A few observations about the tour.
(1) Thank you! Thank you! There is entirely too much fulsome gratitude at a TS concert. Camila Cabello must make a show of thanking TS--thanks and thanks and thanks, to the moon and back. I don't doubt the gratitude is real, but it's not as if TS were Mother Theresa. TS benefits maybe as much from having Camila as vice versa (particularly because Cabello is both a rising star and a person of color, and TS, maddeningly silent on the politics front, can't hurt herself by being seen with popular persons-of-color. See also: the Tiffany Haddish contribution to this concert.)
TS herself made a point of thanking--thanking! thanking!--the crew who assembled the set in NJ. "They helped us get this stage up and running! Helped us? They did it all! I just needed to stand up here with my microphone." The cynical part of me has to ask: Is this loud gratitude maybe a bit self-serving? Is the point maybe to highlight the fact of TS's own graciousness? When you hear the NY Philharmonic, the conductor doesn't take ten minutes to sing the praises of the ushers and the vendors of over-priced dark chocolate near the front entrance. There's something to be said for formality and well-worn rules.
(2) My usual tricks. What I especially like about "Reputation" is the occasional moment when TS bluntly acknowledges her own contribution to recent media issues that have plagued her. "You've been calling my bluff on all my usual tricks--so here's the truth from my red lips." "Me? I was a robber, first time that he saw me, stealing hearts and running off and never saying sorry." "A circus ain't a love story--and now we're both sorry."
TS is sometimes genuinely artful in showing how human relations can be "shades of gray in candlelight." ("Cuz you know I love the players--and you love the game.") People sometimes think her petulance is a simple, pure statement of how she feels right now--but I think, often, she is dramatizing some over-the-top feeling that visited her briefly in the past. (I don't think the TS we see today is really thinking, "Maybe I got mine, but you'll all get yours." There's a winking, deliberately campy quality to that writing.) My sense is that TS understands *everyone* plays at least a small part in a media firestorm, and she wants to look at the storm from many angles, and even to implicate herself (at least occasionally).
(3) Ready for it? One thing I really loved is that, right before the show started, Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation" faded away. Various disembodied voices began to recite past attacks on TS: "She gave to charity, then she made sure we all knew about it." "To write about a friend that way in a song? I don't know..." "It's fine to keep your relationship private for a little while, but after some time, it gets weird..." (You can start to see internal contradictions in some of these judgmental observations.)
Then a chorus of very loud Taylors began shouting, "Baby, let the games begin," over and over. This was really thrilling--because you think of that line as a sexy part of "Ready for It." But, in this new context, there was something militant. The "games" seemed to be TS's ongoing battle with the media. Exciting.
(4) Bonnie and Clyde. Another favorite moment was the way that the set designers approached TS's "Getaway Car"--surely the strongest song on "Reputation." It's such a well-constructed song, and the designers did justice to this by picking various concrete nouns and highlighting them. "Bonnie and Clyde." "Sirens." "X." My favorite was a rusty sign that said "Last Time Motel." That's a smart riff on: "I left you in the motel bar. Put the money in the bag and I stole the keys. That was the last time you ever saw me."
All of these neon words appeared on a projected landscape from the American Southwest. We seemed to be racing along--through desolate desert patches--as TS did her gyrations downstage.
(5) Finding love in the midst of self-doubt. The NYTimes correctly observed that this is really the theme of "Reputation," and it's especially clear in the tour. "Delicate," "Dress," "Call It What You Want"--all of these songs highlight the speaker's wounded-ness even as she considers being in love again. You can roll your eyes and point out that TS has been, for many years, locked away in a fortress, and she's untouchable, and self-doubt is a silly idea in this context. But, to me, the stories about pain and vulnerability seem sincere. That's what I appreciated about this show. The lady knows a gold mine when she spots one. I'm sure I'll have more thoughts later.
P.S. You are wondering about the set list? What struck me was that TS included five--actually five--songs from "1989." "Shake It Off," "Bad Blood," "Clean," "Style," "Blank Space." "Clean" was weirdly truncated, and there was a moment of confusion where I wondered if TS had actually forgotten the words. (If that's the case, she skipped right over this moment like a pro.) "Fearless" had three entries: the title number, and "Love Story," and "You Belong with Me." It would have been nice to hear more from "Red"; we weren't given "All Too Well," despite rumors. And that is all for now.
(1) Thank you! Thank you! There is entirely too much fulsome gratitude at a TS concert. Camila Cabello must make a show of thanking TS--thanks and thanks and thanks, to the moon and back. I don't doubt the gratitude is real, but it's not as if TS were Mother Theresa. TS benefits maybe as much from having Camila as vice versa (particularly because Cabello is both a rising star and a person of color, and TS, maddeningly silent on the politics front, can't hurt herself by being seen with popular persons-of-color. See also: the Tiffany Haddish contribution to this concert.)
TS herself made a point of thanking--thanking! thanking!--the crew who assembled the set in NJ. "They helped us get this stage up and running! Helped us? They did it all! I just needed to stand up here with my microphone." The cynical part of me has to ask: Is this loud gratitude maybe a bit self-serving? Is the point maybe to highlight the fact of TS's own graciousness? When you hear the NY Philharmonic, the conductor doesn't take ten minutes to sing the praises of the ushers and the vendors of over-priced dark chocolate near the front entrance. There's something to be said for formality and well-worn rules.
(2) My usual tricks. What I especially like about "Reputation" is the occasional moment when TS bluntly acknowledges her own contribution to recent media issues that have plagued her. "You've been calling my bluff on all my usual tricks--so here's the truth from my red lips." "Me? I was a robber, first time that he saw me, stealing hearts and running off and never saying sorry." "A circus ain't a love story--and now we're both sorry."
TS is sometimes genuinely artful in showing how human relations can be "shades of gray in candlelight." ("Cuz you know I love the players--and you love the game.") People sometimes think her petulance is a simple, pure statement of how she feels right now--but I think, often, she is dramatizing some over-the-top feeling that visited her briefly in the past. (I don't think the TS we see today is really thinking, "Maybe I got mine, but you'll all get yours." There's a winking, deliberately campy quality to that writing.) My sense is that TS understands *everyone* plays at least a small part in a media firestorm, and she wants to look at the storm from many angles, and even to implicate herself (at least occasionally).
(3) Ready for it? One thing I really loved is that, right before the show started, Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation" faded away. Various disembodied voices began to recite past attacks on TS: "She gave to charity, then she made sure we all knew about it." "To write about a friend that way in a song? I don't know..." "It's fine to keep your relationship private for a little while, but after some time, it gets weird..." (You can start to see internal contradictions in some of these judgmental observations.)
Then a chorus of very loud Taylors began shouting, "Baby, let the games begin," over and over. This was really thrilling--because you think of that line as a sexy part of "Ready for It." But, in this new context, there was something militant. The "games" seemed to be TS's ongoing battle with the media. Exciting.
(4) Bonnie and Clyde. Another favorite moment was the way that the set designers approached TS's "Getaway Car"--surely the strongest song on "Reputation." It's such a well-constructed song, and the designers did justice to this by picking various concrete nouns and highlighting them. "Bonnie and Clyde." "Sirens." "X." My favorite was a rusty sign that said "Last Time Motel." That's a smart riff on: "I left you in the motel bar. Put the money in the bag and I stole the keys. That was the last time you ever saw me."
All of these neon words appeared on a projected landscape from the American Southwest. We seemed to be racing along--through desolate desert patches--as TS did her gyrations downstage.
(5) Finding love in the midst of self-doubt. The NYTimes correctly observed that this is really the theme of "Reputation," and it's especially clear in the tour. "Delicate," "Dress," "Call It What You Want"--all of these songs highlight the speaker's wounded-ness even as she considers being in love again. You can roll your eyes and point out that TS has been, for many years, locked away in a fortress, and she's untouchable, and self-doubt is a silly idea in this context. But, to me, the stories about pain and vulnerability seem sincere. That's what I appreciated about this show. The lady knows a gold mine when she spots one. I'm sure I'll have more thoughts later.
P.S. You are wondering about the set list? What struck me was that TS included five--actually five--songs from "1989." "Shake It Off," "Bad Blood," "Clean," "Style," "Blank Space." "Clean" was weirdly truncated, and there was a moment of confusion where I wondered if TS had actually forgotten the words. (If that's the case, she skipped right over this moment like a pro.) "Fearless" had three entries: the title number, and "Love Story," and "You Belong with Me." It would have been nice to hear more from "Red"; we weren't given "All Too Well," despite rumors. And that is all for now.
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