Swifties on what life was, is and could be
We weren’t even five minutes into the concert, and we were already crying like babies—more bawling, actually—after seeing Taylor Swift rise up on the platform to open Night 4 of her “Eras Tour” in Singapore.Words can hardly capture what the 61,000 of us at the National Stadium felt that Thursday night. It’s one of those moments when you just had to be there to truly understand why thousands of her fans flocked to this side of Southeast Asia to journey with her, one musical era after the other.
Going into the concert, we knew that it was really going to be an experience. Heck, we virtually saw every clip of her tour posted by fellow Swifties on TikTok, from Glendale and Buenos Aires to Sydney and Tokyo. We even dressed up and screamed our hearts out in the cinemas when we watched the “Eras” concert movie (and attended Taylor Sheesh’s listening parties).
But all these did not and could not prepare us for the avalanche of emotions we felt once “Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince” hit. It was utter and pure euphoria. Memories of your teenage years listening to “Our Song,” “Fearless,” and “Hey Stephen” come rushing back, that you can’t help but scream your heart out as this was, as Taylor said, “a long time coming.”
As with many other Filipino Swifties who hustled and survived the Klook Wars in July, “The Eras Tour” was the first time we were seeing Taylor perform live. We didn’t have the means then to see her the two times she was in Manila for the “Speak Now” and “Red” tours.
While we’re still struggling young professionals, we knew that we couldn’t sit this one out. This concert, for us, was basically a trip down memory lane. Her music catalog was our refuge. Her experiences, immortalized in the lyrics of her songs, resonated with us because we, too, fell in love and had our hearts broken, felt we weren’t good enough, and suffered a low point and came out stronger. In short, her music speaks to us and to our experiences.
No small featAnd Taylor acknowledged that going to Singapore for the “Eras Tour”—the only stop in Southeast Asia—was no small feat. After learning that most of the crowd on Night 4 flew in to Singapore, she told us in the first few minutes of her set that she was more than thankful for the effort we put in, as she knew the amount of planning that went into making sure our trip would become possible.
This drew even louder cheers from the crowd, who we could safely assume felt validated and seen by the artist they so admire.
March 7 was the first night of Taylor’s second round of three-day concerts in the city-state. (The first round happened March 2 to 4.) And boy, did our crowd not disappoint. (Shout-out to all the Filipino fans, who were aplenty!) The energy was so palpable that Taylor said this was the type of energy that fired her up.
“We take things several levels up for a crowd like this,” she told us, drawing even louder cheers.
Later on in the show, right after she sang “Champagne Problems,” we took it up another notch by giving her a 2-minute, 13-second standing ovation (by MothershipSG’s account). Safe to say, Taylor was definitely floored by the love she got.
Like any other Swiftie, we too have our own biases—and that’s Taylor’s “Reputation” era. This era of hers—which came after she left the public eye for quite some time—spoke so well to us.
For us, this represented rebirth, growth, and overcoming the odds. We’re all too familiar with that Kanye and Kim drama and the fallout that followed. What this era told us is that no matter what BS people say or think about you, as long as you know who you are, what you want, and what you represent, you can and will rise from whatever ditch some people would put you in.
As the lyrics of “Look What You Made Me Do” goes, “but I get smarter, I get harder in the nick of time.”
Most emotionally evocativeVisually, the production and choreography for “Don’t Blame Me” was the most appealing and emotionally evocative for us. It felt like Taylor took us to church—and we were living for it. That pillar of lights just as she belted, “using for the rest of my life”—chef’s kiss indeed!
Another favorite is “All Too Well (10-minute version)” from “Red (Taylor’s Version).” Even if we knew this song was coming, we still went crazy when it did, because who wouldn’t?
There’s just so much to unpack in this song, and we won’t assume that this meant one thing or another. But what really resonated with us in this version were the lines: “And you were tossing me the car keys, ‘F*** the patriarchy’ keychain on the ground” and “They say, ‘All’s well that end’s well’ but I’m in a new hell every time you double-cross my mind.”
On that first line, obviously, we’re not women. But in picking a phrase here, really, f— the patriarchy. For so long, women have been relegated to the sides on the basis not of their abilities and capabilities, but just because of the sex they were born into. Where’s the justice in that?
And even more than a century into women’s rights, we still have a long way to go. As we celebrate Women’s Month in March, it’s important that we remember that men and even members of the LGBTQIA+ have to work harder to strive for a society that views and regards women equally.
Genuineness The second phrase we highlighted from “All Too Well” is all too familiar to those who have loved and lost. We’ve been singing to “All Too Well,” especially since “Red (Taylor’s Version)” came out, but it was only on Thursday night that tears rolled down our cheeks as we sang the bridge.
That’s one thing we learned being in a Taylor Swift concert. For some reason, emotions run even higher when these songs are played live, and with thousands of fellow Swifties singing along.
We saw how our friends wept uncontrollably when Taylor surprised us with a mashup of “Death by a Thousand Cuts” and “Babe,” followed by “Fifteen” and “You’re on Your Own Kid.”
It’s not because they’re OA, to say in the local parlance, but it’s because the lyrics—and the story behind them—felt like like their own.
Admittedly, there was a time when we were watching the “Eras” concert movie that we felt it was too long. But seeing Taylor perform live, we felt the contrary. We wanted more of her. We wanted her to sing more songs—if that was even humanly possible. (She sang 45 songs on Thursday from the tour’s set list.)
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Even as the concert ran for three-and-a-half hours, it didn’t feel like it. (In our section, we were standing and bopping 90 percent of the time.) Because every song, in every era that Taylor played, felt like a conversation between you and a dear friend. It felt like you were telling each other your experiences, your stories.
For us, that’s what endeared Taylor to us. It’s the frankness, the genuineness of her music, the stories she tells. That night, it wasn’t Taylor and a crowd of tens of thousands of fans. It was just us and her having a good time, catching up, and having a conversation about what life was, is, and could be.
By Jon Joshua Ramos
