A Review of Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour by Nick
Olszyk
Distribution Service: Theatrical
MPAA Rating, PG-13
USCCB Rating, Not rated at the time of this review
Reel Rating: Two and Half Reels
I
consider never having attended a music concert to be one of my proudest
accomplishments. The artform combines high prices, crowded spaces, inaccessible
bathrooms, rowdy strangers, and many other of my least favorite attributes of
the human condition in one hellish experience. Yet even I had to take notice of
Taylor Swift’s juggernaut film The Eras Tour, which became the highest
grossing concert movie of all time in only a few days and inspired a bizarre
article comparing the singer to Jesus from The Gospel Coalition. My
knowledge of this celebrity was admittedly limited, beyond a few of her biggest
hits and reputation as a maneater, but I tried to enter with an open mind and
heart, if not for her, for the woman I married who desperately dragged me to
see the production.
Upon
entering the local theater, patrons were greeted with a sign encouraging us to “sing
and dance” along with the show, but fortunately it was more like a grown up sing-along
rather than a Rocky
Horror production. The plot was non-linear,
a nearly three-hour journey through seventeen years and ten studio albums, crisscrossing
years and genres. The craftmanship was spectacular. Every era had its own tone
and color scheme with elaborate props, dancing, and costumes. The cameras moved
effortlessly and seamlessly, never missing a moment. Best of all was Swift
herself – an incredibly talented singer, songwriter, and performer having the
time of her life. She was always smiling, pointing people out, giving small
crowd banter, and just having fun. Even Oscar the Grouch would have trouble
staying stoic.
Unsurprisingly,
Fearless was the best section. There’s “You Belong With Me,” about
looking past appearances and pining for someone you know is meant for you. “Our
Song,” her first big hit, is a celebration of love found in the small things. Lastly,
there’s her masterpiece “Love Story,” which is not only a clever take on the Shakespeare
classic but a surprisingly profound allegory of salvation history. This was
Taylor I knew from my youth: perky, doey-eyed, and hopeful. It’s also the only
album that mentions God and prayer, when her faith was still rooted in her
Southern Christian upbringing. Not coincidentally, these were also the songs
that got the audience out of their seats singing and cheering.
After
that, everything blends together. Some songs are fun (“Shake It Off”), others
are catchy (“I Knew You Were Trouble”), but none are compelling. Her song “22” explains:
“Yeah, we're happy, free,
confused, and lonely at the same time
It's miserable and magical, oh yeah
Tonight's the night when we forget about the deadlines
It's time, oh-oh
I don't know about you, but I'm
feeling 22
Everything will be alright if you keep me next to you
You don't know about me, but I'll bet you want to
Everything will be alright if we just keep dancing like we're 22.”
Every post Fearless song typifies this ethic,
an endless cycle of hot men, girl power, partying, and self-indulgence. The worst
is Folklore, where Swift sings six insufferably boring songs in a fake
woodland cabin. She explains the album, written during the height of the 2020
lockdowns, allowed her to create fantastical characters and situations. Given
these infinite possibilities, she still writes a song about a cheating high school
boyfriend.
By this point, God is absent, at
least in any meaningful sense. In her 2020 documentary Miss
Americana, Swift mentions she is still a Christian but immediately
points to a conservative politician as “not the Christianity I know.” There is
far more evidence of her allegiance to
liberal causes than any mention of faith. She ends the concert with a track
from her most recent album Midnight:
“Ask me
what I learned from all those years
Ask me what I earned from all those tears
Ask me why so many fade, but I'm still here
(I'm still, I'm still here)
'Cause
karma is my boyfriend
Karma is a god
Karma is the breeze in my hair on the weekend
Karma's a relaxing thought
Aren't you envious that for you it's not?”
She is on an endless cycle of give and take, love and
break. Sometimes it’s up, and sometimes it’s down, but the world never stops
turning. It’s not the explicit paganism of Beyonce or the Satanism of Lil Nas X,
but she’s heading in that direction.
Yet there are still touches of the 00s Swift: her energy, her smile, her genuine gratitude to her fans. These are not fruits of karma but the Spirit. She is still young, and her story is not finished. Her fans, of which I now number, should pray (literally) that, in the end, she turn out more Joseph Ratzinger and less Hans Kung.
This article first appeared in Catholic World Report on October 29th, 2023.
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