By: Chloe Cheng
After releasing the record-breaking album Midnights, American Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift announced her first tour in five years: The Eras Tour—a journey through her many years of songwriting success. Starting in March of 2023, Swift has performed every week all across the U.S., finally coming face to face with her fans after years apart.
The number of fans who tried to get tickets was extremely large. Ticketmaster, an online ticket marketplace, stated that after the Eras Tour presale, that due to the number of registrations, the site encountered “technical issues” and “lack of inventory.” As a result, the presale was canceled until further notice.
Months after the tour started, Swift announced tour dates all around the world, from the largest cities all around Europe to Singapore and Japan in Asia. Likewise, the tickets were sold within hours. However, despite having up to 50 international tour dates, not a single one was in Canada. This news upset many Canadians as Canada holds one of Swift’s largest fanbases around the world. Due to the high demand for tickets, traveling overseas is costly for many fans.
A week ago, Swift finally announced another leg of her Era’s tour, with 6 dates in Toronto, Canada as well as several cities in the U.S. The devastated fans finally had a flicker of hope, two of which are young fans Archana (age 11) and Eleanor (age 13).
‘Taylor Swift is coming! Can we please, please, please go?’ was Archana’s reaction to the news. These young girls had been Taylor’s huge fans since a young age, the possibility of seeing their role model in person was extremely exciting. However, millions of other fans thought so too.
As Taylor’s fans, both Archana and Eleanor are hopeful to see Taylor live. Regardless of their years-long love for Taylor, they have their concerns. They understand the high demand and immense fanbase of Taylor, and are therefore worried about the chances of acquiring tickets. Eleanor also addresses another issue: she does not live in Toronto, and if she were to see Taylor, travel and accommodations would be costly.
Despite the difficulties, at the end of the day, Taylor remains the role model for many young girls. Archana and Eleanor describe how Taylor’s career and appeal to fans lies not just in her music, but rather in the way she treats her fans, how she makes them feel heard and understood. Through Taylor’s metaphorical lyrics, she expresses her down-to-earth perspective on her struggles as a popular celebrity. The lead single, Anti-Hero, of her latest album Midnights, reflects her self-doubt and mental state. The attention-grabbing lyrics, “It’s me, hi, I’m the problem it’s me,” touched many fans’ hearts as they relate to the feeling of self-criticism, finding a sense of comfort in Taylor’s words. This feeling of support and understanding is the reason why many people all around the world love her. In spite of Taylor’s worries, fans know deep down they will always “root for the anti-hero.”