A clip of Taylor Swift singing the US National Anthem before she was selling out stadiums has resurfaced online as the superstar’s mega stadium tour circulates social media.
Singing in Philadelphia prior to Game 3 of the World Series, the future mega star played a silver sparkly acoustic guitar as she delivered a beautiful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. Fans watching in 2024 were especially impressed to see her path to fame was through grass roots performances like this one.
Country princess-turned-Queen of Pop, Taylor Swift has gone viral again — this time with a live clip from her record-breaking Eras Tour performing fan-favorite, “Cruel Summer.” The hype for this album track, originally released on Taylor’s 2019 LP “Lover,” grew so intense after this viral performance that she officially released it as a single just in time for summer 2023. Amassing 2.25m YouTube views in just three months, it’s not hard to see why fans and haters are going crazy over this clip.
“Cruel Summer” was the second song of Taylor’s 46-song setlist (don’t worry, some of these tracks were shortened!), launching her 152-date pop fest with a monolithic aura of class. This performance sees the 33-year-old singer spotlit atop a giant, cube-shaped platform at the center of her runway stage, glittering in a sequined bodysuit, gloss nude tights, and white knee-high cowboy heels.
The platform descends as her captivating second chorus winds down, and Taylor struts the stage to the verse trademarkedly introduced as “the first bridge of the evening,” hypnotic and serving the goddessly beauty and confidence of a woman who’s been single-handedly conquering pop for over a decade.
Co-written with St. Vincent and produced by Jack Antonoff (whose repertoire includes the likes of Lorde and Lana Del Rey), “Cruel Summer”’s upbeat glaze of synth pop hides a story of imperfect, secret love. It became Taylor’s 41st single to break the Top 10 on US charts, with Taylor’s original and Olivia Rodrigo’s bedroom cover both going viral online.
Taylor Swift’s career has seen her break record after record. Born in Pennsylvania, Taylor’s family moved to Tennessee where she joined Nashville’s legendary country music circuit and, by the age of 17, became the youngest artist in history to score a self-written #1 hit on the Hot Country Charts. She’s been named the highest-earning female in the industry, boasts more #1 records than any other female artist, and is the world’s only four-time Grammy Album of the Year winner.
Even her current sensation, The Eras Tour, is redefining pop music: dubbed by The Wall Street Journal as one of the most “technically ambitious” productions of our century, Eras is the highest-grossing tour in music history while its official movie, cut from Taylor’s three L.A. shows, became the world’s highest-grossing concert film. And this tour is far from the standard run-through of hits and oddities. It’s over three hours long, split into 10 consecutive acts aligned with different “eras” of Taylor’s career, augmented with corresponding outfit changes, color schemes, projections, and lighting.
This astounding performance is just one iconic part of what will go down as one of the most legendary tours in pop music. The official film, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version),” is currently streaming on Disney+.
