By: Laila Wang

In the middle of her concert, pop singer Taylor Swift burst into a coughing fit. She was unable to speak for a few seconds. As the audience held its collective breath expectantly, she declared that she had just swallowed a bug.

In the cool evening of the Chicago concert on her Eras Tour, Taylor quickly regained her composure. She even remarked that the bug was “delicious.”

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is a series of concerts throughout the U.S. in which she highlights each of her albums as a separate “era.” Each era embodies its own aura and mood, set by the songs in its album.

For example, Taylor’s debut album, Taylor Swift, was defined by a country feel, featuring guitar and acoustics in the accompaniment. The songs are mostly based on her experiences as a teenager in a small town, as she expresses her personal feelings and observations from that time.

In contrast, Taylor’s Speak Now album conveyed a fantastical and magical story with its track list. When fans think of Speak Now, they may be reminded of the color purple which represented the era and its energy.

Taylor’s Reputation era showed fans a new side: dark songs of vengeance, an all black color scheme, and retaliation against those who try to drag her down. Taylor’s lyrics don’t hesitate or hold back, directly calling out her the people who have wronged her.

Finally, Taylor’s most recent Midnights album voices feelings of nostalgia and reflection. The individual songs show Taylor’s thoughts on her past, and even her views towards herself. In her song “Anti-Hero,” she summarizes feelings of low self esteem with lines such as “It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me,” and “I’ll stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror.”

Announced November 2022, the Eras Tour encapsulates each era by showcasing each of their themes in the 44-track concert. Taylor partnered with Ticketmaster to sell tickets for the tour, anticipating a large demand.

However, the Ticketmaster website still crashed just after an hour of sales, with an unprecedented 14 million fans showing up. The incident caused an uproar, with Taylor herself criticizing Ticketmaster for their mishap. On her Instagram story, she posted a statement of apology, saying that it’s “excruciating for [her] to just watch mistakes happen with no recourse.”

The tour is set to end on November 26, 2023, in Brazil, with a total of 60 concerts.