Taylor Swift explains how she came up with ‘ambitious’ Eras Tour concept in new retrospective book
Look what fans made her do.
Taylor Swift explains how she came up with the concept for her “ambitious” Eras Tour in the introduction to her new retrospective book, published Friday.
The pop star tells “The Eras Tour Book” readers that she was “working on the ‘Midnights’ album” in 2022 when she told her team about her “idea.”
Swift, 34, notes that while she normally would have embarked on just a “Midnights” tour, “there’s nothing [she] hate[s] more than doing what [she’s] already done.”
The Grammy winner shares that she had “fall[en] back in love” with her catalog while re-recording albums, which inspired her to “honor” the music and “honor what the fans had done for” her with the tour.
The singer planned to “fully commit to each era, musically, stylistically and aesthetically” with the “longest, most ambitious show” of “time capsules” meant to “celebrate … both new fans and fans who have been there since day one.”
However, she wondered “HOW on earth” she would play 45 songs live, averaging three hours and 15 minutes each night.
Swift writes that she gave “absolutely everything” to attendees, promising herself to “be physically and mentally tougher than … ever before” and “more disciplined and committed to [her] health, fitness and stamina.”
She gushes, “Thankfully, I’m surrounded by my incredible crew, band, singers and dancers who all matched my dedication to the massive scale and challenges of this show.”
The 149-date Eras Tour kicked off on March 17, 2023, in Arizona and will wrap on Dec. 8 in Vancouver, Canada.
With the “most wondrous tour of [her] life” almost behind her, Swift recalls playing “in the pouring rain, in the blazing heat, in the thickest humidity, in the wildest winds and in the bitter cold.”
She writes that she and her crew made the shows happen even while “sick or exhausted or injured” or “with a broken heart.”
“We do this because we love having the rare opportunity to create happiness and wonder up on that stage,” she continues. “We do it because we know it takes time and effort and money and energy to plan out coming to a concert.
“We do it because every friendship bracelet traded has the potential to become a new friend, and you never know what dreams can be sparked if we succeed in painting a dreamscape in every city we visit. We do it because people need an escape from how brutal life can be, and it is the honor of a lifetime to be that for them, if only for a night.”
Swift concludes that life does not feel so “big [and] scary” while “singing the same words as 80,000 other people wearing glittery face paint.”
She signs off the book’s opening with, “We do it because life comes in waves, in phases, in brilliant flurries of magical moments, and all of these things come together to create… Eras.”
The 256-page book’s release at Target comes one month after Swifties found out about the project.
The Eras Tour became the first to gross $1 billion by December 2023, and the “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” movie released two months prior is the highest-grossing concert film of all time.
Forbes named Swift a billionaire in April with a net worth of $1.6 billion.
