Eras Tour Surprise Songs (Devastation Version)
Eras Tour Surprise Songs (Devastation Version)
A power ranking of personally painful surprise song pairings
I want the Eras Tour to end because I’m tired of unjustified FOMO.
I’m fatigued by feeling like I’m not part of moments I was never invited to and had zero chance of being present for. In this world of constant connectivity, when I have the ability to stare into a rectangle that opens a portal into a stadium across the world, I feel constantly tethered to (or, rather, anchored by) the pain of missing out.
In my experience of this fandom, nothing has gripped us the way that Eras has. To the point that it cannot be solely contained by the cavernous stadiums it plays to. This tour overflows through static and is enjoyed by thousands tuning in via grainy live streams around the world. It’s a cosy, yet chaotic, phenomenon. It’s become my equivalent of a ‘comfort show’ that I watch for its familiarity.
And yet, I yearn for its demise.
Mentally. Emotionally. Physically. Spiritually. Financially. FOMO-ly.
And that is, of course, mainly because of the surprise song set. The portion of the show where Taylor decides to ruin lives and picks a multitude of songs (a minimum of one per instrument - your mileage may vary) of her choosing from her back catalogue to play on guitar and on piano.
To desire connection is innately human. The digital era has given us the chance to seize it whenever we might need it. But the online world has also dismantled time zones and blurred distance. It’s created both an insatiable social hunger and an addictive feedback loop to feed it. In this way, we’ve manufactured both the problem and the solution to keep us addicted and anxiety-riddled. We’ve crafted the perfect breeding ground for FOMO and its anxious, societal ostracism to germinate. “Social media facilitates FOMO, but people have always experienced it … When we feel as if we’re part of a community and others approve of us, we feel better about ourselves. When we don’t get that sense of community approval, we feel worse about ourselves,” described social psychologist Erin Vogel to Forbes on the psychology of FOMO.
I tune in to the Eras Tour every night seeking to be soothed. While at the same time waiting for the cartoon anvil to drop over my head come the 2.5 hour mark when Taylor flutters up to that microphone, koa wood guitar in hand, prepared to decimate my being with an acoustic rendition of a favourite song that feels like a targeted Facebook ad downloaded from my brain because I accidentally said a key word too close to my phone’s speaker. (But also is she in my drywall?). I often find myself staring into space, zoned out and barely able to enjoy Jan Ravnik’s “Lavender Haze” ladder gyrations because the aftershock of losing a Top 31 song is so great. That’s how you know the FOMO is serious. You can take my sanity but to take away Jan’s abs, too? Is nothing sacred anymore?
I also say all of this from a privileged perch. I’ve been lucky enough to not only be in a financial and geographical position where I was able to attend *a* show — but I’ve been able to do that *three* times over. I don’t take it for granted that I had many advantages going for me in order to make that happen even once, let alone for multiple occasions. There are so many hurdles that stand in the way for a fan to be able to attend an Eras show. And none of those hurdles have any bearing on the deservedness of said fan. Being in a social position where I could combine forces with a network of friends (plus unsuspecting family members and a co-workers’ roommates’ cousin’s hairdresser’s dog’s groomer etc etc etc) willing to throw their email addresses in the ring in order to just have the *opportunity* to Hunger Games battle it out for tickets. The cost of tickets themselves. The travel and accommodations necessary to be in the vicinity of the city the tickets were for. The therapy bills to cover the post-concert depression bottoming out (I kid. Except … well). I feel incredibly grateful for the hours I’ve been able to spend in those stadiums. I think fondly of the memories of my hands clasped with some of my closest friends, glitter tears running sparkly tracks down our faces, as we engaged in a three hour long group therapy session conducted by our favourite philosopher, girlhood poet laureate, and resident chaos demon in a sequin dress.
It’s hypocritical of me to say that I look forward to this tour ending because I’m lucky to have memories in my vault of witnessing this tour in person. I don’t want to discount the fact that there are so many fans desperate for the chance to go and for whom time is running out with the current end of the tour slated for my very own hometown of Vancouver, Canada this December.
There are so many beautiful and deserving countries where the Eras Tour did not visit. I understand for fans who live there, and who equally deserve the chance to see this show in their own backyards, that the thought of more international Eras Tour dates in 2025 is still a star they’re hanging their hopes on. I weigh my desire to end my own FOMO with also wanting as many people to be given the same opportunities I was to see this monolithic production in person.
In light of some truly heinous crimes committed against me personally as a unique singular individual during the Eras Tour Acoustic Set, I give you a ranking of the unwarranted FOMO I experienced not being able to witness these songs in person.
(As a final attempt at a disclaimer, it’s worth noting to take this recap post and the hyperbolic language found therein with a grain of humourous salt. To attend the Eras Tour full stop is a privilege. I would have found a way to feel lucky and blessed if she had played “seven” on repeat for her entire acoustic set at a show I attended if forced.
Please partake in the gentle wails of ‘loss’ over missing out on these songs performed in person with the knowledge that we are bonding over innately silly things that we feel the demise of in the moment, but is ultimately in the realest of realities a ‘pain’ that is barely a flesh wound. I don’t believe we give voice to these feelings as a genuine way of airing our ‘grief’ so much as we use this perceived disbarring to, in a way, craft our own sense of connection. The connection of the disconnected. The meeting of those who mutually missed out.
But I know that the good TSSers know all of this and take these things in the lighthearted good faith that is our nature).
As a final_v2_yes_really_FINAL.docx disclaimer, this list is also crafted using a semblance of criteria.
There are one-off songs Taylor played in their entirety on an instrument that are easy tick marks off my TSS Top 31 playlist (“loml” Paris 1, “The Moment I Knew” Chicago 3, “A Place In This World” Houston 2, “Eyes Open” Tokyo 2). There were also songs from my TSS Top 31 playlist paired with a song I’m not a fan of (“This Is What You Came For”/”gold rush” Liverpool 2). But out of respect for how I think Taylor uses this portion of the show with care and intention to create new, mixed metaphors - I’m opting to calculate things together. Pairings or mashups that are greater (and thus more painful) than the sum of their parts.
With that in mind, for the U.S. 2023 leg, guitar and piano songs are considered a thematic ‘pair’ (marked by a ‘+’) and their combined weight of being Sarah Coded is how they are judged together. For 2024 dates, particularly those following Sydney, Australia where ‘mashups’ (marked by a ‘/’) were established as the new normal, pairings per instrument rather than across the entire acoustic set are weighted for their Sarah Targeting accuracy.
I give you a list of 13 (natch), in ascending order.
ICYMI: Other personal TSS Eras Tour newsletters
13. Edinburgh 2: “All Of The Girls You Loved Before” / “Crazier”: If we can pop it, lock it, polka dot it, countrify, then hip-hop to confirm “Crazier” will be part of the debut vault tracks I just think that would be superb. Her disbelieving laugh that so many people in that stadium were screaming hysterically along to a song this ancient and yet so important to the fabric of society gives me hope for the legacy of this fandom and that people will love, respect, and cherish Taylor Swift (Taylor’s Version) by Taylor Swift when it’s released. You’ll note a common theme by the way is a presence of a debut song. I am nothing if not consistent.
12. Lyon 2: “Glitch” / “Everything Has Changed” + “Chloe et al”: Spoiler alert but more to come on this in TTPD Part II. But the saddest part of it all is that I was supposed to be at this show. I had tickets, but could not coordinate everything else. RIP me and the destiny that was not meant to be but was indeed ultimately written with me specifically in mind.
11. Denver 1: “Picture To Burn” + “Timeless”: A song off debut and a debut-worthy swoopy swoony song that I’m pretty sure I was responsible for 90% of the streams for and I was louder singing alone in my apartment than the entirety of Empower Field. Cry.
10. Melbourne 3: “Come Back … Be Here” / “Daylight” | Edinburgh 1: “tis the damn season” / “Daylight”: Taylor really started leaning into mashups around the Australia dates of the tour. Ahead of her guitar speech on Night 3 in Melbourne, Taylor went so far as to say that she wanted to be able to have the opportunity to repeat songs because she “didn’t want to take tools out of the toolbox.” Mashups offered her a backdoor way to not only include more songs from her discography into a single show (maximising # songs per time like an efficient queen) but also to use past versions of herself to paint more nuanced, layered, and artistic self-portraits of her own emotions. In this way it’s fascinating to see the same song, “Daylight”, layered with different, wistful brushes. I myself often gravitate towards deep cuts. I consider it my curse in life to naturally feel magnetised to the most unsuspecting (and often sad) pull off an album. If it has the lowest number of streams, chances are good that I’m one of five (5) Sad Bitches globally doing our part to contribute to its paltry numbers. So you can imagine my shock when many of my “deep cut” favourites were canonical inclusions on the Eras Tour setlist: “marjorie”, “tis the damn season”, “The Archer”, “illicit affairs”. I’m sure you can tell where this is going. The Taylord giveth and the Taylord taketh away. And then she giveth back again for one night only on a dismal, windy, and freezing night in Scotland by combining one said deep cut that reminds me of wandering through the evergreen forests that dominates my hometown’s horizon with a song of hope and warmth that happens to be a Top 5 favourite off of Lover. Ever the aware and empathetic person she is, Taylor even asked the crowd if they were okay before heading into the second verse of “ttds”. Melbourne 3 also gets the bonus on-brand three pointer for having the piano song be a debut song (“Teardrops On My Guitar”).
9. Sydney 2: “New Year’s Day” / “peace”: I’ll always feel a deep kinship to “New Year’s Day”. Barring that I’ve chosen to spend my life with someone born on New Year’s Eve and to whom I’ve promised all my own New Years Days, and every other day as well. But if you’ll permit the astrology girly to pop out, “NYD” is the Moon sign of reputation — the emotional heartbeat. It’s what and who reputation is at its core. While “peace” is a song my best friend has claimed for separate reasons as her own, this combination layered together creates an emotionally resonant chord in my chest. The parts of me that wonder if I’ve picked up an adequate number of bottles. The pieces that need that hand squeeze in triplicate to feel reassured that I’m enough. The shards of glass that try to pierce my heart with the fear that I’ll never measure up.
8. Tokyo 4: “Come In With the Rain” + “You’re On Your Own, Kid”: It takes a special kind of sadistic savant to play the incredibly rare (and very beloved by me specifically) “Come In With the Rain” quite literally hours after I posted to the TSS Instagram Stories about what an apt song it would be to play in the perpetually overcast city of Vancouver, Canada. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten that many DMs in my life ever as I did waking up to violence from Japan on this day in February. The extra knife shove of missing a “YOYOK” performance when it should be a setlist mainstay is just par for the course at this point.
7 + 6. Houston 3: “Begin Again” + “Cold As You” | Arlington 1: “Sad Beautiful Tragic” + “Ours”: These two pairings share a lot in common. They both feature top tier combinations from my favourite child album RED and they both instilled in me a deeply entrenched bitterness for the great state of Texas. You are, in fact, not cowboys like me.
5. Tokyo 1: “Dear Reader” + “Holy Ground”: I passively think about “Dear Reader” and its personal impact on me multiple times a week. So combining it with a song about thinking at length about embracing all the parts of you in order to move forward into a complicated, but overall joyous and accepting place hits a little hard.
4. Singapore 1: “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” / “Dress”: A relatively disregarded soundtrack song that’s been a long time TSS Top 31 staple and a fashion-based song off one of my favourite albums. The chances? Slim. The pain? High. The Sarah Branding of it all? Off the freaking charts.
3. Foxborough 2: “Question…?” + “Invisible” | Amsterdam 1: “The Archer” / “Question…?”: The combination of a top tier Midnights track that is notoriously smack talked by this fandom (I have a list, names are underlined - never fear!) with an underrated baby debut song as well as a resuscitated top tier Lover track. The pain. The suffering.
2. Cincinnati 1: “I’m Only Me When I’m With You” + “evermore”: As someone who has successfully been able to retcon songs in her mind, this was a top notch parasocial pairing lifted from your girl’s all timer nostalgic fave and ⅓ of my second place tier that felt like confirmation of Taylor using fans as a liferaft during a turbulent summer. She’s only me when she’s with we, because we remind her that this pain wouldn’t be for evermore. The smile on her face when she sang, “When I was shipwrecked, I thought of you” is all I need to know to confirm that feeling in my chest. For all the chants of “more” that we’ve demanded of her. For all the soliloquies I know we’ve forced her to read. I know in my heart of hearts that in the cracks of light she dreamed of us. That dream was enough to get her through. And that she knew, just as I know, that we would be there. I also easily think the latter performance of “evermore” is, vocally, one of her best all around on the tour.
1. Glendale 1: “mirrorball” + “Tim McGraw”: Of course. Right out the gate on the first night, I was set up to fail. Pairing my number one all time song with a song about feeling perpetually inadequate but disguising that with a winning Type A personality? Sheesh.
What were the most personally painful surprise song combinations and mashups for you?