Taylor Swift gifted the world front row seats to her Reputation Stadium World Tour in the concert movie of the same title and we sure as hell weren’t ‘…Ready For it’. As someone who went to see Taylor Swift on this stadium tour, I was more than excited that I could celebrate New Year’s Eve 2018 in style with Swift’s iconic Reputation tour. The show itself was iconic with mashups of her best hits, amazing costume changes and special guest stars, so being able to relive the excitement of seeing her live every night from the comfort of my own home was everything I and many fans have wanted.
The tour itself without even watching the performance is incredibly empowering, the tour came at a time when the media were deeply scrutinising Swift’s personal life and making her the villain in their fairy-tale. However, Reputation will never be remembered for that, instead Swift changed the game by using all the mean words, i.e. “snake” and the idea of her career ending and used this as ignition for the show. Whilst everyone was bringing her down she empowered herself, which is an important message to all fans and is something that makes this tour so powerful. This is seen at the beginning as there is a montage of clips of the media talking about Swift’s “next boyfriend” or how she’s only friends with “skinny models”. Then suddenly the screen glitches, Swift is dressed as a snake as she whispers “reputation”, the whole purpose of the show is showing Swift as the snake, the villain in the fairy-tale. But Swift is the loveable ‘villain’ of the story.
Many people still hold these opinions of Swift, however watching the Reputation movie will change any opinions you ever have about her. As a case study, I made my partner watch the film with me when it was released, she before was not a fan of Taylor Swift, however after watching the show she became a huge Swift fan who has left her Swift hating days behind her. Swift is an amazing performer that not many people get to see due to their preconceived opinions on her as an artist and person which the media has perpetrated throughout the years.
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What I love about the show is it brings attention to the songs from Reputation that were often neglected like ‘I Did Something Bad’ and ‘King of My Heart’ with a real standout being ‘Don’t Blame Me’ which delves into the intense emotions of love and losing yourself whilst falling in love. It’s beautiful and I won’t lie I do shed many (and I mean many) tears during the show. Not only does Swift play underappreciated songs, but she also plays her hits from ‘Bad Blood’ to ‘We Are Never Getting Back Together’, however the favourite classic of hers performed has to be the mash-up of ‘Style’, ‘Love Story’ and ‘You Belong With Me’, which again you will cry to as you reminisce about that primary school crush that broke your heart.
I can’t forget to mention how powerful ‘Look What U Made Me Do’ was live, before the song starts we see a montage of ‘old’ Taylor and the new Taylor taking on her thrown as the villain whilst theres snakes all around her. Now, if this doesn’t get you excited for when the track slowly starts to play I don’t know what will. Swift comes out in a boxer style robe outfit with a gold snake on her microphone. It is the next chapter of this fairy-tale where she embraces being the villain, as snakes gather around her. Then, for the most iconic line in history “Old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now” is said by the one and only Tiffany Haddish adding an extra flare to the legendary track.
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The best part of the concert is the camerawork, the closeups of Swift and the dancers which are often left unnoticed during a live performance. The ability to be able to re-watch the show and see it in a different light each time brings a new appreciation to the show. The first watch you will most likely focus on Swift and her stunning outfits and setlist, however the next watch you may focus on design, structure or even the dancers. The show is incredibly theatrical and tells a story by acknowledging the different aspects of the show we are able to really understand this ‘fairy-tale’.
Reputation is a huge part of Swift’s legacy and is the moment that showed Swift is not stuck to genres or what people want or expect from her. Instead, she will be writing her history, present and future and that is not up to the media to decide. If my rant about how amazing and impactful the Reputation Tour movie enough to get you to watch it then I have no clue what will!
You can stream Taylor Swift Reputation Stadium Tour on Netflix.
