While I’m not a Swiftie, I have a great deal of respect for many aspects of Taylor Swift. She has fundamentally changed the business of music, and she is one of the most important artists and businesswomen in the industry. She’s closing out her nearly two-year Eras Tour this coming weekend. It really is the end of an era – an epic concert tour which saw her criss-crossing the globe for 152 concerts which redefined arena-tours and altered local and national economies. Taylor has become a billionaire *just from the Eras Tour alone* separate from her incredible album sales and streams, separate from everything else she’s done in her career before this. So obviously, People Magazine gave Taylor their cover this week:
Taylor Swift has just three shows left on her record-shattering Eras Tour — and when she says goodbye it’ll mark the end of what the superstar has called “the most exhausting, all-encompassing, but most joyful, most rewarding, most wonderful thing that has ever happened” in her life.
Swift, 35, will play the last of her 152 tour dates in Vancouver on Dec. 8, and the impact of her tour has been nothing short of global phenomenon. From reintroducing the world to the joys of friendship bracelets to inspiring the highest-grossing concert film of all time, the Eras Tour certainly made its mark.
It also evolved with its star; since kicking things off in March 2023, Swift healed from heartbreak and settled into a new love with NFL star Travis Kelce, and even became a billionaire in August, the first musician ever to do so based solely on performing and songwriting, according to Forbes.
Journalist Rob Sheffield, whose book Heartbreak Is the National Anthem explores her massive influence, tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story that the “Fortnight” singer’s magic lies in the fact that her songs are “so personal” to her, yet relatable to those consuming her art.
“The Beatles are the closest thing to a Taylor Swift that we have in history,” says Sheffield. “She’s so completely transformed pop music.”
Though Swift has certainly earned all of her accolades — which included a record-setting fourth album of the year win at the Grammy Awards in February, for Midnights — she hasn’t done it alone. The star’s family and A-list friends have been fixtures at her Eras Tour shows since the beginning, with mom Andrea, dad Scott and brother Austin mingling with fans and holding down the fort in the VIP tent. Kansas City Chiefs star Kelce also attended 14 shows, and his family members have shown up to cheer on Swift, too.
The Eras Tour might go down as one of the most important or significant tours of all time and it certainly redefined Taylor’s career and legend. My question is… after this crazy high, after this two year global phenomenon, how can she top it? What’s next for the girl who has done everything? Is a semi-retirement in the cards, perhaps a wedding and a baby? Or will she decide to just go even bigger, if that’s even possible?
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