quote, not just because I love Kam, but because of what it says about this project as a whole and kind of Taylor's whole, whole ethos for the tour. 527 00:48:43,261.6056664 --> 00:48:50,341.6056664 She's trying to build connection through storytelling, and she didn't wanna tell a story where all of the characters looked and acted the same. 528 00:48:50,341.6056664 --> 00:48:55,411.6056664 That is a boring story if you can't tell one character for another, and they're all interchangeable. 529 00:48:55,411.6056664 --> 00:49:08,431.6056664 Like, have you ever watched a TV show where two of the characters look remarkably alike and you know they're supposed to be different people, but you just can't tell them apart because they act too much alike or they're like written to be sort of a similar person. 530 00:49:09,1.6056664 --> 00:49:12,811.6056664 The result is that you don't care about that story, you turn it off one episode in. 531 00:49:13,21.6056664 --> 00:49:14,401.6056664 And Taylor didn't want that. 532 00:49:14,401.6056664 --> 00:49:21,301.6056664 And that's how we got this amazing crew of incredibly talented, diverse, unique individuals on the tour. 533 00:49:21,651.6056664 --> 00:49:29,271.6056664 And then we get to hear a little backstory on Kam and he tells us that in his career in dance, he had always been told that his looks were the problem. 534 00:49:30,111.6056664 --> 00:49:41,421.6056664 So what are we going to do about your body? A director asked him and he says, in life some people are gonna try to tear you down and they want you to do something else other than the thing you are in love with. 535 00:49:42,756.6056664 --> 00:49:51,6.6056664 But Kam persisted and he says when he got the audition email for the Airs tour, something told him that he had to be there, that this was something different, something special. 536 00:49:51,486.6056664 --> 00:49:59,586.6056664 So he tells us he couldn't afford the plane ticket at the time, and he called his brother, who plays in the NFL, who actually played for the chiefs for a while. 537 00:49:59,666.6056664 --> 00:50:05,546.6056664 He has played in Super Bowls and his brother got him tickets to go to the audition. 538 00:50:05,906.6056664 --> 00:50:10,16.6056664 So Kam goes into the audition and Mandy is immediately like, yes, this is it. 539 00:50:10,16.6056664 --> 00:50:15,596.6056664 She says, he just embodies what I felt was the spirit of what these people needed to be. 540 00:50:16,986.6056664 --> 00:50:22,176.6056664 So Kam set the tone for the cast and he sets an incredible tone and he's just a joy to watch. 541 00:50:22,326.6056664 --> 00:50:24,426.6056664 And Taylor says something similar about him. 542 00:50:24,426.6056664 --> 00:50:30,66.6056664 She says, cam is someone who absolutely lights up not only on the stage, but our entire vibe. 543 00:50:30,366.6056664 --> 00:50:38,676.6056664 As a tour, we see a clip of Cam with one of his be Jeweled ad libs, which were definitely one of the highlights of each night for many of us. 544 00:50:38,796.6056664 --> 00:50:40,356.6056664 And she continues. 545 00:50:40,836.6056664 --> 00:50:42,876.6056664 I don't want dancers that blend in. 546 00:50:42,876.6056664 --> 00:50:44,766.6056664 I don't care about them pulling focus. 547 00:50:44,826.6056664 --> 00:50:46,416.6056664 I want them to pull focus. 548 00:50:46,476.6056664 --> 00:50:53,616.6056664 I want you to feel like you saw an entire crew of individual stars on that stage, and we definitely did. 549 00:50:54,156.6056664 --> 00:51:07,446.6056664 We have already seen the eras true dancers go on to do such incredible things, and I hope that that continues not only for them, but I hope that this kind of casting and this kind of opportunity for openness and diversity and entertainment continues. 550 00:51:07,866.6056664 --> 00:51:09,61.6056664 I hope she set the tone for the future. 551 00:51:10,461.6056664 --> 00:51:25,851.6056664 And Kam reflects on this too, and he says in maybe what is my favorite quote of the episode now, knowing that spaces like this do exist for me, that allow me to be the fullest version of me with all I have to offer in this body as it exists right now. 552 00:51:26,571.6056664 --> 00:51:28,371.6056664 This feels like my Super Bowl. 553 00:51:29,776.6056664 --> 00:51:45,81.6056664 I think this speaks to what we all want in life and in love and in our careers and in our passions, right? Like what if we could all be loved and valued for exactly who we are? As we are without having to change to fit in or adapt for different people or different environments. 554 00:51:45,81.6056664 --> 00:51:55,941.6056664 Like what would that feel like? What if we could truly be seen for exactly who we are? And in being seen like that we could let go of all these other people that we try to be in an effort to be accepted. 555 00:51:57,21.6056664 --> 00:51:57,651.6056664 I want that. 556 00:51:57,651.6056664 --> 00:51:58,761.6056664 I think we all want that. 557 00:52:00,216.6056664 --> 00:52:10,926.6056664 Now we are closing out this leg of the tour and we get a subtitle that says, as each leg of the tour concludes, Taylor prepares bonuses for every dancer, musician and crew member. 558 00:52:11,736.6056664 --> 00:52:15,31.6056664 We see her writing these cards for everyone in her dressing room, and she says. 559 00:52:15,771.6056664 --> 00:52:25,41.6056664 Bonus day is so important because setting a precedent for the eras tour is really important to me because people who work on the road, if the tour grosses more, they get more of a bonus. 560 00:52:25,101.6056664 --> 00:52:28,881.6056664 And these people just work so hard and they are the best at what they do. 561 00:52:28,911.6056664 --> 00:52:31,611.6056664 So every single person on the crew, I've handwritten them a note. 562 00:52:31,611.6056664 --> 00:52:39,321.6056664 But as we're about to learn, it's not only the cards inside these envelopes that show her appreciation, it's also the checks, and they are very, very large checks. 563 00:52:39,891.6056664 --> 00:52:50,1.6056664 But as she's writing these notes and sealing them with this wax seal, which are very fun and great Christmas gifts, if you have a nerd like me on a Christmas list, she goes. 564 00:52:50,376.6056664 --> 00:52:51,756.6056664 It's fun to write the notes. 565 00:52:51,786.6056664 --> 00:52:57,546.6056664 It's fun to think about everybody's lives that they're gonna go back to and the time off they're gonna have. 566 00:52:58,26.6056664 --> 00:53:03,846.6056664 You know, the kids they haven't seen because they've been away for months and it just making it worthwhile for them. 567 00:53:03,996.6056664 --> 00:53:07,566.6056664 It feels like Christmas morning when you finally get to say thank you. 568 00:53:08,886.6056664 --> 00:53:14,586.6056664 This whole episode so far has been about her team and about all of the people who surround her, who make this possible. 569 00:53:14,586.6056664 --> 00:53:16,776.6056664 But this moment is really touching and it shows. 570 00:53:17,121.6056664 --> 00:53:20,661.6056664 How special these people are and how special this tour was. 571 00:53:21,381.6056664 --> 00:53:23,241.6056664 So they're gathering up the envelopes. 572 00:53:23,241.6056664 --> 00:53:31,711.6056664 They're gonna go meet with the team, they've circled up and Taylor tells Kam to read the note aloud and it says, dearest Kam. 573 00:53:31,761.6056664 --> 00:53:34,101.6056664 We've traveled the world like we set out to do. 574 00:53:34,521.6056664 --> 00:53:37,341.6056664 We've dazzled the crowds, but we've missed family too. 575 00:53:37,581.6056664 --> 00:53:41,271.6056664 My full gratitude doesn't come from a bank, but here's. 576 00:53:41,991.6056664 --> 00:53:44,871.6056664 Bleeped out amount of money just to say thanks. 577 00:53:45,771.6056664 --> 00:53:48,861.6056664 When Kam says that number, everyone loses it. 578 00:53:48,891.6056664 --> 00:53:50,391.6056664 Their hands go up to their faces. 579 00:53:50,391.6056664 --> 00:53:51,381.6056664 They all start weeping. 580 00:53:52,191.6056664 --> 00:54:00,231.6056664 Now, if you're curious about that amount, because I know I was, and of course we're curious about this incredible life that is out of reach for us, but. 581 00:54:00,636.6056664 --> 00:54:03,66.6056664 Fun fact, I'm partially deaf, so I'm pretty good at lip reading. 582 00:54:03,66.6056664 --> 00:54:06,966.6056664 I believe it's $750,000 for the dancers at least. 583 00:54:07,356.6056664 --> 00:54:12,396.6056664 And we know this was public information, that the truck drivers got a hundred grand each. 584 00:54:13,236.6056664 --> 00:54:15,6.6056664 This is such a cool moment in my mind. 585 00:54:15,6.6056664 --> 00:54:18,186.6056664 She's showing us this, I think, for a couple of reasons. 586 00:54:18,186.6056664 --> 00:54:18,816.6056664 Number one. 587 00:54:19,776.6056664 --> 00:54:23,166.6056664 She wants to set a precedent like she told us when she was writing the notes. 588 00:54:23,166.6056664 --> 00:54:24,546.6056664 She wants to change the industry. 589 00:54:25,296.6056664 --> 00:54:29,496.6056664 She wants other artists who also make millions to do the same for their crews. 590 00:54:29,556.6056664 --> 00:54:32,376.6056664 She can't set a precedent if no one knows about it. 591 00:54:33,276.6056664 --> 00:54:37,566.6056664 I think that's her number one motivation for showing us this in the documentary. 592 00:54:37,566.6056664 --> 00:54:42,606.6056664 But number two, it also adds to this mythology of the eras tour. 593 00:54:42,936.6056664 --> 00:54:45,516.6056664 And it adds to this mythology of the story she's telling. 594 00:54:46,146.6056664 --> 00:55:02,106.6056664 It makes it feel even more grand and even more groundbreaking if she's not only breaking records with ticket sales and stadium attendance and gross revenue, but she's also handing out these huge unheard of bonuses for everyone who helped put on the show. 595 00:55:03,36.6056664 --> 00:55:07,726.6056664 She also, by the way, gave enormous donations to food banks in every single city where the tour stopped. 596 00:55:07,746.6056664 --> 00:55:21,426.6056664 So I've seen a couple complaints online, like, why does she need to publicize this bonus stuff? Why did she put it in the edit? But I have to say, people who are so full of themselves and their wealth don't often brag about how much they've given away. 597 00:55:22,551.6056664 --> 00:55:34,761.6056664 I think she's proud of what she can do for others, and earnestly proud of it because she knows that it is those people who allow her, who help her to do what she does and to do what she loves. 598 00:55:34,941.6056664 --> 00:55:38,451.6056664 So that's just my 2 cents on this bonus day scene. 599 00:55:39,471.6056664 --> 00:55:45,261.6056664 So now we're back at Wembley rehearsing Florida, and Taylor talks a little bit about how she's learned choreography. 600 00:55:46,11.6056664 --> 00:55:51,291.6056664 As we see her practicing, she tells us everybody's got those things that they're good at, and it's taken me a really long time. 601 00:55:51,306.6056664 --> 00:55:53,616.6056664 Time to even get fine at choreography. 602 00:55:53,616.6056664 --> 00:55:56,526.6056664 And this has been a major criticism that's always been lobbed at Taylor. 603 00:55:56,526.6056664 --> 00:55:57,516.6056664 She can't dance. 604 00:55:57,846.6056664 --> 00:55:59,466.6056664 She's not a natural mover. 605 00:55:59,466.6056664 --> 00:56:03,996.6056664 And I think that speaks a lot to the expectations of pop stars. 606 00:56:04,146.6056664 --> 00:56:17,76.6056664 It as a whole, right? Like they're not only supposed to be beautiful and tall and skinny and have the perfect voice and write their own songs, they're also supposed to be able to dance perfectly in sync to these songs live on stage while singing and running around. 607 00:56:17,76.6056664 --> 00:56:21,756.6056664 I think the world has been really hard on her for something that just doesn't come naturally to her. 608 00:56:22,356.6056664 --> 00:56:33,996.6056664 But when the eras tour started, I think we could tell that something had changed in that department, and she's about to tell us why Mandy knows how to approach teaching me choreography from a lyrical perspective. 609 00:56:33,996.6056664 --> 00:56:36,696.6056664 She says, I don't do eight counts. 610 00:56:36,786.6056664 --> 00:56:42,636.6056664 I learn based on what syllable of the lyric I'm attaching a movement to, and I can't really learn any other way. 611 00:56:42,696.6056664 --> 00:56:43,326.6056664 I've tried. 612 00:56:44,496.6056664 --> 00:56:55,236.6056664 And so we see her doing this in real time as she's practicing Florida with each movement she's singing or speaking the lyrics as she does these movements because that's how she learns. 613 00:56:55,986.6056664 --> 00:57:08,856.6056664 So I think it's so cool that she found this method that works for her, and she found this person that she just clicks with and can translate these different talents into a language that Taylor understands and that Taylor can resonate with. 614 00:57:09,906.6056664 --> 00:57:10,386.6056664 So she goes on. 615 00:57:10,981.6056664 --> 00:57:12,61.6056664 Learning choreography. 616 00:57:12,61.6056664 --> 00:57:14,791.6056664 It's not just doing a step for the sake of doing a step. 617 00:57:14,791.6056664 --> 00:57:18,61.6056664 It's all very visual and it makes sense to me. 618 00:57:18,271.6056664 --> 00:57:21,631.6056664 Narratively, we're back to the storytelling of it all. 619 00:57:22,501.6056664 --> 00:57:28,171.6056664 If you make dance, tell a story or part of the storytelling, that's when it clicks. 620 00:57:28,221.6056664 --> 00:57:34,581.6056664 She's shown us all along that this is how her mind works, and we get to see behind the scenes of how this all came together. 621 00:57:35,681.6056664 --> 00:57:42,281.6056664 Now we're back to Kam and we get to meet his mom, who seems just like an incredible woman and an incredible mother. 622 00:57:42,401.6056664 --> 00:57:43,631.6056664 She's at the London show. 623 00:57:43,631.6056664 --> 00:57:47,141.6056664 We get the sense that she's a VIP, right? Because of course she is. 624 00:57:47,141.6056664 --> 00:57:47,831.6056664 She's Cam's mom. 625 00:57:48,551.6056664 --> 00:57:55,241.6056664 So we get to see this really sweet moment between them where she's telling her son just how special this experience has been for her. 626 00:57:55,241.6056664 --> 00:57:57,761.6056664 And Cam absolutely loses it. 627 00:57:57,761.6056664 --> 00:58:02,951.6056664 He's so emotional and so grateful, and he says, I've watched you make so many sacrifices. 628 00:58:03,236.6056664 --> 00:58:06,266.6056664 So many for us to be able to do what we're doing. 629 00:58:07,16.6056664 --> 00:58:14,66.6056664 He's talking about himself and his brother, the NFL player, and he goes on being able to do what we love in such grand spaces. 630 00:58:14,516.6056664 --> 00:58:16,856.6056664 It's a product of how you love us. 631 00:58:18,86.6056664 --> 00:58:24,956.6056664 And she just nods and says, I do like of course, I love you and of course I do anything for you. 632 00:58:24,956.6056664 --> 00:58:27,656.6056664 And I have to say, being a mother watching this moment. 633 00:58:28,466.6056664 --> 00:58:45,746.6056664 I know how Kim feels because you would do anything for your kids, but I think the really special aspect of this relationship and also the relationship between Taylor and her mom that we also get to see is how much respect they have for their kids and who they are and what they want. 634 00:58:45,776.6056664 --> 00:58:52,346.6056664 They're not these controlling, judgmental parents who have to be overly involved, but they appreciate their children for exactly who they are. 635 00:58:53,186.6056664 --> 00:59:03,116.6056664 And it's obvious to see that when they were children, they were given that space and that freedom to grow and to desire things no matter if it was unrealistic to the adult. 636 00:59:03,671.6056664 --> 00:59:08,441.6056664 No matter if the adult thought it was a pipe dream, the parents still supported them. 637 00:59:09,371.6056664 --> 00:59:15,791.6056664 Neither of these parents said, oh, I don't know honey, you, you should focus on your other talents because this isn't gonna get you anywhere. 638 00:59:16,721.6056664 --> 00:59:18,371.6056664 Or, oh, no, you can't do that. 639 00:59:18,371.6056664 --> 00:59:19,931.6056664 'cause that's not a real career. 640 00:59:19,961.6056664 --> 00:59:20,441.6056664 No. 641 00:59:21,191.6056664 --> 00:59:26,531.6056664 Instead they fostered creativity and they're let their children be exactly who they are. 642 00:59:26,936.6056664 --> 00:59:44,36.6056664 No matter if it was something that they approved of or made sense or not, those are magical parents right there, and I think it's incredibly rare and it's incredibly special to be able to have that type of parent, not only in childhood but in adulthood as well. 643 00:59:45,536.6056664 --> 00:59:57,296.6056664 So zooming away from Kam, now we are back in the stadium and Florence joins rehearsal, and this is where we get the most important line so far in the docuseries, and it comes from Florence. 644 00:59:57,326.6056664 --> 01:00:04,916.6056664 As she's talking about Taylor, she says we're similar in that the persona is huge, but the person is soft. 645 01:00:05,96.6056664 --> 01:00:06,656.6056664 And so I think that's why we get along. 646 01:00:07,136.6056664 --> 01:00:14,546.6056664 And what she's referring to here is the showgirl versus the girl, Florence in the machine, and Taylor Swift. 647 01:00:14,606.6056664 --> 01:00:16,586.6056664 Two huge personas. 648 01:00:17,216.6056664 --> 01:00:20,126.6056664 These are the facades that they put on in the spotlight. 649 01:00:20,126.6056664 --> 01:00:20,876.6056664 This is their. 650 01:00:21,186.6056664 --> 01:00:22,56.6056664 Commercial appeal. 651 01:00:22,56.6056664 --> 01:00:23,46.6056664 This is their brand. 652 01:00:23,46.6056664 --> 01:00:24,96.6056664 This is the show. 653 01:00:24,546.6056664 --> 01:00:36,196.6056664 So what she means when she says the persona is huge is that the show is so much bigger than the girl, but then there's the girl inside who also just happens to bear the same name, but they're not the same. 654 01:00:36,941.6056664 --> 01:00:43,331.6056664 One is out on stage built to entertain and making herself bigger and looms large over this whole industry. 655 01:00:43,331.6056664 --> 01:00:47,111.6056664 It makes herself the mirror ball, but the girl inside is just human. 656 01:00:47,801.6056664 --> 01:00:52,751.6056664 The person is soft, is what Florence says about the other half of them. 657 01:00:53,291.6056664 --> 01:01:00,491.6056664 And a lot of what the life of a showgirl is grappling with is how these two parts of yourself intersect and how they are battling one another. 658 01:01:01,251.6056664 --> 01:01:03,621.6056664 And how one can make life very difficult for the other. 659 01:01:04,821.6056664 --> 01:01:15,651.6056664 And I just love this quote from Florence so much because it sums up both Taylor and what it means to be a brand in the public eye when you're also human. 660 01:01:15,651.6056664 --> 01:01:18,231.6056664 So Florence goes on externally. 661 01:01:18,291.6056664 --> 01:01:28,941.6056664 The thing is really big, but like when we're together, we're just silly and goofy, and we see this demonstrated as they're practicing and dancing and jumping around and just being themselves. 662 01:01:29,841.6056664 --> 01:01:34,71.6056664 But when they're practicing, they're still the person, they're not the persona yet. 663 01:01:34,491.6056664 --> 01:01:42,21.6056664 They'll put that on, they'll put on those costumes and those layers built to protect themselves and to project themselves. 664 01:01:43,56.6056664 --> 01:01:46,296.6056664 And that's when Taylor Swift becomes Taylor Swift Inc. 665 01:01:46,296.6056664 --> 01:01:49,356.6056664 And that's when Florence Welsh becomes Florence and the machine. 666 01:01:50,46.6056664 --> 01:01:53,586.6056664 That's exactly where we're gonna see as we head towards Showtime. 667 01:01:54,846.6056664 --> 01:01:59,596.6056664 We are now inside the show, We see clips of Cam's mom dancing, which is so sweet. 668 01:02:00,136.6056664 --> 01:02:02,446.6056664 And then during we are never ever getting back together. 669 01:02:02,446.6056664 --> 01:02:06,496.6056664 We hear Cam do his "nah, bruv", for the last night in London. 670 01:02:06,496.6056664 --> 01:02:09,526.6056664 It's just such a perfect closing British line. 671 01:02:10,186.6056664 --> 01:02:15,76.6056664 Then we get to see the performance of Florida on film in high def for the first time. 672 01:02:15,406.6056664 --> 01:02:20,26.6056664 So we see Flo under the stage and we can tell that she is nervous. 673 01:02:20,86.6056664 --> 01:02:21,946.6056664 She is fidgeting. 674 01:02:21,946.6056664 --> 01:02:25,246.6056664 She's making these like scared, awkward faces at the crew. 675 01:02:26,56.6056664 --> 01:02:37,426.6056664 But then she climbs onto the platform and as the drums hit, the platform rises and she raises her arms and the crowd goes wild and suddenly she is a different person. 676 01:02:37,906.6056664 --> 01:02:39,466.6056664 She is no longer Florence. 677 01:02:39,466.6056664 --> 01:02:40,636.6056664 She's Florence and the machine. 678 01:02:40,636.6056664 --> 01:02:43,696.6056664 She's the persona and we've talked about it. 679 01:02:44,506.6056664 --> 01:02:55,606.6056664 And Florence has talked about it, but to get to see it in real time, this putting on this alternate personality, becoming this other person, it happens right before our eyes and suddenly she's not nervous anymore. 680 01:02:55,606.6056664 --> 01:02:58,846.6056664 She's totally confident, she's self-assured, and she starts singing. 681 01:02:59,746.6056664 --> 01:03:03,736.6056664 And then we get to hear her reflect on this in an interview afterwards, and she says. 682 01:03:03,736.6056664 --> 01:03:06,466.6056664 The feeling of coming up for the first time on that lift. 683 01:03:06,466.6056664 --> 01:03:12,346.6056664 It was kind of like landing on Mars 'cause I'd never seen the stage lit up before the sound of the crowd. 684 01:03:12,346.6056664 --> 01:03:13,636.6056664 That was really extraordinary. 685 01:03:13,636.6056664 --> 01:03:19,166.6056664 You know, it's like you see this cultural moment from the outside and suddenly I was like inside of it. 686 01:03:19,246.6056664 --> 01:03:22,606.6056664 It was wild, but it was really fun and completely terrifying. 687 01:03:23,116.6056664 --> 01:03:30,411.6056664 Also, Taylor's my friend, and I know her as like this very cozy person, and I came out of that lift and I was like. 688 01:03:31,246.6056664 --> 01:03:33,646.6056664 Oh my God, it's effing Taylor Swift. 689 01:03:34,636.6056664 --> 01:03:43,876.6056664 Not only did we see Florence put on her persona of Florence and the machine, but we also got to hear her reaction to seeing Taylor Swift for the first time. 690 01:03:43,876.6056664 --> 01:03:49,306.6056664 Not Taylor Swift, human friend who is cozy and writes songs with her at home. 691 01:03:49,906.6056664 --> 01:03:51,316.6056664 But Taylor Swift, Inc. 692 01:03:51,376.6056664 --> 01:03:56,356.6056664 Taylor Swift, the cultural phenomenon, the powerhouse, Taylor Swift, the icon. 693 01:03:57,331.6056664 --> 01:04:01,591.6056664 We've never gotten to see this before, this behind the scenes of what it takes to put this on. 694 01:04:01,591.6056664 --> 01:04:08,341.6056664 And not just this show, but this world, like this whole world requires you to be a different person. 695 01:04:08,341.6056664 --> 01:04:13,771.6056664 It requires you to sort of split personalities in order to survive. 696 01:04:14,521.6056664 --> 01:04:18,751.6056664 Just like Taylor had to compartmentalize all these horrible, violent things happening around her. 697 01:04:19,111.6056664 --> 01:04:24,961.6056664 She also compartmentalizes these two sides of herself, and we can see that Florence does too. 698 01:04:24,961.6056664 --> 01:04:34,651.6056664 And I think that's because you have to, if you put that human vulnerability out on stage, you will have nothing left for yourself, for that person inside. 699 01:04:34,771.6056664 --> 01:04:40,321.6056664 You have to become inhuman for a while on stage, and then you can step off and be yourself again. 700 01:04:40,321.6056664 --> 01:04:41,521.6056664 It's a protective measure. 701 01:04:42,646.6056664 --> 01:04:48,106.6056664 It's so incredible that we got to see these themes that Taylor's been discussing for a while, but especially on the life of a showgirl. 702 01:04:48,106.6056664 --> 01:04:56,626.6056664 We gotta see this play out in real time and it demonstrates what it's like to live, to love the life of a showgirl. 703 01:04:56,626.6056664 --> 01:05:04,576.6056664 It's not a life that is inherently lovable, and she has all of these measures in place just to make this life bearable. 704 01:05:04,576.6056664 --> 01:05:09,766.6056664 There's a huge amount of joy and excitement that comes with being this enormous pop star, but there's also. 705 01:05:09,811.6056664 --> 01:05:14,701.6056664 A huge amount of sacrifice and planning and carefully plotting your next steps. 706 01:05:15,631.6056664 --> 01:05:31,321.6056664 So this episode closes with so long London playing as we sort of zoom out over Wembley and we get one final voiceover from Taylor and she says, I used to be leaving the shows and watch people walk home, and I thought, I hope they get what they've been waiting for. 707 01:05:32,101.6056664 --> 01:05:40,651.6056664 There's a feeling I have of such pride and satisfaction because when I leave the ERAS tour, I never wonder that there's just like this magic in the air. 708 01:05:40,831.6056664 --> 01:05:49,211.6056664 All these particles of shimmer and glitter and confetti and girlhood and friendship bracelet, beads, and you know, magic in the eras. 709 01:05:50,41.6056664 --> 01:06:03,821.6056664 And of course, that's our episode title Fitting Way to Close episode two, and the episode closes with a closeup of a friendship bracelet on the stadium floor strewn with confetti, and the bracelet reads swiftie. 710 01:06:04,681.6056664 --> 01:06:08,731.6056664 Is this an Easter egg for maybe what's to come in episode three? I don't know. 711 01:06:09,1.6056664 --> 01:06:14,256.6056664 I hope at some point we get to hear from some fans about what Taylor means to them, because I think that could really. 712 01:06:15,301.6056664 --> 01:06:25,141.6056664 Help sort of tell the other side of the story, right? Like I love seeing what the tour means to Taylor and the dancers and the band and the crew, but it would be amazing to hear from some fans who got to go that really. 713 01:06:26,446.6056664 --> 01:06:27,826.6056664 Tell us what it meant to them. 714 01:06:27,826.6056664 --> 01:06:30,796.6056664 I don't know if we'll get any of this, but I would love to see that. 715 01:06:30,796.6056664 --> 01:06:40,746.6056664 So that is our first two episodes, What was your favorite moment in these episodes? What struck you or made you think, or made you cry? Let me know in the comments. 716 01:06:41,101.6056664 --> 01:06:48,61.6056664 the next pair of episodes, three and four drop on Friday the 19th, probably also at 12:00 AM Pacific. 717 01:06:48,811.6056664 --> 01:06:56,611.6056664 And it takes me a while to watch these and then write up my thoughts and my reactions, and then find a time when my house is quiet enough to record all this for you. 718 01:06:56,611.6056664 --> 01:07:13,41.6056664 So I hope, uh, next week we'll follow the same schedule and I will try to do the same for the final two episodes, which will be released on Boxing Day, the day after Christmas, but my kids will all be home, so I don't know if that'll actually happen, but I'll try my best to get it out quickly. 719 01:07:13,881.6056664 --> 01:07:17,841.6056664 And next week, look out for me in my red and white striped shirt. 720 01:07:17,841.6056664 --> 01:07:19,11.6056664 See if I made it in the doc. 721 01:07:19,11.6056664 --> 01:07:19,761.6056664 I hope so. 722 01:07:19,941.6056664 --> 01:07:23,481.6056664 But anyway, thank you so much for listening to this recap. 723 01:07:23,481.6056664 --> 01:07:25,671.6056664 I can't wait for next week's episodes. 724 01:07:26,91.6056664 --> 01:07:29,661.6056664 Please like, subscribe and leave a review on your podcast app. 725 01:07:29,661.6056664 --> 01:07:33,981.6056664 Leave me a comment on YouTube and please come back next week for more. 726 01:07:34,371.6056664 --> 01:07:35,571.6056664 Thank you so much for being here. 727 01:07:35,751.6056664 --> 01:07:36,591.6056664 I'll see you next time. 728 01:07:36,752.2610297 --> 01:07:39,62.2610297 That's it for this chapter of Swiftly Sung Stories. 729 01:07:39,122.2610296 --> 01:07:42,842.2610297 If you enjoyed this deep dive, please don't forget to follow, subscribe, or leave a review. 730 01:07:42,902.2610297 --> 01:07:44,942.2610297 It helps other Swifties find their way here. 731 01:07:45,92.2610297 --> 01:07:47,912.2610296 I'm Jen and I had a marvelous time reading everything with you. 732 01:07:48,32.2610297 --> 01:07:48,542.2610297 See you next time.

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