On the Anticlimax of Vancouver

: An analysis

It was a conscious choice to not go out with a bang, with all the extravagance and chaos that everyone was longing for. She knew what splendor and excess fantasies of grandeur people were having about the height of performance that she could serve up on a platter to us all. And she chose to leave the bait. She chose to step outside of the expectations, the entitlement, the hunger for a spectacle, and stand in her masterpiece of a show. The Eras Tour it was, as she imagined and created it, without putting more shimmer on it to keep us looking at her right at the end. Stepping down off of her tightrope to take a bow.

She punctuated her controversial decision to wear the same outfits all 3 nights and announce/release nothing with an acoustic/piano set that, especially with the context of her other Vancouver sets, revealed her motivations.

She said, "Look at what I’ve given you, and what you’ve given me. You all made my life what it is. You made me who I am - Taylor Swift™️, the brand, the popstar, the world touring superstar. We did all of this together— can you feel the magnitude of it? Can you see how incredible this is, even without me forking over more bells and whistles?

She said, “Thank you. I love you, I’m sorry. Believe me when I say: no one really knows me. I was a girl who was lost in the world and had a dream. I knew from the beginning that I was going to have to set off alone to find it, that I was going to have to go underground, run and hide like an outlaw in order to avoid the thrown bricks, in order to be free... and I did.

I fell down the rabbit hole and ran for my life. I can’t turn back now. Even though it was agony, and even though I’m alone in this, I’m also surrounded, in this glass box of the solitude of fame, by you. And It has been so, so magic.”

She said, “Look at what I’ve given you, for all these years. Remember how young I was. I wrote A Place in This World at 12. I’ve given you what I can, all that I can, all my life. And look what we made together. Look, here’s my tortured heart on display for all to see. Isn’t it enough? Do you really need more from me in order to feel the power and impact of what I’ve created for you with my work, my life, this show?”

She said, “I had to grow up. We all do. Take it. It’s yours now. I hope it’s nice where you are. Look at what you’ve done- at the glitter on the floor of the whole world. I’ve spent the last two years surrounded by 10 million people, strangers who love me, who love who they think I am. I’ve had the best days with you. Here I am now, at the zenith, standing above the whole world, all eyes on me, and as alone on my mountaintop as I was when I set out on my mission.

So long live what we created. It lives on past the truth of me. Past the spectacle. Past the fame. Hold onto the memories. I know what I did it all for, and I’m not afraid. The story I created in order to get where I was heading isn’t mine anymore. I’m free. That’s a real fucking legacy to leave.”

Brava, Taylor. Rest.

(Disclaimer that I’m not shaming or moralizing anyone’s choice to theorize, follow Taylor’s eggs, make connections and predictions. And I don’t think she is either. Just that .. fame is a beautiful monster, and two things can be true at once. She’s been the archer. She’s been the prey. At times she’s led us on.. and she chose to end it on her terms.)