13 Best Taylor Swift Easter Eggs & References In The Eras Tour Movie
Summary
- Swifties’ understanding of the concert team’s choices enhances nostalgia and appreciation for each Taylor Swift era.
- The Eras Tour movie incorporates some impressive Easter Eggs, such as nods to previous albums and music videos.
- Swift’s enthusiasm for celebrating her musical journey is evident through details like her manicure and set pieces.
Now that Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour is available to stream, there is all the time in the world to spot the numerous Easter Eggs throughout the concert movie. The Eras Tour movie is a three-and-a-half-hour experience capturing Swift’s record-breaking concert, interwoven with nods to real-life performances, many of the songs’ music videos, and other iconic moments from Swift’s career. The Eras team worked tirelessly to bring Swift’s musical journey to life in the form of a concert and incorporated some impressive and clever Easter Eggs.
The fact that Lover begins and Midnights ends the Eras Tour is no coincidence, nor are some familiar costume choices and set pieces. If fans understand these choices (and die-hard Swifties likely do) the nostalgia of Fearless, the romance of Speak Now, and the magic of evermore are all only better.Every song in the Eras Tour movie has a special meaning and is enjoyable no matter how many times fans rewatch the movie and discover more details behind each song’s performance.
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13 The Countdown At The Beginning Of The Eras Tour Movie
The Eras Tour movie opens with the countdown clock from real concerts.
The movie opens with a graphic of an analog clock, starting the countdown to the concert from 13 seconds, alluding to Swift’s lucky number. At live Eras Tour concerts, this clock is counting down from the time Swifties arrive at the venue. The pre-concert playlist comprises songs by Swift’s friends and collaborators, including HAIM, Ice Spice, Lana Del Ray, and Selena Gomez (via Business Insider). However, the last song that plays every night before Swift takes the stage is Dusty Springfield’s “You Don’t Own Me.”
12 Lover Is The First Era Of The Concert
The Lover Era marks where Taylor Swift left off.
Lover is the first album of Swift’s career that she owns, necessitating no re-release following the rights to her previous albums being sold. Lover is also the first album that Swift had yet to perform in concert before the Eras Tour kicked off. The tour for Reputation was the last before Swift, like everyone else, had to put everything on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, beginning with Lover is fitting because Swift is picking up where she left off, with the album that came after Reputation.
At the time of writing, Reputation and the Taylor Swift debut album are the only albums Swift has not re-released.
11 The Eras Tour Manicure
Taylor Swift paints her nails to represent all her eras.
At every concert, Swift’s nails are each painted a different color — one color for each of her ten albums, including her self-titled debut album (Business Insider). Her manicure is only briefly visible at certain points during the movie, but it is possible to see it. The day before the Eras Tour had its first show, Swift shared a clearer picture of her manicure via her Instagram, the last image in a gallery of photos from rehearsals. This blink-and-you’ll-miss-it detail shows Swift’s enthusiasm for celebrating all the eras of her music.
10 The Lover Era House
The set of the “Lover” music video is captured on the massive screens of the Eras Tour.
The “Lover” house is the first graphic or set piece of the Eras Tour that constitutes a major Easter Egg for Swifties, who know the image from the music video for the album’s title song. The house starts to form on the massive screen behind Swift and her fellow performers during “You Need to Calm Down,” so it is in place while she sings “Lover.” The house then burns down, igniting with the sparks of Fearless. It also appears later in the concert during “Bad Blood,” once again in flames.
9 The Rhinestone Fearless Guitar
The Fearless set includes one of the most famous Taylor Swift instruments.
Swift’s glittering Fearless era guitar is possibly her most iconic instrument, and a DIY project since her family simply superglued rhinestones to an acoustic (Business Insider). Swift uses this guitar during the nostalgia-fueled Fearless set, playing away when she performs “Fearless.” They also first glued rhinestones to form a 13 on the guitar before surrounding the number with sparkle; the 13 is visible in some shots of the movie. This set is filled with nods to Swift’s breakout album and its tour, including her forming the shape of a heart with her hands, a gesture synonymous with the era.
8 The Moss-Covered Piano From “Cardigan”
Taylor Swift uses an instrument from a different music video to perform “champagne problems.”
Swift sits down at a piano covered in moss, something that seems like it could not be more emblematic of evermore. However, the piano appears in a folklore music video. In the video for “cardigan,” Swift steps through a portal in the upright piano of her cottage and finds herself emerging from the bench of the moss piano in a magical otherworld. This Narnia-style element also appears in the “Willow” video, demonstrating how close folklore and evermore are to each other. In the Eras Tour movie, Swift plays “champagne problems” on the piano. The meaning of “champagne problems” is still a topic of debate.
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7 All The Old Costumes During “Look What You Made Me Do”
Most Swifties can recognize the Taylor Swift history during Reputation.
“Look What You Made Me Do” is one of the moments with the most spectacle, due to the flashing lights (and editing, in the case of the movie) elevating its intensity and the sheer number of nods to Swift’s career.
Of course, the “Look What You Made Me Do” performance is overwhelmed with Easter Eggs, in the form of dancers trapped in glass boxes wearing costumes from Swift’s previous tours and videos. They include but are not limited to her pajamas from the ancient “You Belong With Me” music video and her purple cocktail dress from the Speak Now tour. “Look What You Made Me Do” is one of the moments with the most spectacle, due to the flashing lights (and editing, in the case of the movie) elevating its intensity and the sheer number of nods to Swift’s career.
6 The Original Speak Now Guitar
Taylor Swift started using an old guitar midway through the tour.
Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) was released in July 2023. Following the release of this album, Swift began using the guitar from her Speak Now tour for the ErasTour (Business Insider). The adorable blue guitar decorated with Koi fish is a callback to the days of the Speak Now era. Swift only plays the guitar for “Long Live” during the Speak Now set. Since “Long Live” was one of the songs cut from the Eras Tour movie when it was in theaters, this Easter Egg would not have appeared in it.
5 “The 1” Is Part Of The Set List
Taylor Swift changes the folklore set for a particular reason.
The fact that “The 1” is a part of the Eras Tour at all (beyond an occasional acoustic performance) is part of an interesting bit of trivia. For the first month of the tour, Swift opened the folklore era with “Invisible String” (Business Insider). It was then changed to “The 1,” the first song on the folklore album. It is widely believed that Swift made this change because of her breakup with her longtime partner, actor Joe Alwyn. “The 1” is a gentle song that is an ode to a relationship that didn’t work out, but was still wonderful.
4 The Folklore Cabin
A set piece from Taylor Swift’s Grammys performance makes an appearance.
Folklore’s signature aesthetic is cottagecore, creating a cozy vision of Swift working on songs in a remote location during lockdown. As previously mentioned, multiple music videos begin with Swift playing a piano in a rustic cabin. At the beginning of this era in the movie, she points out how they “brought the folklore cabin,” an iconic set piece of hers. This set piece was also notably used in Swift’s 2021 Grammys performance. This year marked the third time Swift won the Grammy for Album of the Year.
Swift recently broke the record for the most Album of the Year wins, for Fearless, 1989, folklore, and Midnights.
3 The “Blank Space” Car
The Eras Tour performers destroy a car, just like Taylor Swift does in a music video.
During the performance of “Blank Space,” a section of the stage rises to show a car on one of the screens, which Swift’s backup dancers destroy with golf clubs. This is a nod to the song’s music video, in which Swift, “drunk on jealousy,” destroys her boyfriend’s car. The moment is well coordinated for the Eras Tour, with each swing of one of the clubs resulting in a dent appearing on the car. Swift herself doesn’t help with the destruction during the concert but wields her own club while she sings.
2 “Friendship Bracelets” Nod During The Acoustic Set
The Eras Tour movie chose the acoustic set’s songs well.
At every performance, Swift plays two surprise songs for her acoustic set, although there are six surprise songs in the Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version) movie. However, the two songs that appeared in the theatrical version were chosen well, likely due to some collaboration with Swift concerning which songs she would play for the best effect. The first is “Our Song,” the only track from Swift’s debut album in the movie. The second is “You’re On Your Own Kid,” a perfect choice since the line “so make the friendship bracelets” inspired the sharing of friendship bracelets at Swift’s concerts.
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1 The “Lavender Haze” Coat
This Taylor Swift costume piece also hails from a music video.
The coat is the perfect way to capture the relaxed vibes and title color of “Lavender Haze,” while making a nod to one of Swift’s excellent videos.
When she makes her entrance at the beginning of the Midnights era, Swift is wearing an oversized lavender faux fur coat over her iconic shimmering T-shirt dress. The coat makes a brief appearance in the music video for “Lavender Haze,” so brief that it is surprising it was considered important enough to use in the concert. However, the coat is the perfect way to capture the relaxed vibes and title color of “Lavender Haze,” while making a nod to one of Swift’s excellent videos. Moments like this make Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour even more special for Swifties to watch.
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour is a film rendition of the colossal worldwide event that sees the legendary pop star hit the stage in a specially curated film event. Performing the hits of her over seventeen-year career in music, The Eras Tour highlights Taylor Swift and her team as they put on a show of a lifetime.
- Director
- Sam Wrench
- Release Date
- October 13, 2023
- Runtime
- 170 Minutes
Source: Business Insider
