THE TAYLOR SWIFT PHENOMENON IN FRANCE

AN AMERICAN TORNADO

The way in which ticket sales were organized on July 11 testifies to the exceptional enthusiasm of the French public: anticipating unprecedented demand, Ticketmaster opted for a random drawing system simply to access the sale. And on the big day, the crowds on the site were such that the company had to temporarily suspend the event to reorganize it.

In total, no less than 180,000 people will flock to the largest concert hall in Europe to attend the Eras Tour, his world tour which has been thrilling everyone for over a year. A revenge for the 34-year-old singer, whom the French public has stubbornly snubbed throughout her career.

“Paris, welcome to the Eras Tour”.

A sentence that French fans have dreamed of hearing. While Taylor Swift has not performed in France for a concert open to the public since 2011, the American artist is making up for lost time. At La Défense Arena until May 12 (then in Lyon), the star kicked off his European Eras Tour this Thursday, May 9, with a 3:15-hour concert, full of surprises and of emotions.

“I’m very happy to be here. I wish I could come to Europe more often. I really regret not having done it,” she said at the start of the show.

The American star also wanted to pay tribute to French fans by singing for the first time the song Paris, from his album Midnights. “I was waiting to be in the most romantic city in the world to perform this song,” she said enthusiastically.

The Swifties, who already knew all the lyrics of the album released in mid-April, were able to discover live a new "era", much darker than the previous ones, entitled Female Rage: The Musical. With a black and white theatrical staging inspired by the “dark school” style, Taylor Swift screams the lyrics of But Daddy I Love Him or The Smallest Man who Ever Lived with rage, with which many fans identify.

A show that was both grandiose and intimate.

This first European stop also offered French fans of Taylor Swift the chance to hear live for the first time songs from certain albums dating back more than ten years. Thus, they had the opportunity to appreciate his greatest hits, going from "You Belong with Me" to "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", via "Shake It Off", or even "Anti-Hero ".

From his country period to his turn towards pop and folk, The Eras Tour constitutes for the artist a way of paying tribute to the different phases of his career, highlighting his versatility and his evolution which have propelled to the rank of Personality of the Year 2023 according to Time magazine. This is manifested in particular through its spectacular scenography and its multiple outfit changes, ranging from a Taylor dressed in a sequinned bodysuit, accompanied by her guitar, to a more assertive Taylor wearing a black jumpsuit, or even to a more magical Taylor wearing long robes.

The artist also knows how to create a special bond with each spectator. The layout of the stage is designed so that everyone can have an optimal view, and his numerous interactions with the audience add a precious touch to the experience. “I see you all and I love you,” she says warmly.

A long and complex saga with the French public

The meeting between the French public and the American icon is a long and complex saga, punctuated by missed meetings and cultural barriers difficult to overcome.

Taylor Swift has enjoyed dazzling success in the United States since 2006, the year of the release of her eponymous debut album. At the age of 16, this young blue-eyed blonde from Pennsylvania quickly conquered America by making a name for herself in the field of country, a genre associated with rural environments, which she did not abandon in during his first three albums. For a decade, she dominated across the Atlantic, with all of her albums – except the first – rising to the top of the charts.

In 2010, at just 20 years old, she became the youngest winner of the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, the highest honor for any American artist.
The star of country, a musical genre little known to the French, partly explains the initial disinterest in France for his emerging success.

In 2014, Taylor Swift achieved one of the biggest successes of her career with "1989", an album which definitively established her turn towards pop. A veritable hit factory that conquered the world: the album ranked number one in 78 countries... but struggled to rise above ninth place in France, despite the success of the singles "Shake It Off" and "Blank Space".
“I think it was perceived as too bland, too smooth for the French public,” analyzes a specialist. "not corresponding to the model of the American popstar as imagined at the time in France: very exuberant, extravagant and sexualized figures like Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Rihanna or Katy Perry.

The spectacular rise

We only had to wait the last four years for Taylor Swift's charm to finally work in France. This metamorphosis was achieved thanks to a combination of several factors: his two folk albums from 2020, a musical genre "considered much more seriously than pop, which is often denigrated", the Netflix documentary Miss Americana released the same year, which contributed to "humanize" the image of the artist and to "explain his approach"... But also the emergence of TikTok, which has become an almost essential platform for artists, where several of his titles - old and new - have recently been caused a sensation.

Songs like “Enchanted” (2010), “Wildest Dreams” (2014), “Bejeweled” (2022) and “Is It Over Now?” (2023) have all been at the center of trends on the video-sharing application, sometimes accompanied by choreography, which has helped to increase their visibility. The simple hand gesture of Mikael Arellano, a young American, became so viral that the singer even included it in her tour.

Thanks to the evolution of listening habits, Taylor Swift has managed to reach French ears without necessarily going through traditional media such as radio or television.

Finally, the crowning moment comes in October 2022 when “Midnights”, Taylor Swift’s tenth album, becomes her very first number 1 in France. The two albums that followed, "1989 (Taylor's Version)" and "The Tortured Poets Department", enjoyed the same resounding success

Last July, the 33-year-old American superstar released her 12th album titled "Speak Now (Taylor's Version)", which immediately took the top spot on the Billboard charts. This achievement earned her the title of the singer with the greatest number of albums ranked at the top of sales in the history of the famous American ranking, created in 1963. She thus dethroned Barbra Streisand, another icon of popular music American, which held this title until then.

Taylor Swift omnipresent in these fights.

France's new interest in Taylor Swift is also linked to the #MeToo movement, which now sheds light on the artist's trajectory in a new light. Indeed, in a context where we are looking for committed female artistic figures, Taylor Swift stands out for her involvement in various causes.

Since breaking political silence in 2018 to affirm her support for the Democratic camp, notably by defending fair remuneration for artists, denouncing sexual violence, campaigning for feminism and expressing her opposition to the Trump administration, she has become an important voice on these issues.

The Taylor Swift phenomenon has even been noticed by the president of the New York Fed, who says the 33-year-old artist's tour has boosted the US economy in recent months.