The earthquake Taylor Swift has left Spain, and is going to Lyon. She has left million-dollar profits in hotels, sky-high ticket resales, noise complaints around the Santiago Bernabéu… Although above all, and most importantly, she has left an experience for thousands of fans that they will remember for a lifetime. . Because it has been 13 years since the artist has set foot in the country. Some were not even born. The teenagers, an important part of her audience and of the almost 130,000 people who witnessed her performances on Wednesday and Thursday in Madrid, are perhaps the ones who have taken the most memories for posterity of this Eras Tour in which Taylor Swift reviews and summarizes her career.
Each step leading up to this act already had instantly recognizable symbolism for a swiftie. The singer has created a collage of his life with his 11 albums. Each one is divided into what they call an era, with different types of music, fitness, choreography and clothing. They were all represented in the looks of the public. With a 13 on their hand (Swift’s favorite number and date of birth), teenage girls have become intensely involved in those outfits. Each one made and chose just for the occasion a outfit specific according to the era that represented them. Whether it was the lush elven valley of the disk Folklore or the monkey and the snake Reputation.
They all shared, however, the accessory: the “friendship bracelet”, the official name given to the bracelets also designed by fans and personalized. In it they write songs, phrases from their lyrics or recognizable messages so they can exchange them. Sharing them with other fans has become a moment of brotherhood prior to each event. A ritual that led them to the desired Nirvana, to be in front of their heroine, whom they consider a role model after fighting for the rights to their albums, and re-recording one by one each era. She has known how to give power to the girls, who every night burst into song in the stadiums, and drag entire families to the party for more than three hours with their screams and light bracelets. This is how two teenagers – Elena, 16 years old, and Arantxa, 20 – have lived an experience that they describe as “spectacular”.
Ask. What is your favorite era of Taylor Swift? (He Eras Tour is designed as a compilation of all 11 albums).
Elena. I’m not sure, maybe Folklorealthough the set of Lover of the concert has been one of my favorites.
Aranxa My favorite era is 1989 because it’s the era when I started listening to Taylor Swift, when I was 10 years old. My friends and I sang them in the school yard and did choreography.
P. What do you like about that era, the songs or the aesthetics?
Elena. The songs, I think, although maybe with a different aesthetic I wouldn’t like them as much.
Aranxa I like the songs from that era more than the aesthetics. The dress she wore at the concert for 1989 It was the one I liked the least, but its songs are the ones I enjoyed the most, because of what I said before: they are songs that remind me of my childhood.
P. What would you do to get your hat on (At the concert, at the end of the song 22Swift chooses a girl or boy among her followers and places the hat she wore during the performance live on them, after a hug)?
Elena. I’m happy for the people whose turn it is.
Aranxa To put my hat on, I would first create a outfit own that reflected any of the eras. For example, recreating the sequined dress that Taylor wears in the era of Midnights. She would also make many bracelets, but one of them would be personalized so she could give it to Taylor.
P. Do you like the latest album, The Tortured Poets Department?
Elena. Yes, I would say it’s one of my favorites, but that may be because I’ve listened to it almost daily since it came out.
Aranxa I love it, it’s my second favorite album. The fact that he released 31 songs at once is a bit overwhelming at first, but when you listen to it little by little, over the days, you realize that each song is different. Also, I really like how in each song she tells something that she felt in each moment with her ex-boyfriend and with her current one.
P. And your favorite dress?
Elena. Dress, I don’t know, maybe the one from the surprise songs, but, clothes in general, the bodies bright of Lover, Red y Midnights.
Aranxa The one of The Tortured Poems Department because it seems very original to me that it is made as if it were a book of poems. I also really like the one he has on Speak Nowbecause she looks like a princess, and it’s also not always the same color, but changes depending on the concert.
P. The concert had already been in theaters and is available on Disney+, in addition to being shared on networks every day. Did you expect it like this?
Elena. He set The new album surprised me, because I hadn’t seen much of the scenery either and I liked it a lot.
Aranxa The concert exceeded all my expectations. The whole staging was impressive, with images related to each album appearing on the screen. All the dancers made the performance spectacular. I also thought it was very cool that on the stage there were many areas through which she could appear, that trees came out (like in the era of Folklore/Evermore) and that in the central area the stairs generated different shapes that made the concert more dynamic.
P. How many bracelets have you made?
Elena. About 17 I think, I have changed half. More than she thought. I started making them a couple of weeks ago, but the day before I also finished some. All the ones I’ve done were named after songs: Gorgeous, Breathe, Cardigan, Guilty as Sin, Call It What you Want…
Aranxa None, because I found out late that I could attend the concert.
P. Has any song played that you didn’t expect (One of the chapters of the Eras Tour It is an acoustic space in which Taylor Swift plays several surprise songs not included in each day’s concert. Every night is different. In Madrid they were: a medley of Sparks Fly/I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can) and of Look In People’s Windows/Snow On The Beach, on the first night; and one of Our Song/Jump Then Fall y King Of My Heartin the second)?
Elena. I hadn’t thought much about what songs I could sing either, although surprise songs always surprise a little, the one that made me most excited was Jump Then Fallbecause it is one of my favorites.
Aranxa At from But Daddy I Love Him I didn’t know it was in setlist, and it’s my favorite song on the new album, so I was really excited for him to sing it. The surprise songs They always surprise because you never know which one is going to sing. and she sang Snow in the Beach, So we all thought that Lana del Rey was going to appear at the concert, although Taylor, seeing that we were all screaming thinking that she was going to appear, told us that only she was there (“Just me, guys,” she said). Even so, the surprise songs They were great.