Taylor Swift: ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ singer is not the same woman that opened the Eras Tour – and what a privilege it has been to watch her transform

It was a cool night in Arizona, USA, when Taylor Swift emerged on the Eras Tour stage for the very first time – but the woman who performed that night is not the same woman who will close the mammoth tour in Vancouver, Canada on Sunday night (local time).

It will mark her 152nd performance of the show, which runs for over three hours and covers almost every ‘era’ of Swift’s career so far, and the end of her most significant era yet.

Watch a video of one of Swift’s performances above.

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When Swift, 34, started her groundbreaking tour, the world was still recovering from several years of COVID-19 lockdowns and a dearth of live music events.

She was in a long-term relationship with British actor Joe Alwyn, with fans and critics alike predicting an engagement or pregnancy announcement any day (despite Swift’s open distaste for such rumours).

And, perhaps most notably, liking Swift was still considered deeply ‘uncool’ by many around the world.

How times have changed.

In the last 600-plus days, Swift has suffered heartbreak and found new love (twice), she’s become the biggest artist on the planet, her net worth has exploded and she’s revolutionised the music industry in ways that were previously unimaginable.

Brooke Shields joined by famous ‘mama’ at Taylor Swift show

The Fortnight singer had been dating Alwyn for six years when she kicked off the Eras Tour and fans started speculating something had changed almost as soon as she took to the stage.

Swift was caught on camera looking emotional at several shows, especially while singing tracks said to be about her relationship with the actor, sparking rumours the pair were on the rocks.

In April 2023, it was confirmed they had split a few weeks prior – likely around the time of the first Eras Tour shows.

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The following month, Swift and The 1975 singer Matt Healy were linked romantically and the pair dated for several weeks before calling it quits.

Swift continued performing through the breakups and though she was seen tearing up in a few fan videos from the Eras Tour, she did her best to keep her private life out of the spotlight and off the stage.

That changed when NFL star Travis Kelce, 35, came into her life.

The Kansas City Chiefs tight end attended the Eras Tour in Kansas City, Missouri, on July 23, 2023, with a gift intended for Swift – a friendship bracelet with his phone number on it – but he never got the chance to give it to her.

Perhaps it was fate, then, that the pair connected through mutual friends days after the show and sparks flew. They took their romance public in September 2023 and have been smitten ever since.

Before the Eras Tour, Swift was adamant about keeping her love life out of the spotlight; now she’s a staple at Chiefs games, kisses her boyfriend in front of cameras at the Super Bowl, and even changes lyrics to shout him out at the Eras Tour.

”Karma is the guy on the Chiefs, coming straight home to me,” she first sang in Argentina on November 10, 2023, while Kelce beamed in the crowd.

Though Swift is still protective of her personal life, she’s been more open with her relationship with Kelce than any of her previous romances and looks all the happier for it.

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All the photos of Taylor cheering on Travis at NFL games

The couple are going strong and will likely continue to do so after the Eras Tour wraps, at which point Swift will have more than enough money in her bank account to enjoy some well-earned time off with her NFL beau.

The financial impact of the Eras Tour simply can’t be understated.

The groundbreaking tour is reported to have boosted the US economy by $US4.3 billion (approx. $6.6 billion), according to Bloomberg Economics, and the Australian economy by more than half a billion dollars with just seven shows, per RMIT research.

WATCH: Taylor Swift played her biggest Eras Tour show to date in Melbourne in 2024

It grossed Swift an estimated $US1.04 billion (approx. $1.59 billion) in 2023 alone per Pollstar, and her total earnings from ticket sales is expected to surpass $US2 billion (approx. $3.07 billion).

And tickets aren’t the only things Swift is selling.

Her total revenue from the 152 Eras Tour shows, merchandise, and other streams has been projected at over $US4.1 billion (approx. $6.2 billion).

As a result, Swift’s net worth spiked from $US400 million in 2022, before she started the tour, to a staggering $US1.3 billion (approx. $1.9 billion) by the end of the first leg in 2023.

It’s expected to reach even greater heights after she wraps up the tour on December 8 and cements herself as one of the most prolific touring artists of all time.

The Eras Tour has been one of the biggest tours of all time and has marked a turning point in Swift’s career and public perception.

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When she started touring in 2023, Swift’s music – and by extension, Swift herself – was considered cringe. Disliking it was normalised, even celebrated, and Swift was a victim of near-constant online criticism, much of it misognyistic in nature.

The Eras Tour changed that.

No longer just a “girl who sings break up songs”, Swift is now recognised by millions as a powerful businesswoman, a music industry giant, and an artist who has changed what it means to tour forever.

She became the most streamed artist in Spotify history, racking up 26.1 billion streams in 2023 alone. She was recognised as the richest female musician and the first billionaire musician in history.

She attracted celebrity guests the likes of which have never been seen at a tour like this before, from members of the British royal family, to world leaders, fellow musicians, and actors.

Watch: Taylor Swift officially became a billionaire in 2024

She holds incredible political power, with her endorsement for Vice President Kamala Harris and Tim Waltz in the 2024 US Presidential Election considered one of the most significant celebrity endorsements of the entire election cycle.

She even inspired lawmakers in the US to change US policy twice this year; a bill was drafted to criminalise deepfake porn after AI nude images of Swift were shared en masse online; and Walz signed a so-called ‘Taylor Swift bill’ into law in a bid to control ‘junk fees’ and reselling of concert tickets in the US.

More than that, she’s connected millions of young women around the world through her music and all that it has inspired, from friendship bracelets, to Eras-inspired costumes, mid-concert proposals and so much more.

The idea for the Eras Tour came to the 34-year-old in 2022 while she was working on Midnights, her 10th original studio album, but there’s no way she could have known then just what this tour would become.

Or who she would become over the course of the last 21 months.

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“We would go on to play this show in the pouring rain, in the blazing heat, in the thickest humidity, in the wildest winds, and in the bitter cold,” Swift wrote in The Official Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour Book.

“We would do it if we were sick or exhausted or injured. We would do it with a broken heart … because people need an escape from how brutal life can be, and it is the honour of a lifetime to be that for them, if only for a night.

“And although we are all on our own in this big scary life, somehow it doesn’t feel that way when we’re singing the same words as 80,000 other people wearing glittery face paint.”

Taylor Swift is a different woman now than she was when she started the Eras Tour more than 600 days ago, and what a privilege it has been to watch that transformation happen.

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