✨The Eras Tour Express ✨
It's been a LONGGGG TIMEEE COMINNNNNNN
Just a little note to say wow this is SO crazy Halloween came and went, and now we’re getting another switcheroo in the White House, the energy feels a little mad so please enjoy this break from the WILD WILD WILDS of the internet right now 🙏
Guys, it’s been a long time comingggggg — but for real for real because I had outlined this wrote some words in my notes app 💁♀️ (your welcome for the preview into my creative genuis, soon this will be hidden behind a paywall so MERRY CHRISTMAS), TLDR I was sick and having weird fever dreams for days HENCE the DELAY!
So of course this is the sound of our collection newsletter today!
I WENT TO THE ERAS TOUR!
Not to brag, but yea I went to the eras tour and it was EPIC. So a full week later, now that my pre-frontal eras tour lobe has developed I can share with you my undying love and appreciation for our Lord and Savior Taylor Swift 🙏🫶
Okay but first, this trip did not start off glamorous because I developed a weird lip rash that literally gave me “red gatorade kid face” and I stand by this description because I literally looked like a kid I used to ride the bus with and he had a red stained mustache everyday (he also asked me out on the playground in 5th grade and I was so embarrassed and was like no! and today I’m wondering if he’s having any strange effects from consuming all that red dye).
Why did I have a rash? Because I used these stupid medicinal mushroom tinctures I got at the farmer’s market that are for immunity (and story-to-be-told #3 is I know a lot about medicinal mushrooms from my first out of college job). So you can imagine my surprise when I was like the immune-boosting drops are giving me a rash!?
Also my washer broke, to be honest it’s still broken. I YouTubed it and I thought this guy Leonard really gave me the cheat codes but OMG even though we found a wooden coin from the kids toys in the drain pipe thing it didn’t work. I’m too embarrassed to comment back to Leonard that actually his solution wasn’t helpful because it had given me so much hope 😭
Anyways I attended The Eras Tour Night 1 in New Orleans (yes, the show BEFORE Sabrina Carpenter surprise guested *cries in espresso*)
And now I need you to close your eyes as I take you on the journey I went on, you will be living through my memories, my senses, the vibes, it’s almost like you were there! *but like don’t actually close your eyes because I need you to read this, it’s a written-eyes-open-meditation okay?*
Imagine the scene: An airbnb apartment on the 6th floor in downtown New Orleans right around the corner from the historic Roosevelt Hotel. One block from the French Quarter and a 15-minute walk to Caesar’s Superdome Stadium.
You’re wearing a black glittery mini dress, you’re rocking space buns, fishnets and vans combo slay, you’ve done the cat eye and red lip like maybe YOU could be Taylor Swift, and most notably, there is glitter ALL over, your arms, your collarbones, your cheeks, your neck, your forehead. It’s a glitter explosion, and YOU. ARE. HAPPY.
*Also you were reunited with your best friend since age 6 (Tina Binina, yes this is a nickname, no I cannot explain rn) and basically living out a childhood fantasy*
Your heart is racing, you’re like, “Maybe I should make some more bracelets!?” and somehow you make two more friendship bracelets for trading (at this point you’ve run out of the letter “e” beads and many other vowels and consonants).
Then, it’s GO TIME!
You and your friends (Tina, your little sister Kaitlyn #1, and Natalie, your book-dealer who moved away after getting me addicted to fantasy books— not cool Natalie!) walk out of the apartment building down the corner and are met with a RIVER of swifties. The day is warm, the sun is still out at 6:00pm and traffic is stopped around you. The buildings rise up above your head and all you can see are streets COVERED in pink, sequins, glitter, girls, and WOMEN.
You feel like you could fly.
You feel the safest you’ve ever felt out in public.
You feel like you did during the Women’s March back in 2017.
You feel ALIVE.
The crowd is ecstatic the energy is intoxicating. Everyone is kind and happy and excited. Everyone is looking at everyone else’s fits and being like “That’s so cool!” and “Why didn’t I think of that!?”
It’s giving peak girlhood.
It’s giving “girls girl.”
It’s giving “Can I borrow a tampon?”
It’s giving “God, how I LOVE being a Woman.”
The river floods into A SEA OF SWIFTIES! The Superdome is just ahead, the giant friendship bracelet on it a beacon. We pour into security and make our way to food and drinks in a lounge area just outside the superdome. We do $80 tequila shots (shhh don’t tell DJ), we’re vibing, we’re eating, we’re laughing. Life is GOOD.
Then your childhood best friend is like “Lets go!” And you’re like “Where?” because what could be better than this!? And she’s like, “THE CONCERT!?” And your mouth drops open and you’re like OH MY GOD I FORGOT because you were so in awe of how beautiful just gathering with your friends and other swifties has been 🥲
You make it into the arena, you find your seat. Everything is just a moment before the clock. You are waiting for the countdown clock. FINALLY, you see it and hear the countdown.
Then you hear the unmistakable opening sound of THE ERAS TOUR:
🎶 “It’s been a long time comingggg” 🎶
You have goosebumps, the dancers carry the giant petal shaped props out and it’s giving The Little Mermaid when all her sisters are performing and you wonder if that was Taylor’s inspo
Okay so she comes out on stage and you’re like OH MY GOD!
And then she says, “Oh, Hi!” and you fall over!
Okay friends, gently wiggle your fingers and toes and shake yourself out of the meditation this is as far as I can take you from my POV otherwise we’d be here for 3 hours 🙏 And thank your self for this practice of the eras meditation on your body and mind.
Post Eras Tour Enchantment
Okay, now that I’ve set the scene and I basically left you at the intro to the Eras Tour its only fair I share some real insider information. So buckle up, and hide your screens! This is TOP SECRET.
To really give you the full experience I need you to have seen the movie The Polar Express, if you haven’t seen it leave this newsletter and find some time to watch it because my whole thesis here is based off that movie. I don’t know what to tell you this is just how my brain made it make sense.
(👀 seriously watch the movie I’d hate to spoil it for you JOSH GROBAN literally sings the main soundtrack it’s a CLASSIC!)
The main character,the kid in the blue robe and yellow pajamas, doesn’t believe in Santa Claus fully, somehow he finds his way onto the Polar Express and when he gets to downtown North Pole where all the elves are dancing and cheering for Santa he can’t see him, he catches a glimpse here of the beard, and there of the boots, but he can’t see him. He also can’t hear the bells. It’s like Santa is too large for life— Okay Okay I know you’re like Anna you went to THE ERAS TOUR can you please get back to the regularly scheduled programming!? AND YES! I WILL!
Basically seeing Taylor Swift on that stage I felt like the kid from The Polar Express. I could barely glimpse her because (poor eyesight 🙈) she is LARGER than life and also GLOWED and it just felt like she was this goddess who was ethereal and strong and powerful and MAGICAL! And I was like catching glimpses here and there but I was in AWEEEEEEE the whole time. So lowkey yes it was like seeing your childhood hero, but SHE IS REAL AND SHE IS INCREDIBLE!!!!
Here’s a video of the end of “Love Story” to try to capture the vibe I was doing my best to explain but idk if it worked:
LIKE!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!? WHO IS SHE!?!?!?!?!!?!?
'Cause there were pages turned with the bridges burned, Everything you lose is a step you take, So make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it, You've got no reason to be afraid
Yes, that is a bridge from “You’re On You’re Own Kid” and yes it is the title of this section. And yea I just love it so I made it the title BUT ALSO! I have a plan here! LET ME COOK!
While enchanted by Taylor Swift in all her glory at the show I was struck with the revelation that the eras tour is literally just Taylor being like “I CONTAIN MULTITUDES” and also giving women (and everyone really) permission to be ANY and ALL versions of themselves. And also a space for so many different types of people to merge together. Like we are all constantly evolving and entering new eras. What I think is so cool is how Taylor has found a way to connect with so many styles and versions and ideas. She’s also just a girl, I know, but she’s also EVERYTHING!
Which made me think of how important it is to accept all the versions of ourselves (hello Inside Out 2 plot).
There’s something to be said for how Taylor can take moments that could’ve just stayed cringey/not cute and instead of burying them she’s embraced them or rewritten them. It makes me think about what my therapist said about embracing all the versions of me, even the ones I don’t relate to anymore. Every version of myself matters and is still a part of me to be honored. And maybe I’m just a girl with an idea and a laptop, but I couldn’t help but wonder (lol)
how even the versions of me that were mega out of pocket aren’t bad or wrong and were trying to take care of me and found ways to make me feel safe. Like Taylor re-releasing her old albums and wearing the “Romeo” shirt from the “Love Story” music video, we all contain multitudes and we get to celebrate them and share them how we see fit. Taylor’s multitudes, she’s👏got👏them👏all👏
To live for the hope of it all
Yes that is a lyric from “August” which Taylor sings during the Folklore set, as she does every show, and it healed something in me. I saw her RUN to the left of the stage towards the crowd in that section (literally direct opposite direction from me) after singing, “So much for summer love and saying ‘us,’‘Cause you were never mine” (watch here, start at 1:21 for exact moment). Just watching her run and sing and embody the lyrics it literally took my breathe away, it’s probably the eighth wonder of the world to have Taylor run in the coolest flowiest dress and sing those lyrics to you (honestly will take any lyrics and any dress just RUN TO US TAYLOR!).
When I say I “grew up listening to Taylor Swift” I mean a friend in 7th grade showed me the “Our Song” and “Teardrops On My Guitar” music videos and those were like gateway grugs for a Christian-music-only-household-raised girlie 💁♀️ I listened to her music throughout high school and college. I have so many core memories with her music and albums, and certain songs will take me right back to crying over a boy or dressing up for a Taylor Swift themed party.
But when Folklore came out, it was COVID times, I was a new mom, and I was so scared and so lonely. I literally had ZERO mom friends in the area (and the few I had moved away). I also found out shortly after having my daughter that she had a heart condition. While being a mom changed me, being a mom to a baby who would one day need open heart surgery changed me in other ways. I wish I could go back and hug that version of myself and show her how strong and beautiful and happy Lily is today, how she is thriving! And how I was doing such a great job! But I can’t. What I did have then was a notification that Taylor unexpectedly dropped a new album, and all of a sudden that took my attention away from the stress where it could. Suddenly those songs were playing all around me everyday, they carried me to and through so many doctor appointments. I spent so much time at home or in the car with a new baby and all the while she and I were baptized into Folklore. Folklore gave me space to sing and cry, to feel like a “Mad Woman” to feel “The Invisible String” it was magic and it was comfort and it was sooooo warm, when my whole world had gotten so cold.
All this to say, I know Taylor is just a lady absolutely killing it, but for many of us she gave us music that has carried us in times where we needed it. And for that I will always be forever thankful. And this is also why my 4 yr old daughter’s favorite song is, “Don’t Blame Me” (although she calls it, “Drug Is My Baby”, potAtoes/potatoes, am I right???).
The ENDDDD
I have SOOOOO Much more to say about Taylor, and NEW ORLEANS, and HALLOWEEN! And VOTING!!! And CHAPELL ROAN ON SNL!!! But for now I’ll end with:
Folklore was on repeat for me when it first came out. So glad it provided a healthy distraction when you were going through such a challenging time. The Eras Tour seemed like a blast - thanks for taking us through the magic of it!