Is there any denying that 2023 was the year of Taylor Swift? It seems everything she touched turned to gold.
The singer is a certified superstar who changed the game this year. For instance, I recall a time when a Pre-sale gave people an opportunity to buy a certain percentage of tickets available at the venue. For example, 5-10%. Not at a Taylor Swift event. It is estimated that there were 2.6 million seats for her tour and 3.5 million people registered through the Ticketmaster program and the system crashed and all of the tickets were sold.
If you were one of those fortunate to buy tickets for her concert you had a decision to make; keep the 6 tickets you just bought or resell them and buy a Tesla. I’m being facetious…slightly.
Her Eras Tour which is really a celebration of her entire discography, became the must-see concert of the year.
Capitalizing on the popularity of the concert a movie version was released this past fall. It provided those who didn’t win the lottery, aka get a ticket to the actual show, to see it in theatres. Taylor Swift isn’t the first artist to show her concerts in a movie theatre. BTS, Metallica, Coldplay and even Beyonce have travelled down that yellow brick road before, but none as popular as this. At the time of writing this it has grossed just over $250 million at the box office globally placing it as not only the largest concert movie of all time but also the 11th largest box office film of the year in the United States, impressive considering it only played Thursdays through Sundays.
And if you question the star power of Swift it is worth noting, several films changed their release date so they would not have to compete with Tay Tay.
And while I am mildly fussed about someone’s romantic status the impact she has had on the life of Travis Kelcie and NFL broadcasts is impressive as well. Many will know Travis Kelcie as a two-time Super Bowl winner or ‘that tight end you want on your fantasy football team’. When the two started dating this year it is reported that sales of his jersey went up 400%.
Ratings for Kansas City Chief games have gone up, with a significant increase in female viewership.
Swift isn’t the first and won’t be the last celebrity that an NFL crew focusses their cameras on, but I can’t recall the last time I was shown another celebrities arrival at the stadium. Perhaps we can get her to an Ottawa sporting event? I digress.
Perhaps one aspect of her life that I don’t feel she gets enough credit for this that she has either written or co-written her entire discography. No small feat. To deliver great music consistently isn’t easy but the fact that she is the one behind every one of her songs is quite impressive.
I don’t consider myself a Swiftie. I’m certainly not a detractor but I’m also not going to jump on the bandwagon and act like I have been there since day one but how can you not be impressed.
I was impressed when I was in Park City, Utah, in 2020 for the Sundance Film festival where her documentary Miss Americana had its premiere. She was absolutely mobbed, and the turnout was incredible. I was impressed when I was in Toronto for the 2022 International Film Festival. It was announced that she was going to have a one-on-one conversation with the CEO of TIFF Cameron Bailey. Tickets were being sold for about $30. They were being resold for $3000 and gobbled up.
Thousands of people surrounded the TIFF Bell Lightbox theatre for a glimpse of Swift.
Taylor Swift is a global superstar who is in control of her own career, a career which just seems to be getting better and better and that is why I find her fascinating.
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