The crowd erupts into screams of excitement as Taylor Swift makes her first appearance on stage, opening The Eras Tour, one of the most iconic concerts in 2023, “Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince ”, one of her more popular songs. Junior Aubrey Simpson screams the lyrics to one of her favorite songs, soaking in the feeling of seeing her idol right in front of her for the third time.
“I love the Eras Tour so much that I’ve been to the Chicago and the Kansas City shows.” Simpson said. “She puts so much detail into the tour, and it’s crazy that she performs a four- hour show multiple times every weekend.” 
For listeners of Taylor Swift, mainly known as “Swifties,” many people find themselves connecting to the singer, and Simpson is no stranger to the feeling.
“I care about the tour and Taylor herself so much, because she has always been such a huge part of my life since I was little,” Simpson said. “I went to a few of her tours when I was a kid, and some of my favorite core memories are from her, and the fact that I’m able to relive those memories through the tour means the absolute world to me.”
When it comes to Swift’s fans, some people are either fans for an extremely long time, or have just recently come across her, but are entirely dedicated to being a fan of her. Junior Ava Drury has considered herself to be a fan ever since 2016, but officially started listening to Swift whenever she released “Folklore,” an album that came out on July 24th, 2020. Ever since then, she’s been a dedicated fan and listener, even being described as “the Taylor Swift girl”.
“I think The Eras Tour has been a wonderful chance for fans to bond and find comfort among a community. With everything that happened during the presale, it had a rocky start, [which is why] I was fortunate to be able to attend both shows in Kansas City,” Drury said. “It was a truly life altering experience and I felt incredibly safe the entire time. I was able to let my guard down, have the time of my life, and also get to see my absolute idol up close.”
Drury, even though she loves the musical aspect of it all, along with just interacting with any content the singer makes, she also finds herself admiring the workload and impressive Swift’s career has been.
“I care about Taylor because she has had an astounding 17 years in music, and truly has a song for anything,” Drury said. “She’s been a constant in my life, sometimes during dark times, even if it sounds cheesy; she’s fighting for artist rights in the music industry by rerecording her first six masters, and redefining what it means to be a businesswoman.”
Whenever it comes to a Swiftie’s “Reputation,” most of her fanbase is considered to be a teenage girl, jamming out to her love songs in their bedroom covered in posters. However, that’s not the case for all fans, as some people just prefer to be a casual listener, but also admire how far the popstar has come in her career. English teacher Sarah LaRue has been a fan of Taylor Swift ever since she was 16 years old, singing her heart out in a car among her friends to “Taylor Swift”, her debut album.
“I think the Eras Tour is amazing, I don’t think there are many artists who have performed for 3.5 hours straight in consecutive nights with a week between shows,” LaRue said. “I think it’s an amazing way to showcase her entire repertoire of music while also getting to tour the 4 albums she’s released since COVID.”
A culture among many fans of Swift is “Easter Egg hunting”, where fans look for the tiniest details and hints among what the singer does, seeing if it leads to a new song, single, or even future album. However, LaRue finds herself not engaging into that experience, but still respects and even admires how Swift does it.
“I’m not an Easter Egg hunter; I think that it’s impressive for her to do that, but I don’t have time to dig through everything she says and does to be awesome,” LaRue said. “I still respect her for it, [however]– I think her talent is unmatched when it comes to songwriting and storytelling, and her creativity and ability to do what she does with music is awesome.”
