On New Year’s Eve, Netflix finally graced us with Taylor Swift’s “Reputation” Stadium Tour movie. This tour was actually my first experience watching Swift live in concert after following her musical journey since the beginning of her notable career. On Aug. 14, 2018, I traveled nearly three hours just to see my snake queen work her magic in Tampa, Fla.
Thanks to Netflix, my experience at the “Rep” Tour has been immortalized (well, at least for another year) and I’ve become so overwhelmed with emotions like I did in the stands at Raymond James Stadium. Although the recorded show was at the last stop in the Dallas/Arlington, Texas area, it still remains just as life-changing as my first time around.
Like when she opens the show with “…Ready for It?”
I’m still not ready for it, and I don’t think I ever will be. Swift’s stage presence is incredibly charming and far from bashful, which will always make my heart do six thousand cartwheels. When I finally felt prepared for the evening’s scheduled programming, I glanced at Taylor like:
Game on, gorgeous.
Then while I yelled “If a man talks sh*t, then I owe him nothing” along with Tay during “I Did Something Bad,” I really felt that. Bad bitch mode was immediately activated and suddenly, I didn’t give a damn about my reputation.
However, it wasn’t too long before I started ugly crying during the “Style” / “Love Story” / “You Belong With Me” medley.
Or when I pretended to be uninterested in “Look What You Made Me Do”…
…but ended up remembering that the old Taylor was dead.
This energy remained pretty consistent throughout the rest of the set, especially during the pause at the beginning of “Delicate” (this isn’t technically a gif, but nothing can capture the true essence of the “1, 2, 3” movement):
And she really did go… across the stadium to perform a surprise song. In the film, it’s “All Too Well” off of 2012’s “Red,” which is arguably Swift’s greatest song. She stated that it has multiple meanings for her when she hears fans scream-singing along, like so:
Then she acknowledged everyone’s Rep Tour costumes for a performance of “Dress,” which was always dedicated to Loie Fuller, a dancer and actress credited for the creation of the “Serpentine Dance.” Let’s just say those lyrics get pretty steamy, which almost always makes me fan myself.
It’s safe to say that Miss Swift killed the rest of the set, which caused an immense euphoria to wash over me.
But then she performed a mashup of “New Year’s Day” and “Long Live,” an ode to her fans off her 2010 album “Speak Now,” and the ugly tears came back harder and stronger this time.
Don’t worry, they were (mostly) happy tears, with the exception of the poetic interlude before “Getaway Car.”
Swift continued to make a toast to her fans in a whimsical, Gatsby-esque performance of “This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things,” a.k.a her closer for the show. Honestly, it was magical and made me wish I had a massive fountain in my common area.
But I then realized that newspaper confetti fell to the ground and that everyone began to evacuate the stadium after the tour bloopers played on the big screen. I wanted to relive it all over again (which I can now do every single day, thanks to my Netflix subscription). I was sad that it was over, but had a smile on my face because it happened.