Another Taylor Swift documentary? For fans who spent thousands on Eras, reliving it is priceless

When it comes to the biggest sanction successful popular music, it seems similar her beingness is looking little similar that of a showgirl and much similar that of a palmy businesswoman these days. Depending connected who you ask, of course.

Taylor Swift is 1 of, if not the most, in-demand artists successful the satellite — arguably of each time. Her caller 12th workplace album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” had the biggest medium opening ever, according to Billboard. Her Eras Tour is the astir profitable performance circuit ever and the movie astir it shattered records, becoming the highest-grossing performance movie ever.

And she’s not slowing down connected content-making oregon record-breaking.

The popular sensation is bringing fans different performance film, “The Eras Tour: The Final Show,” that includes a acceptable with her “Tortured Poets Department” songs, which she released portion connected tour. She’s besides releasing a documentary series, titled “The End of an Era,” which promises a peek down the curtain of the behemoth tour. The archetypal 2 episodes of the docuseries and the performance movie debuted connected Disney+ connected Friday.

While galore fans are celebrating the caller material, it comes aft a dense rainfall of disapproval of her latest medium and the promotion and rollout of the music. Some fans and critics of the vocalist are questioning whether Swift is overexposed oregon if her caller enactment is feeding a civilization of consumerism.

But careless of whether the sermon surrounding Swift is affirmative oregon negative, there’s nary shortage of interest, and she’s matching that involvement by ensuring there’s nary shortage of content. In the docuseries’ trailer, Swift says she “wanted to overserve the fans.”

And Swifties, arsenic the singer’s fans are known, conscionable can’t get enough. They’ve dissected each changeable of the trailer and teasers, they’ve planned viewing parties to ticker some caller releases — the question of overexposure is simply a nonstarter to them.

It’s besides a question that’s been asked repeatedly. Swift’s self-titled debut medium was released successful 2006, erstwhile she was 16, and she has been a immense portion of the taste speech ever since. Beyond her music, her relationships, her friendships, her feuds — and astir everything astir her nationalist beingness — person been intensely scrutinized for astir 2 decades.

“I’ve ne'er heard anyone accidental the Beatles were overexposed oregon Michael Jackson was doing excessively overmuch during his time, truthful I deliberation astir that opposition a lot,” said Reagan Baylee, a 29-year-old contented creator and longtime Swiftie.

People locomotion by a pop-up advertisement for Swift’s upcoming docuseries. Fans accidental the question of whether the popular prima is overexposed is simply a nonstarter.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

Baylee, who is based successful Los Angeles and has amassed a ample Swiftie pursuing online, is not unsocial successful pointing to antheral artists who person had comparable occurrence oregon akin experiences arsenic Swift, but who are often not criticized successful the aforesaid mode she is. Many fans and adjacent Swift skeptics accidental misogyny is simply a beardown origin erstwhile it comes to judgement and disparagement she receives.

Amanda Todhunter, a popular civilization contented creator who is neutral connected Swift, said she believes fans and detractors alike should beryllium allowed to analyse and measure her enactment and actions without the hazard of being labeled misogynistic, particularly erstwhile levying just criticism. Todhunter and different popular civilization observers, including those wrong the fandom, person precocious questioned the fig of medium variants Swift has released. For “The Life of a Showgirl,” Swift enactment retired astir 15 antithetic versions of the medium with antithetic variation titles, though each of them contained the aforesaid 12 songs. There were much than a twelve different variants, with antithetic formats, colored vinyls, posters and different merchandise included with the acquisition and antithetic versions of the pb single, “The Fate of Ophelia.”

“It could beryllium conscionable a atrocious thing,” Todhunter said of the variants. “I deliberation that merits disapproval of her. I don’t deliberation that’s needfully a reflection of misogyny successful that case, if we’re looking astatine thing that perchance needs to beryllium critiqued.”

Swift announced galore of these variants and merchandise drops with countdown clocks connected her website that sent the net into a frenzy each time. Many connected societal media considered these countdowns underwhelming, some extracurricular and wrong the fandom.

One Swiftie connected Reddit posted a screenshot of a countdown revealing a constricted CD merchandise with acoustic bonus tracks, writing, “I’m done, Taylor. This is the worst.” Some felt frustrated by the exclusivity of tracks connected prime releases, particularly aft they had already purchased antecedently announced versions.

“Because she’s astatine the level that she is, it’s not truly a fiscal thing. You tin safely presume it decidedly has to beryllium thing on the lines of marketing, oregon greed oregon to perchance manipulate the Billboard charts,” Todhunter said. “I’ve seen adjacent her ain fans constituent that retired and beryllium a small spot disappointed successful that.”

“Taylor is simply a billion-dollar corporation, truthful she is reasoning similar a billion-dollar corporation,” said Tyler Conroy, a 33-year-old Swiftie.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

However, immoderate Swifties are speedy to dispel immoderate whispers (or shouts) of greed, often pointing to her foundation work, typically done quietly, and the generous bonuses she gives to those who enactment for her. They besides constituent to different artists who person historically enactment retired respective variants and editions of their work, including predecessors similar David Bowie and contemporaries similar Travis Scott.

“Taylor is simply a billion-dollar corporation, truthful she is reasoning similar a billion-dollar corporation,” said Tyler Conroy, a 33-year-old Swiftie whose full-time occupation is contented creation, overmuch of it Swift-related. “If she was arsenic greedy arsenic everybody says she is, she would beryllium doing truthful overmuch more. She would person a jewelry line, she would person a fragrance line, she would person a covering line, a skincare line, she would beryllium capitalizing connected everything her fans bash and use.”

Baylee said she thinks the antagonistic absorption to the countdowns and medium rollout are “growing pains” from Swift’s vocation reaching the stratosphere with the Eras Tour.

“Her mode of connecting with her fanbase isn’t needfully connecting anymore,” she said. “I deliberation that she benignant of struggled to utilize societal media successful a originative way, but I besides tin resonate with the information [that] it’s astir apt incredibly hard to make thing intimate erstwhile you are the astir nationalist idiosyncratic connected the planet.”

These points of contention, coupled with the astronomical outgo of tickets to the Eras Tour, constituent to an thought galore Swifties hold is true: It’s costly to beryllium a fan. That’s portion of the crushed wherefore Isabel Dieppa, a 42-year-old from Sacramento, said she nary longer considers herself one.

Dieppa, similar a batch of millennial women, grew up alongside Swift and said she was a instrumentality of hers since the beginning, buying carnal copies of her euphony and merchandise. But her skepticism astir the creator grew erstwhile she was incapable to spend tickets to the Eras Tour.

“Everything started to go mode excessively expensive, and she became inaccessible, truthful the branding of her of being the ‘everywoman’ truly started to gaffe distant from her,” said Dieppa, a popular civilization writer. “It’s benignant of similar losing a person that you had for galore years.”

While the terms of a summons for Swift’s circuit was often successful the triple and quadruple digits, to galore fans, the outgo was justified. Conroy, who was inactive moving a firm occupation astatine the clip of the Eras Tour, went to 4 antithetic shows and spent astir $4,000 connected tickets successful total.

Kayla Wong, a 30-year-old Swiftie successful Los Angeles, besides went to 4 shows, including the opening nighttime successful Arizona and the closing nighttime successful Vancouver, which she joked required her to “sell my kidneys to get resale tickets.” She estimates she spent a fewer 1000 dollars connected the Vancouver tickets alone.

Both Conroy and Wong, who besides runs a Swift-related societal media account, admit that sounds similar a batch for performance tickets, but they each drew the aforesaid analogy connected abstracted calls — the Eras Tour was similar watching their favourite squad triumph the Super Bowl oregon the World Series.

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1. Wong attended the sixth and last nighttime of the Los Angeles limb of the circuit successful 2023. (Photo from Kayla Wong) 2. Conroy attended the last U.S. Eras Tour amusement successful Indianapolis successful November 2024. (Photo from Tyler Conroy)

“Taylor Swift is my favourite sport, truthful deliberation astir however overmuch wealth radical walk connected sports tickets,” Conroy said. “You are going to spot your favourite squad astatine their peak, peak, highest level. And if you had the accidental to spot your squad play the Super Bowl each azygous day, however galore Super Bowls would you spell to?”

That thrill of seeing their favourite creator performing songs that span her full assemblage of work, each with incomparable stamina and energy, is wherefore galore Swifties are not bushed of the Eras Tour. They’re feverishly funny astir what the planning, mentation and behind-the-scenes satellite looked similar and they volition gladly ticker a second, implicit performance film.

“If there’s thing I privation to tune into close now, it’s little astir the scariness of the satellite and much astir bringing maine backmost to the clip wherever I was carefree and having the clip of my beingness successful a stadium of a clump of strangers screaming my bosom out,” Baylee said.

Regardless of whether anyone feels that there’s been excessively overmuch Taylor lately, to her fans, there’s nary specified thing.

Wong said she’s adjacent hoping Swift volition statesman touring again soon. “I mean, she’ll get joined first, but then, deed the road, you know?”