Taylor Swift’s fifth album, "1989," broke records when it debuted in October of 2014. Over a year later, her album is as popular as ever, even as her world tour came to a close. Her last U.S. show was played on Halloween with special guest Idina Menzel, and the final show of the tour was in Melbourne, Australia, on December 12. Surprise guests have been appearing at nearly every show, including the U.S. Women’s soccer team, Fetty Wap, Mick Jagger, Selena Gomez, and many other artists, celebrities, and models. A tour video is being released December 20 through Apple Music. Taylor's desire to make each show unique and to help each fan the get the most out of the experience shines every time Taylor gets on stage. I was fortunate enough to be able to see her this summer at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
I had had the tickets in my possession for eight months. In the cold of November, July 11 seemed like a lifetime away; but the seasons changed, the snow melted, the school year ended, and summer began. My friend Amanda and I made posters and T-shirts in preparation for the big day. Our shirts said how long we’d been Swifties (me since ’07, her since ’14) and our posters quoted our favorite songs. We even made my mom a shirt that said "Proud Mom of a Swiftie." We were so ready.
Everyone entering the arena had been given a white LED bracelet, which would light up during the show. People everywhere had creative posters and costumes (there was one group of girls dressed up as the Grammy awards, which was awesome). The opening acts (Shawn Mendes, Vance Joy, and the sister group Haim) performed as the sun began to set and anticipation grew. Finally, the colorful "1989" banner was draped above the stage, the lights turned on full force, and there she was. The entire stadium exploded in screaming color as the bracelets lit up in sync. It’s no exaggeration to say I burst into tears at the sight of her sparkling outfit and the sound of her voice. She opened with the first song off of "1989," “Welcome to New York.” This song has a special place in my heart, because I grew up in New York. I understand the magic of Manhattan, where Taylor now calls home.
“It’s a new soundtrack, I could dance to this beat forevermore,” we sang with her.
The next song was “New Romantics,” a bonus song on the deluxe album and a fan favorite. “I could build a castle out of all the bricks they threw at me,” she told us, and everyone there knew that she could, and did, do exactly that. It made us feel like we could, too.
After these songs, she spoke directly to the audience. “So in the last two years, a lot has happened, and I guess what I wanted to do is catch you up on it. I feel like we’re going to take a nice, long, two-hour walk down memory lane, and I was just curious, Jersey, would you like to join me?” Hell yes, we did.
Next up was “I Wish You Would.” This is one of the songs that I quoted on my poster: “I wish you knew that I’ll never forget you as long as I live.”
Taylor also performed two songs from her previous album, "Red." The arena pulsed red as she began a slower version of “I Knew You Were Trouble” and a punk remix of “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” The tour included some other throwbacks as well, including “Love Story” from "Fearless," and “Enchanted” from "Speak Now" was melded together with "1989’s" “Wildest Dreams” to create a gorgeous piano ballad. As a surprise, Taylor also performed “You Belong With Me,” also from "Fearless." Despite the hysteria that ensued when the song was announced, there was a kind of calm over us all when she sang. We were all singing along with her, perfectly in sync. We all knew the words; most of us had all known them for years.
The special musical guest that night was Nick Jonas, which felt extra special to me — I remember when the Jonas Brothers and Taylor Swift were the most listened to artists on my iPod. They sang “Jealous” together, and later during “Style,” he came out again, along with Victoria’s Secret models Karlie Kloss, Gigi Hadid, Martha Hunt, Candice Swanepoel, Behati Prinsloo, and Lily Aldridge. Uzo Aduba (Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren from "Orange Is the New Black") also walked the “Style” runway.
Of course, Taylor didn't let us go without a few pieces of advice. Before performing “All You Had To Do Was Stay,” she made a short speech, talking about her communication with fans online and how we often share details of our life with her, the way she’s been doing with us for years.
“Sometimes you ask me, ‘Is this way that I’m being treated normal? Or should I feel like this is a little messed up?’ And when you talk to me about love and complicated things like that, I don't want you to ever have to go through anything complicated or messy or dramatic, I don't want anyone to give you missed signals, or mess with your head, or wait two days to text you back. Cause I think you’re awesome, and I like you so, so much, that I feel like you deserve honesty, and you deserve simplicity, you deserve for love to be easy, but it almost never is. And so I’ve been thinking a lot about this, I’ve been thinking, maybe, it would be a lot simpler if you only had two options in relationships. There was no ‘maybe,’ no ‘I’m not sure,’ […] I don't want anybody doing that to you! I wish you only had two options in relationships. You either leave, or stay.”
(Yes, I cried.)
“Sometimes, when I’m looking at you, I start to think about every single individual story that is playing out, that has all converged to lead us to all be in this room. With you all lit up like this, I can see every single one of you… and I’m not naive enough to think that just because you’re having an amazing time at a concert right now, that there’s nothing going wrong in your life, there’s nothing that’s hurting you or haunting you, because that would be unrealistic. The fact is, everyone’s got scars and ghosts and regrets, things they wish they had done differently, things they wish they had said, things they wished they’d never said. I don't know what it is with every individual person. Maybe you fell in love with a person or a habit that was bad for you, but you couldn't quit. Maybe you trusted the wrong person. Maybe you never really feel like you fit in anywhere. Maybe you’re so confused about where you’re supposed to go with your life that it overwhelms you and you feel like you can’t move. Maybe you lost someone you never thought you’d lose, or maybe, the worst one, you lost yourself. Regardless of what is going on in your life that scares you, regardless of whats going on in your head that tells you you’re somehow, some way, not cool enough or good enough or special enough, regardless of all of that, what I would like to make note of is that, instead of wallowing in those things and focusing on them and allowing them to defeat you, you got out of bed, and you went to a stadium on a Saturday night in the summertime of 2015, and now we’re all having the best time ever!
“I personally don't think that we should ever strive to have some kind of perfect life. I just think we need to stop comparing our lives to other people’s, and I think we need to stop being so mean to ourselves. Because the voices of other people who are mean to us are hard enough to ignore, but if you’ve got it in your own head that something about you isn't good enough, or that just because you’ve made mistakes in your life that makes you tarnished or damaged goods, that’s wrong, and it’s not true. I guess what I’m trying to say to you is if there’s any part of you that is insecure about having made mistakes, I just want to let you know that I don't believe that that is a bad thing. I think sometimes making mistakes is the product of taking risks. I also know that me standing here talking to you is the product of taking risks, and making a lot of mistakes.
“So if you’ve gone through a lot of rainstorms and it seems like it’s never going to stop coming down on you, I want you to know that if you keep going, it doesn't make you tarnished or damaged. It makes you clean.”
It’s inexplicable, the bond we feel with Taylor. She has opened up so much of her life and her emotions to us, for us, and she never lets us forget how grateful she is that we’ve stuck by her through so much, that we continue supporting her, that we, in turn, open ourselves up to her. As she said on the "1989" album jacket, “These songs were once about my life; now they’re about yours.”
Taylor has shaped the lives of every single one of her fans in way or another. Personally, I’ve been a fan ever since the very first time I heard “Teardrops on My Guitar.” I am constantly in awe of her. I know she’s not perfect, but she is one of the most down-to-earth, level-headed celebrities out there. I feel like we grew up together. Her music has stayed with me from sixth grade; it’s gotten me through a lot. It’s always felt like no matter what is happening in my life, as long as I can listen to Taylor Swift, even for a few minutes, I will be okay. That’s how I felt at the concert. Now matter how I felt, no matter what had happened before, none of that matter for those hours when I was in that stadium with my mom and my best friend and my hero, singing the words I memorized the moment I heard them. My ultimate dream is to meet her and tell her that in person, but I’d like to think she already knows. Seeing her in concert was definitely the highlight of the year for me.
