Get the latest gossip

I’m a Swiftie, but the staggering size of the Eras tour has left me feeling alienated | Elle Hunt

From the prices to the endless album rereleases, I feel like a conscript in a campaign for cultural and economic dominance, says journalist Elle Hunt

This year I have felt not so much a Swiftie as a conscript, roped into some broader project of streaming, spending and posting so as to cement and grow her cultural dominance – though it’s hard to imagine who, now, could possibly dislodge her. That arrived with a surprise second disc (of largely forgettable songs), and was followed by multiple variants, each sold separately: hard to parse as anything other than a bid to secure streaming dominance. But his point about how our human desire for connection and belonging is hijacked and reduced by corporate interests seemed to me an apt description of the Eras tour, the economy that’s sprung up around it and our enthusiasm to participate in it.

Get the Android app