Taylor Swift's reputation tour kicked off in early May. Here, her animatronic snake (just go with it) diaries about the experience.
The reputation tour has officially made it to the South! Granted, we started in the southwest, but we hadn't yet made it to the true South. Atlanta, Georgia is the hub of the American South. (This is true: The Atlanta airport has the highest passenger traffic of any airport in the world.) Plus, Atlanta is secretly — or not-so-secretly, depending on your interest in the industry — a Hollywood hub. Most importantly, it's where Stranger Things films. Which is why Millie Bobby Brown, the show's star, was able to attend Taylor's concert. Taylor reposted Millie’s celebratory Instagram stories on her own Instagram. Maybe she feels a kinship! Millie got famous when she was only 13; Taylor got famous when she was 16 years old. Plus, Taylor can move things with her mind. Kidding!
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On the subject of Stranger Things: Not to brag but I'm actually very good friends with the puppet that performed the role of the Demogorgon in season 1. The world of scary animatronic puppets is kind of small.
Millie is currently living in Atlanta filming season 3 of Stranger Things, which won't arrive on Netflix until 2019. That’s a bummer, but you know what they say about good things and those who wait. I mean, Taylor made us wait three years for reputation.
For the first night, Taylor surprised the audience with a rendition of "The Lucky One," which I've always considered Taylor's version of "Lucky." It's a story-based song from Red about a woman who becomes famous only to discover that fame isn't as fun as its marketed to be. There's been some speculation that Taylor wrote "The Lucky One" about folk goddess Joni Mitchell or ‘80s pop singer Kim Wilde — the melody directly samples Wilde's song "Four Letter Word" — and Taylor will never reveal her sources. She's always had a fascination with muses and pop stars from the mid-to-late twentieth century. Taylor recently interviewed Pattie Boyd, a supermodel and musical muse, for Harper's Bazaar, where she probed her about what it's like to be on the receiving end of songwriting. (Boyd inspired Eric Clapton's classic song "Wonderful Tonight.") During her reign, Boyd looked a lot like, well, present-day Taylor Swift. In the months since the release of reputation, Taylor's been exploring a more modern aesthetic — the cropped sweatshirts and chunky bangs are a bit more early ‘00s or even, well, 2018. But, for a time, Taylor truly embodied ‘60s style. Remember the pink and orange gown she wore to the 2016 Golden Globes? Which! Leads me back to "The Lucky One."
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The first verse goes: "Everybody loves pretty, everybody loves cool/So overnight you look like a sixties’ queen." In a parallel universe, this line is “Hopped off the plane at LAX with my dream and my cardigan.”
The second surprise song of the the show goes to "State of Grace," another Red favorite. "State of Grace" recalls U2 with its soaring, epic '80s-inspired groove; it reminds me, a snake, of "Beautiful Day."
Next week, we're in Tampa, Florida! More southern explorations for a very northern snake.