Facing the music: Can Taylor Swift ever top The Eras Tour?

Simone Del Rosario: Pop megastar Taylor Swift kicks off the final U.S. leg of her gigantic Eras tour on Friday in Miami. 

Don’t worry Swifties… If you didn’t get the honor of seeing the tour, she’s releasing a 256-page retrospective on the globetrotting event. The Official Taylor Swift Eras Tour Book hits Target shelves at the end of November for 40 bucks. 

It’s just another bullet point in the long list of revenue streams that made Swift the first musician to make the Forbes billionaire ranking predominantly from music and touring. 

She became a billionaire last year on the back of $600 million from touring and royalties. She also has real estate valued at roughly $125 million. 

But it’s the songs that have helped her amass throngs of fans across the globe. 

Forbes values her catalog alone at $600 million. And with two more “Taylor’s version” albums still to be released, that figure will only go up from here.

We know her songs are valuable, but why?  

I want to bring in Annie Zaleski. Annie is a long-time music journalist and author of the newly released Taylor Swift: The Stories Behind the Songs. 

Annie. First off, congrats on the USA Today best selling book list. Thank you so much. You’ve written a number of books like this, digging into iconic artists and their catalogs. How did venturing into the world of Taylor Swift differ?

Annie Zaleski: I mean, I think, first off, just the sheer volume of songs. You know, she released her first album in the mid 2000s and in less than 20 years, she has more than 200 songs, original songs, which is pretty incredible. You know, she’s a very prolific artist, in addition to being a very high quality artist, you know, I think what separates her from a lot of other musicians is that when she puts out an album, the songs, you know, it’s, it’s when she puts out an album, The songs are high quality. You know, she is not putting out songs that are, uh, you know, maybe this is just okay. Every song on an album, you can tell, is very carefully arranged, carefully produced and carefully written to fit in, not just in the narrative of the record, but also just stand on their own as amazing songs. 

Simone Del Rosario: She has been criticized. You know, there are Taylor Swift haters out there saying that she writes too many songs. That is a criticism out there. But you talk about how many songs she has written, but it speaks to how long her career has been. You know, if we look at other musicians, her career would be, at the very least, at the very tail end of it, by now, why is she still resonating decades into this? 

Annie Zaleski: You know, I think what’s interesting and why she’s continuing to resonate is, first and foremost, she’s continuing to evolve. You know, she’s been very savvy about keeping up with pop trends. She’s never wanted to make the same record twice, and she’s never wanted her own music to stay in one place. You know, I think that’s why we saw her evolve from country music to pop music, you know, about a decade ago. But that also just speaks to her always wanting to move her career forward. And what that’s done is it’s brought in younger fans as well. It’s been very interesting to watch in the last couple years about how with her re records, and then also, I think, starting around lover, she’s really brought in a lot of younger, younger generations of fans, like the children of the original Swifties. And so she just has a real knack for writing songs that resonate with multiple, multiple people, and people of all ages. 

Simone Del Rosario: I assume with your book, you’re getting a sense of how vast that fan base is. I assume you’re also a Swiftie, and you know, who are you hearing from that’s really resonating with your book?

Annie Zaleski: It’s interesting because I’m hearing everything from friends who are saying that they’re, you know, tweens are, you know, devouring the book, maybe even like, you know, take it to bed at night because they’re so excited by it. I have friends with elementary school children who are really liking the book and really learning about some of the Taylor songs for the first time. But I’ve also had people reach out to me and say, you know, I brought this for my kids or a younger relative, but I’m enjoying it too. So it is another book that’s just resonating with, you know, Swifties of all ages.

Simone Del Rosario: Yeah, when you were researching for this book, what would you say is, you know, one of the most interesting things that you learned.

Annie Zaleski: You know, I think what really stood out to me in terms of, when you look at her catalog from the start to the present day, she’s really, really, she has a real knack for creating connections between the eras, whether the fact that she uses similar imagery, for example, like an eye color, or references to rain and kind of making, like, it’s almost like little easter eggs between albums, between songs, that fans can really dig into it, you know, like they’re English majors, basically, and do literary analysis of her songs. So on some level, I knew that. But just really, you know, looking at it, looking at her catalog from the beginning to the present, that really, really stood out. And you know, her albums are almost like conversations with each other sometimes. And you know, the different Taylor eras and the different where she was in her life, there’s a lot of continuity there. And so I think that’s also just helps her evolve, and it also kind of helps people grow up with her, because she’s growing up at the same time through her albums, alongside her fans.

Simone Del Rosario: Taylor Swift, from the moment she came on the scene, she’s been a star, right? She’s really stood out, but the Eras tour has made her an incredible superstar. It’s about to wrap up, what’s next?

Annie Zaleski: I mean, I think the big question is, what is she going to going to do next? Because there’s no way she can top the Eras tour. You know, having a show that runs over three hours a night that’s just sort of a celebration of everything she’s put out so far. It does feel like a little bit of a chapter closing, you know, I think she’s talked about wanting to direct, and so I could see her going that route and maybe taking a break from the road for a little bit, and, you know, exploring other creative endeavors. I think she’s going to continue writing songs, you know, I think, personally, I’d love to see her do a rock album. You know, I think she has that element in her that she’s always really like indie rock, especially in recent years, she’s dabbled in that, or even kind of harder rock. And so I think Secretly, I would love to manifest that, because I think that she would really excel at doing that.

Simone Del Rosario: Oh, that’s so interesting. I wonder how much you pick up from the outfit she’s wearing lately, or anything like that that might indicate a different tone in the future. 

Annie Zaleski: It’s a good question. You know, I think she’s been dressing a little bit more sophisticated in recent times. You know, some of the outfits look like they might be hinting at reputation Taylor’s version, which is, I think people are convinced they’ll be coming soon, at some point. You know, there’s all sorts of easter eggs and fans tracking little clues that she’s left to see. You know when this might come out, but I think, you know, I think she’s also really enjoying kind of where she is now too. You see her when she’s not on tour. She’s out with Travis Kelce, she’s out really going out and about and really relaxing and living life. And that’s also really nice to see too, because I think she’s been going for so long in her career. Like, If anyone deserves to take a break, it’s definitely her. 

Simone Del Rosario: It’s weird because Taylor and I are the same age. We were born, I think, almost a week apart, so to be like, she’s, you know, reached this peak in her career. You mentioned not being able to top the Eras toward does that mean that from here on, it is starting the decline. 

Annie Zaleski: I don’t think it’s starting to decline. I feel like she’s going to be kind of using that as the foundation going forward, to kind of see where she’s going to go next, kind of as a foundation. You know, I think it’d be wonderful. She said, Okay, I’m going to strip it back, and maybe I’m going to do some, you know, small like acoustic shows potentially. You know, I think getting a tickets for that would be a nightmare, but I think it’s more that she’s, you know, she she proved to herself she can do this. And now, you know, I think before the pandemic, she was going to do like a festival, like a two day, like a lover festival. And so, you know, maybe that’s her next step. Is saying, all right, I’m gonna have a three day Taylor Swift festival where, you know, I’m going to play a set each night, and maybe I’m going to have openers and curate something like that. I feel like that’s about the only way that she could go next to sort of top the Eras tour, is do something on a really large scale like that.

Simone Del Rosario: It’s hard to even put this into words, because the media and you know, our conversations are so tailor saturated, especially as she’s been on tour for the Eras tour. Do you think that because you are a study of music and history and journalism within this field. Do you think that there’s an appropriate amount of appreciation for what she is doing right now? I mentioned all of the, you know, financial accolades off the top of this, but do you think that in the moment we’re realizing the impact that she’s having?

Annie Zaleski: It’s a really good question, you know. I think fans are absolutely aware of that, because fans are living that on a day to day basis, you know. I think in hindsight, once the Eras tour is done, and we kind of look at, you know, the economic impact, you know, I think as things are, as this tour has been progressing, different cities have mentioned, you know, how much economic impact is, and how many fans is brought in. But I think once all is said and done, and the numbers are actually, you know, the final numbers come in, we’re really going to get a sense of just what a staggering achievement this is, you know. And I do think that she, you know, there is a little bit of a backlash. I think there always is for someone who’s a big success, people are always, you know, people, people get suspicious. And she’s always gotten a lot of backlash as well, in terms of because of her subject matter. And, you know, and I think there’s a natural tendency a lot of people just don’t like to see people succeed, especially young women. And so she’s always kind of had that element. But I mean really the numbers and speak for themselves, you know, they’re really unimpeachable, and you can’t really argue with what just a cultural impact she’s had.

Simone Del Rosario: Yeah. Annie Zaleski, your new book is titled Taylor Swift, the stories behind the songs. Annie, appreciate you coming on and talking with us.

Annie Zaleski: Thanks for having me as always.