“The Eras Tour” delivers an enchanting cinematic journey of Taylor Swift’s musical evolution

By Shruti Gupta

On 3rd November, with the release of “The Eras Tour” movie, Taylor Swift’s cultural phenomenon arrived on the big screen in India for the first time, providing an actual concert experience for Indian Swifties. Director Sam Wrench’s cameras were everywhere at once as Swift sang, stomped, and smiled through a nearly three-hour cross-section of her discography. The concert movie was shot on the last day of Taylor’s USA tour at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

The Swifties were eagerly waiting for the movie to release, and their excitement was certainly witnessed in the movie hall with the spectacular entry of Taylor Swift in her colourful, gorgeous outfit, opening with her first song from the album “Lover,” “Miss Americana And The Heartbreak Prince.” The tracklist included a few songs from each of her past albums, mainly released during the COVID-19 outbreak. The albums included were “Lover,” “Fearless,” “Folklore,” “Evermore,” “Reputation,” “Speak Now,” “Red,” “1989,” and “Midnight.” Each album had its own aesthetics, theme, and presence, as Taylor never misses an opportunity to allure her fans.

Her presence was enough to captivate the Swifties and make them groove, chant the lyrics of each song prominently. While “Lover” had a colourful and blissful presence, “Reputation,” on the other hand, had a dark, revengeful, savage presence. One of the coolest parts of having so many cameras at play, and you never see a single one of them (it’s a miracle), is that it gives us the opportunity to notice the little things, like the changing of the mic’s colour in each album of her performance.

The entire production was brilliantly presented and managed. Even the background artists, dancers, musicians had a marvelous presence throughout the concert. There was a gush of emotions in the Swifties during the entire movie. Everyone was seen grooving, dancing, shouting, howling, crying their hearts out, as it’s apparent that they truly resonate with each of Taylor’s songs.

Swifties are yet to find the Easter Eggs, which are the small, subtle hints that Taylor leaves for her fans to predict regarding her upcoming albums. Every tiny bit signifies how seriously she has taken this massive endeavour, and it all pops brightly on the big screen. Taking it all in over 165 minutes may sound like a lot if you’re not a hardcore Swiftie, and truly, it is exhausting by the end, but purely as a cinematic experience, “The Eras Tour” is enormously entertaining.

Pull on a couple of friendship bracelets and surrender to this phenomenon. Lastly, I still stand by the fact that “Taylor Swift is the music industry.”