Taylor Swift 1989 World Tour Singapore

[Everardo Frost]

The1989 World Tour was the fourth concert tour by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, who embarked on it to support of her fifth studio album, 1989 (2014). Swift announced the tour's first dates in North America, Europe, Japan, and Oceania in November and December 2014. She announced additional dates for Singapore and China in June 2015, and a final announcement of the third show in Melbourne was made the following month.

The tour took seven months to plan and three months to rehearse. As with her previous tours, Swift was highly involved in the 1989 World Tour's planning and stage design. She aimed to create an intimate experience for concertgoers, which she found challenging for shows held in stadiums. Most songs on the set list were from 1989; additional songs from Swift's older albums were re-interpreted with a more synth-oriented production to align with 1989's soundscape. Each night of the tour, she performed one "surprise song" from her back catalog. The tour began on May 5, 2015, in Tokyo, Japan, and concluded on December 12, 2015, in Melbourne, Australia, spanning 85 shows. For many of the shows, Swift invited special guests onstage with her, including musicians, actors, athletes, and models, whom the media called her "squad".

Taylor Swift released her fifth studio album 1989 on October 27, 2014. The synth-pop album was her first to be marketed as pop music, departing from her image as a country artist.[2] It was a commercial success, selling over one million copies within its first week of release in the United States.[3] On November 3, 2014, via her Twitter account, Swift announced the first details of her world tour in support of 1989.[4] Australian singer Vance Joy was announced as an opening act, and the ticket sale for the North American leg was confirmed for November 14.[4]

In a November 2014 interview with Time magazine, Swift said that the set list would primarily consist of songs from 1989. She included new versions of songs from her older catalog to maintain the cohesive, synth-heavy production of 1989 while also keeping the "live feel" of her performances.[5] Swift, as always, was heavily involved in the tour's planning and production design. She acknowledged the challenge of playing in stadiums, expressing her goal for "those people in the very top row [to] feel like they got an intimate, personal experience".[5] In an interview with KIIS-FM in December 2014, she revealed that she knew what the stage would look like, as well as knowing that "all the fans seem to be saying that they really don't want any song [from 1989] left off the setlist".[6]

Swift first announced the North American and European dates in November 2014. The tour was set to kick off in Bossier City, Louisiana on May 20, 2015, and conclude in Tampa, Florida on October 31, 2015. Additional shows were added across the U.S., Canada, England, Scotland, Germany, and the Netherlands.[7] One month after announcing the first dates, Swift added further shows in Japan, and Australia. The opening show of the tour would be in Japan in May 2015, and the shows in Australia would take place in November and December 2015.[8] In June 2015, Swift announced more shows in China and Singapore in November 2015.[9] The following month, Swift announced a third show in Melbourne, Australia, which would serve as the closing show of the 1989 World Tour on December 12, 2015.[10] Opening acts were Vance Joy, Shawn Mendes,[11] Haim,[12] and James Bay.[13]

The tour required seven months of planning and three months of music rehearsals, including four weeks of stage rehearsals and 10 days of two-a-day dress rehearsals.[14] Swift traveled for the tour with 26 semi-trailer trucks and 11 buses carrying 146 people from city to city. Additionally, about 125 to 150 people were hired in each city to help with the load-in and stage setup, which took between six and eight hours for arenas and an additional day in stadiums.[14] Swift chose two designs for the trucks' vinyl wrap, with 13 trucks per design.[14] Concertgoers were given light-up bracelets that were programmed to change color throughout the show, a practice that was later implemented in Swift's Reputation Stadium Tour (2018) and the Eras Tour (2023).[15][16]

The concert begins with black-and-white projections of street scenes, which subsequently serves as the backdrop to the performance of "Welcome to New York".[17] Swift then emerges from beneath the stage to sing the song, followed by "New Romantics" surrounded by a dozen male dancers.[17][18] Next, Swift sings "Blank Space" before erupting into a call-and-response climax where she strikes a golf club against a black lacquer cane whilst also shouting the name of the city where the concert is being held.[19][20][21] Swift proceeds with an industrial rock-oriented version of "I Knew You Were Trouble", which she performs as shirtless male dancers delivered a sensual choreography.[19][20][22]

After the performance of "I Wish You Would", Swift appears in a glowing pink polka-dot two piece dress to perform "How You Get the Girl", accompanied by a choreography inspired by the 1952 musical Singin' in the Rain that is performed by the dancers twirling neon umbrellas.[19][23] The show continues with "I Know Places", during which Swift wears thigh-high black boots and garters.[17] The song's intense lyrics and production are accompanied by a performance of Swift being chased by the masked dancers through multiple mobile doors as she sings "They are the hunters / We are the foxes."[22][23] After the song ends, Swift performs "All You Had to Do Was Stay", followed by either "You Are in Love" or a different surprise song at several shows.[23][24] "All You Had to Do Was Stay" is excluded from the set list for several shows.[25] Swift introduces "Clean" by sharing lessons she had learned in her personal life with her audience.[26] After "Clean", Swift performs a synth-oriented version of "Love Story" while standing on an elevated platform that whisks around the stadium.[19][27]

Swift proceeds with "Style", during which she performs while strutting down the runway-styled stage in a sparkling dress, and "This Love".[20][28] For the performance of "Bad Blood", Swift dresses in a top-to-toe black leather suit.[28] She then delivers an intense rock version of "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" on an electric guitar.[18][19] Afterwards, Swift emerges from beneath the stage again to perform a mashup of "Enchanted" and "Wildest Dreams" on a grand piano.[29] She follows with "Out of the Woods" in a sparkling catsuit as giant paper planes fly overhead.[26][28] The show concludes with "Shake It Off", during which Swift and the dancers perform on a spinning platform above the crowd with fireworks and confetti.[18][19]

The shows on the 1989 World Tour features a nearly identical set list spanning the majority of the 1989 album, with the exception of the deluxe track "Wonderland". Different shows have different guest star appearances intertwined between Swift's performances.[30] For select shows, Swift replaced "You Are in Love" with "Wonderland",[31] or songs from her earlier albums. These included "Should've Said No" (from 2006's Taylor Swift);[32] "You Belong with Me",[33] "Fifteen"[34] and "Fearless" (from 2008's Fearless);[35] "Mean",[36] "Sparks Fly"[37] and "Mine" (from 2010's Speak Now);[38] "Holy Ground",[39] "All Too Well",[40] and "Red" (from 2012's Red).[41] During the second show in Santa Clara, California on August 15, 2015, Swift dedicated "Never Grow Up" (from Speak Now) to her godson, the second child of her friend, actress Jaime King.[42] During the show in Glendale, Arizona, on August 17, Swift performed "Ronan" in dedication to Maya Thompson, the song's cowriter, and her late son, Ronan.

As the tour continued, special guests ranged from Hollywood actress Julia Roberts to counterculture figure Joan Baez.[46] Nick Levine from the BBC observed that while these special guests were well appreciated by Swift's fans, their appearances gave the impression to others that Swift did so to prove her star power of her new image as a pop star, having abandoned her previous image as a country artist.[46] In doing so, Swift's sense of authenticity began to slip, despite her global stardom.[46] Kristy Fairclough, a professor in popular culture and film, commented: "Her shifting aesthetic and allegiances appear confusing in an overall narrative that presents Taylor Swift as the centre of the cultural universe." Fairclough asserted that while Swift had presented herself as an underdog and outsider from her contemporaries, which had garnered her a devoted fan base, she began to appear as "a profoundly unsympathetic underdog" for being a "globally famous, attractive, thin, white, very wealthy woman".[46] When the tour ended, Swift acknowledged that "people might need a break from [her]".[47] New York magazine listed Swift's "squad" as one of the defining moments of music in the 2010s decade.[48]

Paige Allen from The Sun Chronicle was positive towards Swift's performance but felt that she could have carried the show without opening acts and special guests.[29] Hunter Hauk of The Dallas Morning News also deemed the opening acts "forgettable" but was impressed by Swift's natural performance onstage.[21] In a review of the Glasgow show, David Pollock from The Independent lauded Swift's energetic performance and described the show as a "resonantly feminist show which emphasises a fun, heartfelt message over polemic".[23] Reviewing the tour's Sydney show, Bernard Zuel from the Sydney Morning Herald gave it four-and-a-half stars. Zuel lauded the show as "one of the most spectacular stadium shows" he had ever seen and praised Swift's stage presence for creating a lively and euphoric energy.[18] Reviewing the same show, Elle Hunt of The Guardian gave it five out of five stars, asserting that the show was a reminder of Swift's emotional engagement through her songs as her greatest asset that "has won her enormous global fandom".[26] In 2017, Rolling Stone included the 1989 World Tour in their list of the "50 Greatest Concerts of the Last 50 Years".[50]

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