Swiftly off the bandwagon

About 10 years ago, I rather inexplicably bought tickets to a Katy Perry concert. Inexplicable because I only knew a couple of her songs and could not legitimately claim to be a KatyCat (this was well before Left Shark definitively wooed me to Katy's fanbase). I bought Katy's tour-promoted album to pre-game a bit, and quickly found myself tapping my middle-aged feet to pretty much every piece of bubblegum "PRISM" had to offer. Katy’s in-crowd dance party disguised as a concert ended up being one of the very most entertaining concerts I have ever been to (another contender: Pink Martini).

So it was with that spirit of pop music adventure that I announced to Rob that I wanted to see Taylor Swift’s “The Era’s Tour” movie documentary. This time, though, the desire was more explicable since Taylor is seemingly on the verge of ruling Planet Earth. Seems prudent to at least have a working knowledge of someone whose influence I’m not sure is escapable at this point.

With the ability to sing along to exactly two Taylor Swift songs, I sat next to Rob in seat G8 (since when must I choose my seat before entering a movie theater?!) and dedicated 168 minutes of my life to figuring out what all the fuss is about.

With apologies to the (admittedly younger) Swifties in my life: I’m still waiting.

I really wanted to walk out of the theater an in-the-know, gushing, glittery fan of Ms. Swift’s, all ready to learn how – and why – to make grade school friendship bracelets, and add the Kansas City Chiefs' remaining games to my DVR timers list.

Instead, I quickly remembered why I don’t see long movies in theaters (my back spasmed for about 3 days from all the squishy, cup-holdered sitting). And I was exhausted from all the active listening to decipher nearly 3 hours of songs that tell a Millennial’s life stories.

I had heard some screenings are like a modern-day Rocky
Horror experience, with movie-goers singing and dancing 
in the aisles. Alas, an afternoon show on a weekday yielded
less than a dozen viewers -- none dancing or singing.
Also, our tickets were "Child" prices. I didn't want to ask
if that was the matinee price or the senior discount.

Although Taylor’s music sort of bounces around genres, I determined that her songs have a bit of a formula which – sorry again, Swifties – got really repetitive and I found myself getting sleepy. I perked up at the 2-hour mark when she FINALLY played one of the two songs in my iTunes Library (“Shake It Off”). Never did hear the other one (“Mine”).  

I was also super surprised that her lyrics include cuss words. Now, I’m not saying Taylor’s a potty mouth; I was just startled to hear the f-bomb and poop word in songs worshipped by 9-year-old girls. Do their parents know? Do they care?

As unenthralled as I was by Taylor’s music, I am very much impressed by what appears to be her character. I remember hearing over the summer that she was giving extraordinarily generous bonuses to her road crew, as a thank you for all their work to pull off one of the most lucrative concert tours in history. I have also heard she is ingeniously re-recording a number of her albums in order to yank back control of them from a seemingly greedy and slimy record label. During her concert, she sprinkled words of gratitude and appreciation over her fans, dancers, and musicians. And although not as deftly as Katy Perry, Taylor also did an admirable job of making her adoring concert fans feel like they were in a special, elite club made especially for them.

But perhaps the thing that made me put the formulaic music aside and fall just a tiny bit in love with Taylor Swift was this:

Although it’s hard to see in the photo, the polish on one of Taylor’s fingernails is smudged. Big time. Like, I would have seethed a few of Taylor’s lyrics and grumbly redone that nail if it were mine. 

But instead, Taylor – who knew she would be on camera for the filming of the concert and no doubt oversaw the editing – didn’t fix her nail polish nor allowed it to be fixed in post-production. Nope. Taylor let her short, smudged fingernail grip the microphone and flash about in close ups. That one smudged nail made her so relatable. A busy young woman who wants to look nice but also has many things competing for her time, so some things just don’t get done...like her nails.  

Although I am not on the Taylor Swift Bandwagon – and am growing weary of her persistent presence in my newsfeed (serves me right for clicking on those two stories about her new boyfriend) – there could certainly be worse pop idols for folks to get all obsessed over. Taylor seems smart, savvy, gracious, and real. With a smudged nail and a few cuss words to prove it.