The Grammy Museum Taylor Swift Exhibit 2014/2015

The Grammy Museum in Los Angeles opened one of the largest Taylor Swift Exhibit last weekend. On Dec 13th (Swift's birthday) the museum opened the exhibit which will be on display through until May 2015.

This exhibit features many different items including Taylor's performance outfits from RED, Speak Now and Fearless Tours, Award show dresses including the 2014 Grammy Awards dress, Music Video costumes from everything from Teardrops on my Guitar to Love Story to Shake It Off and multiple instruments including the red piano she played on The RED Tour.

Some photos from the exhibit so far are below.

Additional photos can be found HERE.

Never before seen baby photos are also on display at the Grammy Museum including this one below.

Other items on display include handwritten lyrics of Teardrops on my Guitar, White Horse and 22, her Grammy for White Horse and outfits worn by Taylor around NYC over summer 2014. Photos of all this and more can be found at the link posted above.

The thing I love most about the display which I wont get to visit is the display of fan gifts she has put on show. A New Zealand fan by the name of Megan, gave Taylor a painting of her performing Holy Ground on tour when Taylor came to New Zealand in Dec 2013. It was discovered yesterday (Dec 21st) after a fan posted some photos that this painting had been put on display. This shows just how much Taylor cares for her fans and what they give her. Photos of both the painting and Megan who painted it are below with more photos HERE.

I highly recommend a visit to this place for any one who loves Taylor.

As much as I see myself potentially heading to the US at some point in 2015, sadly I doubt it will be before the exhibit closes in May 2015.
But a girl can dream right?

Taylor's 25th Birthday

We already know from events gone past that Taylor sure knows how to party and have a good time.
Take Taylor's 24th birthday which was spent in Melbourne Australia but that didn't stop her from having a party or 4th July 2013 where she threw a party to celebrate at her house in Rhode Island with all her band and dancers, which made her 25th Birthday no exception to this.

Taylor started out the night in what is the most memorable way possible and doing what she loved most, performing on stage in front of thousands of people at the iHeart Radio Z100 Jingle Ball at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Taylor started out her performance as a 24yr old and ended it as a 25yr old which to me makes it the best way to ever ring in a birthday.

The festivities did not stop at the end of her performance on stage either. Taylor invited a range of A-list celebrities and friends over to her apartment for a party which lasted well into the early hours of the morning. Just some of the people invited were:

Beyonce and Jay-Z, Sam Smith, Justin Timberlake, Haim, 5 Seconds of Summer, Selena Gomez, Jamie King, Charlie XCX, Karlie Kloss, Emma Roberts, Lena Dunham, Ansel Elgort, Kelly Osbourne, Jack Antonoff, Shawn Mendes and Nick Jonas just to name a few.
Taylor also had long time friends Brittany Mack and Abigail Anderson in attendance along with her brother Austin.

Adding to the festivities Taylor decided not to change after her Jingle Ball performance where she was in christmas plaid pants and matching crop top. She also posted photos online which captured the delighted and excited atmosphere in her apartment over night.

The above photos are from Taylor's twitter which she posted of the occasion.

Taylor also shared one of the presents she received from good friend Lena Dunham which she captioned with"my new most cherished possession."

Just some of the photos Taylor and her guests posted on twitter and instagram can be found below.

Photo to the Left:
Clockwise from top left:
Taylor with the cake made by iHeart Radio at the Z100 Jingle Ball.
Photo posted by Jack Antonoff.
Taylor with Shawn Mendes.
Taylor with Kelly Osbourne, Charlie XCX and Jamie King.








Photo to the right:
Clockwise from top left:
Photo posted by Nick Jonas of him with girlfriend Olivia Culpo.
Taylor with 5 Seconds of Summer.
Taylor with 2 of her backup singers
Taylor with The Agency.



More photos can be found on this Tumblr page of Taylor's birthday party HERE.

Lorde, who sadly couldn't be in NYC with Taylor posted a heartfelt message on her Tumblr page HERE


Finally, Taylor instagramed this photo of her blowing out the 25 candles on her cake held by her brother Austin with the caption "When you're making wish, but you already have all you really need standing around you."

Taylor standing in her living room surrounded by love, family and friends, Selena Gomez by her side, I know she is truly happy in that moment and thats all I ask for her.

My Dearest Taylor,

Happy 25th Birthday.
I hope you had an amazing 25th Birthday party and a spectacular day once the party was over. Love you dearly and will always be by your side. Can't wait to see you back in Australia in 2015,

Love Sam.

Z100 Jingle Ball NYC 2014

Taylor's performance at this years iHeart Radio Z100 Jingle Ball held at Madison Square Garden, was special for one reason and one reason only.

Taylor started her performance as a 24yr old and finished her performance as a 25yr old.

To say Taylor was happy about this is an understatement. She was beaming from ear to ear the entire performance. She announced to the crowd that in about 10 minutes when the clock struck midnight she was officially 25 and then during her last song 'Shake It Off' she proceeded to add in "Its my birthday" before launching into the last chorus of the song.

Taylor's setlist was:
Welcome To New York
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
Blank Space
I Knew You Were Trouble
Shake It Off

A Rolling Stones article covering the full Jingle Ball performance and other performers can be found HERE

A full video of the performance can be found below:

Billboard Women in Music 2014

The annual Billboard Women in Music awards was held in New York City today (Dec 12th) as a luncheon. Now you would expect an awards event to be held as an evening event but that would have caused it to clash with the Z100 Jingle Ball.

Taylor today was honoured with the Billboard Woman of the Year. 2014 marks the 2nd time she has received the award as previously mentioned in my blog in October ( Link Here ).

Taylor was presented her award today by a fan named Gena who most would know from her Bridal Shower surprise back in April of this year. Taylor was also sung Happy Birthday by Aretha Franklin which can be found below. Ingrid Michaelson, one of Taylor's good friends also performed a cover of her song 'Clean' on the piano before she was presented with the award, a video of which can also be found below.

Below is a video of Taylor receiving her award today and also includes the speech from Gena.

Taylor, I am so proud of what you have achieved so far in your career and can't wait to see what you achieve next. All I know is that I will be there along for the ride.

How about you?

Grammy Nominations 2015

Oh look at me, I'm doing well with 2 posts in one day. Anyway onto the actual post.


Today the 2015 Grammy Nominations were announced preceding the awards ceremony on Feb 8th 2015. Taylor has been nominated in 3 categories this year which are Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo performance. All 3 nominations are for Shake It Off.

For the only song off 1989 which was eligible for a Grammy, Shake It Off has done very well. For Taylor to be nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance is not at all a surprise but for Taylor to have her first pop song gain 3 nominations she is more than happy with the announcement today.

At the 2014 Grammys, us the fans managed to get Taylor to perform All Too Well and now people are looking at how to get Taylor to repeat her performance by seeing what we want to hear.
To me this is all very well and good but for 2015, it seams highly unlikely. Shake It Off is nominated 3 times so my money goes on her performing the song.

In 2013 following the success of her 4th album RED, Taylor was given the coveted spot of the opening performance for the awards show. Could this be repeated in 2015? Its very possible, but do Grammy organisers do that sort of thing and give the same person the opening performance slot twice? I wouldn't know since I'm not involved in any way, I guess its just a waiting game to find out.

Taylor, All the best for the Grammys, I know you will walk away with at least one award but me and all other swifties hope and pray you take home all 3 to become a 10-time Grammy winner ok?

Maybe you want to invite me to the Grammys?

LA KIIS FM Jingle Ball 2014

December 5th was the annual 2014 102.7 KIIS FM Jingle Ball held at The Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Taylor was once again given the honour of opening the show after previously opening the AMA's and iHeart Radio Music Festival earlier in the year.

What makes tonight's performance special is that Taylor tweeted just before the show to say that she had a case laryngitis and in the pre show interviews you could really tell she was sick as shown HERE.

Taylor is said to still have sounded amazing during her 20 minute performance where she performed We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, Blank Space, I Knew You Were Trouble, Love Story and Shake it off. Taylor again performed her pop remix of Love Story tonight.

Above: Taylor arriving on the red carpet at the 2014 102.7 KIIS FM Jingle Ball in Los Angeles. For once Taylor was one of the earliest to arrive as she is traditionally late to these types of events regardless of if she is opening the show or not.


We all feel bad for Taylor being sick right now as she has a busy performance schedule in London and NYC in the next week.
Lets hope she rests up and her laryngitis clears up soon.

1989 Tour Australia Nov/Dec 2015

On Tuesday 2nd December 2014, It was announced that Taylor was returning to Australia in November and December 2015 with The 1989 World Tour.

The dates are:
Saturday November 28th - ANZ Stadium, Sydney
Saturday December 5th - Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Monday December 7th - Entertainment Center, Adelaide
Friday December 11th - AAMI Stadium, Melbourne

UPDATE: A 2ND MELBOURNE SHOW WAS ANNOUNCED FOR DEC 12TH 2015
A 2nd Melbourne concert was announced for Dec 12th after the first show sold out in under an hour this morning (Dec 12th) when tickets to general public went on sale.

UPDATE: A 2ND ADELAIDE SHOW WAS ANNOUNCED FOR DEC 8TH 2015
Due to demand, Adelaide also has had a 2nd show added to the tour

This tour brings yet another milestone and record for Taylor. When she returns she will be the first person ever to headline back to back stadium tours of Australia after her headlining tour of stadiums across Australia in 2103 for her sold out RED Tour, in which she became the first artist in 20 years to do a stadium tour after Madonna in 1993.

Notably, Taylor has chosen the biggest stadium while also the smallest stadium. In 2013, Taylor performed at Sydney's Allianz Stadium but for 1989 is opting to go bigger with ANZ Stadium which was build for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. While in Melbourne, Taylor played at Eithad Stadium in 2013 but has settled for the smaller venue of AAMI Stadium instead. I feel that Eithad has probably been booked for another event not announced yet or is allowing Taylor to possibly move venues if AAMI sells out.

No doubt, all shows will sell out just like they did in 2013.
American Express and TS.Com Presale started today (Dec 4th) and run until Dec 7th.
Frontier Touring Presale starts on Dec 9th at staggered times depending on your city so check carefully what time your presale starts.

General sales start Dec 12th, check Ticketek Aus for more details.

I'm going to the Sydney concert in Section 111
Will I see you there?

Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2014

Taylor returns for a second year to the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show after performing on the 2013 show.

Taylor makes a welcome return to the VS Fashion Show after she made quite an impression on the VS Fashion Show in 2013. The 2013 show was held in NYC on Nov 13th, but aired a month later on Dec 10th. On the runway she looked just like one of the models. Taylor performed 2 songs, 'My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark' with Fall Out Boy for the British Invasion segment of the show and then again in the Snow Angels segment with her song 'I Knew You Were Trouble'.
A full video including both performances and additional footage from the 2013 show is below.

During the last year Taylor has become close friends with model Karlie Kloss and the friendship may be the reason Taylor is returning this year, but I think its just the amazing impression Taylor made last year which made the organisers do everything to get her back again in 2014.

The 2014 VS Fashion Show is being held in London on Dec 2nd and airs on Dec 9th. Taylor is performing this year along side Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande and Hozier.

I shall update this once the show has been filmed and videos appear

American Music Awards 2014

Tonight (Nov 23rd) the American Music Awards (AMAs) were held at the Nokia Theatre in LA.

Taylor opened the show with Blank Space and then was awarded the Dick Clark Award for Excellence.

Blank Space, well what a performance of the newly crowned Billboard Hot 100 No.1 track. Taylor opened the show for the first time. For the first time Taylor was not using her traditional handheld microphone, instead opting for a wireless headset microphone hooked up to her in earpieces. This allowed her to move around the stage freely and act out what I feel is the most dramatic song on 1989 regardless of its point of view.

Taylor started out her performance being high above the stage sitting at a table with a boy at the other end, while being lowered down during the start of the song. She then proceeded to play with fire (pyrotechnics) while 'burning" a rose. Taylor moved on to an outdoor setting and another boy before breaking up with him in rage and making him fly across the stage. In the process Taylor rips off her ankle length skirt to reveal a short play suit before more fire comes out behind her in time to the lyrics "Or it's gonna go down in flames". Taylor ends the performance with a boy walking through the door with a bunch of roses. Taylor received a standing ovation for the performance. A link to one of the many articles about the performance and a HD video HERE.

(I will update the video once I find a HD youtube version)

While Taylor wasn't nominated for any awards tonight, she did receive the biggest award of the night. The Dick Clark Award for Excellence was given to Taylor by Diana Ross and she was the first person to ever receive the award which made it even more special. A beautiful video montage outlining her outstanding career so far was played before she was awarded her trophy. A clip of Taylor's acceptance speech is below. Full video of Taylor receiving her award.

If tonights performance of Blank Space is anything to go by just like how her performance of I Knew You Were Trouble at the 2012 AMAs was just an insight into The RED Tour, The 1989 World Tour is going to be an epic concert experience. How Taylor takes and performs each song on tour is anyones guess until opening night. But until then, this performance just builds the excitement even further if that was possible.

All I know is that I can't wait to see Taylor live on this tour, How about you?

The 1989 World Tour Updates

Since the tour was announced on Monday Nov 3rd, the following dates have been added to the tour.

USA:
2nd show at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - June 12th
2nd show at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey - July 10th
2nd show at Nationals Park in Washington, DC - July 14th
2nd show at Solider Field in Chicago, Illinois - July 19th
3rd/4th shows at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California - August 21st/22nd
3rd show at Xcel Energy Center in St.Paul, Minnesota - Sept 13th
5th show at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California - August 24th
1st show at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas - October 13th
1st show at Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri - Moved to Sept 28th
2nd show at Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri - Initially dropped from tour but added due to demand for Sept 29th

Europe:
2nd show in Cologne, Germany - June 19th,
1st show in Dublin, Ireland - June 29th
2nd show in Dublin, Ireland - June 30th

Australia/New Zealand:
Back to back stadium tour visiting
ANZ Stadium in Sydney - Nov 28th
Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane - Dec 5th
Entertainment Center in Adelaide - Dec 7th
AAMI Park in Melbourne - Dec 11th

On Jan 19th, It was announced that Vance Joy would be supporting Taylor in the UK as well as USA and Australia while James Bay would be supporting in Germany and the Netherlands.

On June 24th, It was announced that Taylor would be returning to Shanghai and Singapore with 2 dates in each city in November 2015.
Singapore - Nov 7th/8th
Shanghai - Nov 10th/11th

"Blank Space" 1989 2nd Single

Blank Space, the 2nd single to be released of Taylor's 5th studio album 1989

Blank Space was officially released to radio across the world on Nov 10th along with the music video and a funky and exciting playable app for both apple and android (more about that later). Blank Space also tops Billboard charts and breaking records along the way.

Blank Space is a song Taylor wrote in response to what the media has been portraying her as over the last few years. This song was written as a joke initially when she went into the studio and since became something so much more. The media as Taylor puts it, has been saying that she hooks up with these guys and then has a 'psychotic' breakdown and goes into a jealous rage when the guy leaves her before moving on to another guy. Blank Space is written in such a way that if this was who Taylor was this is the kind of song she would write.

Being the complete opposite to the media portrait of her and choosing what currently makes her happy which is not dating and just living life on her own terms, The shoot for this video was something very different and the final video is something very different to anything Taylor has done before.

The filming for Blank Space took place over 2 days at Oheka Castle and Woolworth Mansion in Long Island, New York. The production took a total of 30 hours to complete. 12 hours on day one, 18 hours on day two and 10 hours total for the Blank Space app.

The Blank Space Experience App hosted by American Express Unstaged allows viewers to get a 360-degree view of the rooms used in the filming of the video while also seeing Taylor and Sean O'Pry who stars as the male lead in the music video move through the rooms and again act out the song once again in a similar but different way to the actual video. You are able to move through the rooms in the video at your own pace or move through the rooms while following Taylor and Sean around.

In the video there are also what are known as collectibles to be found which are both related to the video and Taylor's personal life. As you move through the rooms you tap on anything and everything to uncover these hidden gems. Collectibles feature Taylor, Sean, Meredith and Olivia (her cats), her family, unseen photos from Taylor's childhood and more. Some collectibles are only able to be found during certain parts of the song so take a good look around.
The full Billboard article about the app is available here.

Announced today, Blank Space has just become Taylor's 3rd No.1 on the Hot 100 chart making it the 2nd song off 1989 to do so while making further history becoming the only song by a female artist to knock their own song off the No.1 spot with Shake It Off dropping back to  No.3 this week. Taylor is only the 10th artist to ever succeed herself on top of being the only female artist to do so. Blank Space jumped from No. 13 last week to No. 1 this week to atop the chart. Article here.

Meanwhile, 1989 is currently at just under 2Mil in sales in the US alone while also selling over 1 Mil copies outside of the US in the first 3 weeks. 1989 has logged its 3rd consecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, the second highest charting album behind the Frozen soundtrack. Full article here.

1.28 Million Copies For Opening Week Sales

I know I'm a bit slow at posting this but here goes anyway.

On Oct 27th, Taylor released her 5th studio album and on the week ending Nov 2. Taylor sold 1.287 Million copies of her album 1989 making it the highest selling debut album since well her previous album RED came out in 2012.

Actually its the highest sales week since 2002 when Eminem's album "The Eminem Show" sold 1.322 million copies in its second charting week.

1989 gives Taylor her 4th No.1 album behind Fearless (2008), Speak Now (2010) and Red (2012) and 3rd album to go platinum in its first week behind Speak Now (1.047Mil) and Red (1.208Mil).
This gives Taylor the crown of being the first artist ever to have 3 consecutive albums all go platinum in first week sales.

With 1989, Taylor is the first person to top the Billboard 200 and  Hot 100 at the same time.

Full article of first week sales can be found below
1989 Debut numbers

The 1989 World Tour

On Monday November 3, Taylor announced the 1989 World Tour 2015.

The North American dates start on May 20th in Louisiana. This makes a change after both RED and Speak Now tours were both started in Omaha Nebraska.
In June 2015, Taylor hits The Netherlands, Germany, Scotland and England before returning to the US for more tour dates currently slated until the end of October 2015.

On November 8th at a press conference in Tokyo Japan, Taylor announced further dates starting with 2 concerts on May 5th/6th in Tokyo.

This time around there are multiple different packages available for purchase which come with merchandise and get you either a seat near the front on the floor, lower level tiered seating, front pit tickets or B stage pit tickets. The prices of these packages range from $150-$500 depending on both the concert date you are buying for and whether it is a stadium or arena date.

B stage pit tickets you ask? Yes that's right. There is still a B Stage this tour but it also has a pit. As shown by the stage layout below, depending on if you are seeing the tour in an arena or a stadium, the stage layout varies slightly. In an arena, it appears that Taylor will have a catwalk right down the center of the arena to the B stage. Where as in a stadium, the catwalk will come out a bit then T-off and a separate B stage will be further out in the middle of the stadium.
The first picture below is from MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, While the second picture is from PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina.

When you look closely at the tour dates provided/announced so far, you can see gaps sprinkled throughout the list. To me that means there will be more dates announced as tickets go on sale and start to sell out within minutes regardless of the prices of tickets. People may say the high ticket prices might make the concerts not sell out but have you looked at who your dealing with here? Its Taylor Swift for crying out loud, The person who sold the first million selling week since her previous album RED came out 2 years ago.
Los Angeles Staples Center will sell out 2 shows within 5 minutes and another 2 shows at the venue will be announced. Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia hosted 2 shows on The RED Tour and I would expect it to do so again in 2015 even though only one is currently announced. The Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey is not currently slated for any shows having hosted 3 for RED and 4 for Speak Now. I expect dates to be added here and at Madison Square Garden in New York City as well. Places like Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts which have always hosted 2 shows on tour have already had 2 shows announced so I don't see any additional showing being announced there.

The 1989 World tour is seeing lots of new stadiums as performance venues for this tour as well as returning to places like Montreal and Ottawa Canada after not stopping there for RED. Some other cities who are seeing Taylor after not seeing her for RED are Glasgow, Amsterdam and Santa Clara.

All in All, I see alot more that what is currently announced to come from this 1989 world tour.

To all those still to get tickets, good luck and to all those with tickets already, have the best time yet and I might see you there? whether it is in America or abroad, who knows?

1989 and Release week

Monday October 27th at Midnight, Taylor's new album 1989 was release world wide on iTunes and as day broke on Monday morning, fans across america flocked to Target and other stores to buy their own copy of 1989 and get the Polaroid photos that came with it.

Across the world some had to wait until Tuesday 28th October to get their hands on a CD copy of 1989 with the differences in time zones across the world.

1989 shot straight to the top of the charts around the world and currently sits at #1 top of 89 charts on iTunes worldwide. Billboard has been reviewing its estimated sales charts throughout the week since the release of 1989 and now on Oct 29th predicts that the album will sell over 1.2 Million copies up from earlier predictions of 700k, 900k, and 1 Mil. By the time Taylor appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman on Tuesday night (28th Oct) it was already known that 1989 had sold over 600,000 copies in just 24 hours.

Release week kicked of with a bang at about 11pm ET on Sunday 26th October when 1989 was released onto iTunes in America and the rest of the world followed suit at 12am Monday 27th October when 1989 was released onto iTunes worldwide.

Monday morning and Taylor makes her first appearance of what is a very busy week promoting the album across many different tv shows and radio stations. First up is Good Morning America at the studio in Times Square in New York City. The announcement was made that Taylor will be returning to Times Square on New Years Eve to perform at the 2015 Dick Clark's Rocking New Years Eve on which Taylor last performed on in 2012 after the release of her last album RED. Taylor will be returning to GMA to perform on Thursday 30th October. Video of the interview can be found below along with the performance from later in the week.

As part of release week, Taylor made a long awaited return to Ellen. She was last on the show in 2012 for the release of RED and this time around Ellen dedicated the full episode to her. The episode was filmed the week prior and aired on Monday 27th October. Taylor talked about many things and brought some super cute videos of Olivia to share. Taylor also performed Shake It Off and Out Of The Woods and did a funny cat segment with Ellen. Sadly Ellen didn't scare her on the show this time around. A video from the interview can be found below. The full episode is Here.

Taylor and iHeart Radio hosted the ultimate secret session Monday night on top of a roof top in New York City with the skyline and Empire State Building in the background. Taylor hand picked fans to be at this session and proceeded to take polaroids with them after the concert. Taylor performed Welcome To New York, Blank Space and Style for the first time along with Out Of The Woods and Shake It Off. What made this even more special is that Taylor had the Empire State Building flashing and lighting up in time to the beat of the songs as she performed them and Taylor was able to see the Empire State Building as she was performing.

On Tuesday Taylor was on The Late Show with David Letterman where she also performed Welcome To New York. Interview and Performance is below.

Madame Tussauds in Sydney, Los Angeles and Washington DC all have unveiled new wax sculptures to coincide with the release of 1989. Sydney based theirs off the 2012 performance on Dancing With The Stars USA, Los Angeles based theirs off the 2013 performance of The RED Tour at The Staples Center when Taylor wore an I heart LA top, while Washington DC based theirs off the 2012 performance outfit from the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball at Madison Square Garden.

Other appearances are made on tv shows The View, The Talk and The Voice US. Taylor is on air co hosting with Ryan Seacrest via skype to Los Angeles and performed on Good Morning America. Taylor performed Welcome To New York, Out Of The Woods and Shake It Off in Times Square in what was the biggest concert ever in Times Square that drew a massive crowd which could simulate the crowds that New Years Eve celebrations draw.

More appearances are scheduled for Friday Oct 31st which happens to be Halloween. Taylor is attending a Halloween party and we all know she scares easily so should be interesting to see what happens.

Throughout the week Taylor has been doing something she has hastagged #Taylurking. Taylor has been looking on instagram, Tumblr and Twitter to find photos of fans with the new album, polaroids, both or displaying them in some interesting way. She has proceeded to then start tweeting photos which is making fans freak out across the world. Along with the photos she is tweeting lyrics from the new album with each set of photos she posts. Some of the photos have even been edited by Taylor with filters before she has posted them. A link to Taylor's twitter account is here.

With 5 separate sets of Polaroids to collect and it being completely random with each CD, let the trading begin and Good Luck getting all the sets.

Welcome To New York "1989"

So the release of 'Welcome To New York' didn't go quite to plan tonight with the song leaking early into some countries iTunes stores as early as lunchtime Eastern Time and then as word spread of the leak iTunes is believed to have crashed with the amount of Swifties trying to buy the song.

As you can gather, Today was rather eventful. With everything that happened today, I hope there is no repeat of today for the full album release in just under a weeks time on October 27th.

Today Taylor flew out of Australia bound for LA with multiple appearances scheduled including The Ellen Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live and We Can Survive concert. Some where in between flying from Sydney to LA, 'Welcome To New York' is believed to have leaked and appeared on iTunes accounts in Australia, New Zealand and the UK (according to posts on Twitter). Once the news of this spread rapidly across Twitter as Swifties across the world waited for the song to be released at 11:59pm EST in America, Scott Borchetta, Taylor, and iTunes raced to fix the problem and release the song worldwide as soon as possible. Before the night was up and the clock hit 11:59pm EST, 'Welcome To New York' had already topped the iTunes charts in both America and Canada while either sitting at the tops of other charts around the world or steadily climbing the charts.

This was not the kind of stress that anyone needed today, especially Taylor. Jet lagged after being in Paris, London, America and Australia all within 10 days and another long flight ahead of her before the rest of the week is super busy with appearances in the week before her highly anticipated 5th album "1989" is released. Then add trying to get iTunes to release 'Welcome To New York' earlier than planned adds up to one very tired Taylor but I know she is loving life right now and thats all we can ask for.

Anyway, on the song:

'Welcome To New York' is track 1 on the new album "1989" and was written in collaboration with Ryan Tedder from OneRepublic.
'Welcome To New York' was inspired by the city itself as an important part of Taylor's life for the past few years having just brought an apartment in the city back in March 2014. Taylor describes New York as an electric city and an inspiration hard to describes like anything she has felt before.
The video can be found below

Although most of us may have never been to New York, the song makes us both feel welcome and resonates deep within us.

One of the key lyrics is "Boys and Boys and Girls and Girls". In a time where Gay and Lesbian rights and opinions about them are so divided, I feel this is a subtle hint towards Taylor's opinion.

Out Of The Woods "1989"

Midnight on Tuesday 14th October 2014, Taylor released the next song off her upcoming album "1989". It was clear that this release was not the next single but just a promotional song.

However as shown by "Ours" in 2011, which was an additional song on the deluxe version of the 2010 album "Speak Now", If the song is really popular and taken hold of by the fans, it may become a single at a later date with its own music video.

Taylor released a preview of Out Of The Woods on Monday 13th October through Good Morning America and released the song to iTunes that night.

"Out Of The Woods" has been very well received and topped iTunes charts around the world, only knocking "Shake It Off " out of the top spot to create a No.1 /No.2 situation in many countries around the world. Pre Orders of "1989" on iTunes have also sent the album back to No. 1 around the world.

Out Of The Woods was co-written and co-produced with Jack Antonoff who is from the band FUN. who also wrote the song "Sweeter Than Fiction" with Taylor in 2013.

You can see Taylor talking about the influences behind "Out Of The Woods" below. Billboard rated "Out Of The Woods" 4.5/5 stars and you can read the full review here.

Until next time, enjoy the new music

Billboard Woman of the Year 2014

Billboard recently announced that Taylor Swift is the 2014 Woman of the Year.

Billboard's Woman of the Year is defined as the female artist who "has shaped and inspired the music industry with her success, leadership and innovation over the past 12 months." as quoted here.

Taylor was first awarded the honor in 2011 after the success of Speak Now and a sold out Speak Now World Tour. Below is a video of Taylor being honored at the 2011 Billboard Woman in Music Awards on Dec 2 2011 in New York. Taylor was the youngest person to receive the honor when she received it in 2011.

This year in 2014, Taylor has been awarded Billboard Woman of the Year again and makes history as the first artist every to be awarded the honor twice. With the upcoming release of "1989" and the only new music to be released so far this year being 'Shake It Off ', This honor just shows how much Taylor influences the music industry and the world. Taylor came off a very successful RED Tour back in June. Taylor will receive her award in December.

A link to the Billboard article can be found Here.

Taylor's album release and promotion schedule for 1989

I will keep this as updated as possible and only add events once they are confirmed

October 6 - Le Grand Journal - Paris.
October 6 - NRJ radio interview - Paris
October 7 - C a vous tv show performance and radio station interviews - Paris
October 8 - Alan Carr taping to air Oct 24th in US - London
October 9 - Capital Breakfast - London's Shard building
                 - BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge - London
October 10 - Graham Norton Show feat Taylor airs - London
October 12 - X Factor UK performance - Manchester UK
October 17 - Stand Up To Cancer UK Skit (pre recorded) - London
October 20 - X Factor Grand Final - Sydney, Australia
                   - Fitzy & Wippa/ Kyle & Jackie radio interviews - Sydney, Australia
October 22 - Ellen Show taping and possible performance to air Oct 27th - LA
October 23 - Jimmy Kimmel live exclusive performance - Hollywood Boulevard
October 24 - "We Can Survive" Concert supporting Breast Cancer at the Hollywood Bowl - LA
October 27 - 1989 Midnight Album Release world wide
                   - Good Morning America Interview - NYC Times Square
                   - CMT Canada special
October 28 - Madame Tussauds Wax Figure unveil - NYC
                   - Late Show with David Letterman - NYC
October 29 - Scholastic 1pm ET time Live - NYC
                   - The View guest appearance - NYC
October 30 - Good Morning America performance - NYC
October 31 - Elvis Duran and The Morning Show - NYC



November 5 - CMA Awards (Taylor is nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year) - Nashville
November 9 - MTV EMA's ( Taylor is nominated twice)- Glasgow
November 23 - The AMA's - LA

October is here #1989Month

So October is here and the countdown is on until 1989 is released on October 27th.

I shall be covering everything from the iHeart Radio performance, promotional events and tv appearances, #1989SecertSessions to magazine covers.

On 19th September 2014, Taylor performed at the iHeart Radio Music Festival in Las Vegas. Taylor was the first performer on the night getting to open the iHeart Radio Music Festival. Taylor started out the performance with a very cunning and very Taylor secret agent clip filmed in and around the MGM Grand in Las Vegas where the event was being held. The clip featured a vintage car with the number plate "1989", fans in the hotel lobby and Ryan Seacrest. Taylor's set list for the performance is as follows: We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, 22, I Knew You Were Trouble, Love Story -Remix and Shake It Off. Sadly there was no extra or new songs performed that we had not already previously heard and I am not surprised by the set list of the night. A full video of both the introduction clip and performance can be found below.

As the album release grows closer, Taylor is starting to do more promotional events both on tv and with different commercial outlets. Taylor appeared on a French Canadian talk show Tout le Monde en parle in Montreal on 28th September as part of her album promotion. While she was in Canada it is also believed that she talked with multiple out radio hosts, tv shows and entertainment shows all of which the interviews will air during release week Oct 27th - 31st. Just some of the places she has talked with lately throughout America and Canada are Access Hollywood, CTV Canada and ETalk Canada. Interviews have also been done with British, French and German radio stations which are all still yet to air. Most interviews can be found on youtube.

This album Taylor has teamed up with Subway to have a special promotion of being able to win a trip to see Taylor live on tour next year. The promotion involves buying a special collectible cup which has a code on it which you can enter online for your chance to win. More information including videos on putting the album together and commercials for Taylor's Subway promotion can be found Here.

#1989SecretSessions are just exactly what the hashtag reads they are Secret listening sessions of the full 1989 album. Taylor personally invited fans from across America to both her home in LA and her parents house just outside of Nashville for a party where they got to hear the full 1989 album, have Taylor tell them about the meaning of each song, hang out with Taylor and get Polaroid photos with Taylor. Fans were chosen from Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram and Taylor Connect with all the fans being given the opportunity to meet Taylor for the first time. There were 89 fans at each listening session and they all had the opportunity to also talk with Scott and Andrea, Taylor's parents. Each fan also went home with a gift bag which included 2 T-Shirts, one tank top, tote bag, a personalised keyring from the listening session and more.

After the release of the album a behind the scenes video from the secret sessions was released and can be found below.

Taylor is featuring on the cover on many magazines in the lead up to the release of 1989. Rolling Stone, Fashion Canada, British Vogue and Nashville Lifestyles all have Taylor as the cover girl for the latest either October or November issues of their magazines. Rolling Stone was the first to release their magazine a few weeks ago and Fashion Canada, British Vogue and Nashville Lifestyles have all just released the latest copies of their magazines in the last week.

I will be posting a schedule of upcoming events Taylor has in the next few months later on.

iHeart Radio Music Festival 2014

Taylor returns in 2014 to perform at the iHeart Radio Music Festival in Las Vegas on 19th/20th September.

Taylor's last appearance at the festival was in 2012 and was her first time performing at the iHeart Radio Music Festival. A full video of the 2012 performance can be found below along with the promo interview.

This year in 2014, Taylor's performance and set list are highly anticipated. This is brought about as Taylor is set to release her first full and official pop album next month on Oct 27th.

iHeart Radio Music Festival will be the first 'Concert' performance of 'Shake It Off'. Although 'Shake' has been performed at the 2014 MTV VMA's, German Radio Awards and the annual Target fall meeting, this will be the first real chance for Taylor to take the stage in a concert setting on a large stage with her full band while also performing other hits as well. 

The MTV VMA's were choreographed and highly rehearsed, while the German Radio Awards and the annual Target fall meeting were quieter and on a much smaller scale even though the Target fall meeting was in an arena. At the VMA's Taylor was performing in front of peers in the music industry and performing 'Shake' for the very first time which needed to make an impression and what could be thought of as her entrance into the world of pop music. 

The German Radio Awards were a small intimate performance in my opinion as the crowd was seated and on a small stage. The annual Target fall meeting was a bigger performance to the German Radio awards but still on a small stage but crowd enthusiasm would have been increased compared to the German performance.

What makes the iHeart Radio Music Festival so highly anticipated? 

Well just after 'Shake' was released it was mentioned on twitter by some people associated with iHeart Radio that Taylor would be performing multiple songs of new music at the festival. However a week out from the festival I personally am starting to doubt that as Taylor would want to perform music that we would actually know the words to. Having said that, There is a Monday left before Taylor performs which would allow her to drop a new single before the performance and perform 2 new songs at the festival which makes multiple songs along with some previous hits from other albums.

When Taylor performs on Sept 19th, It will have just been one month since 'Shake' was released and to keep the buildup towards Oct 27th and the release of 1989, it would make sense for Taylor to release another single before the iHeart Radio performance.

I guess we will just have to wait and see what Taylor pulls out of the hat between now and iHeart Radio Music Festival.

Updated: Below is the video of Taylor's 2014 performance at iHeart Radio Music Festival

Shake It Off "1989"

Taylor's 5th studio album "1989" will be released in stores on October 27th 2014 and is a pop album.

Hey Guys, So on Monday 18th August Taylor announced her 5th studio album and lead single along with the music video for the lead single.

"Shake It Off" is the lead single which was released immediately to iTunes around the world at the end of the live stream announcement on Yahoo. The songs accompanying music video was also premiered during the live stream which was filmed 2 months prior.

All the information about the new album, release dates, pre-ordering and merchandise packages can be found on TaylorSwift.com Here

"Shake it Off" is a very catchy, dance pop song about not caring what anyone else thinks about your and essentially just shaking off all the hate in the world and just living a life you want. "1989" is said to be inspired by '80s pop and is something very new for Taylor. Below is the new music video for "Shake It Off" which has already hit 25 million views and counting.

Taylor has already broken some records with this new album including the record for having a single, album and music video at the top of the iTunes charts simultaneously after just one day with pre ordering for the new album sending it to the top of the charts. "Shake It Off" has topped both the country and overall charts in over 30 countries worldwide since its release.

Taylor will perform "Shake It Off" for the first time live at the 2014 MTV VMA's on Sunday 24th August and is also scheduled to perform at the 2014 iHeart Radio Music Festival on 19th September and I guess that we may have one or possibly 2 new singles by then but I see 2 singles as highly unlikely but 1 single is very possible.

I feel the new tour will be "The 1989Tour 2015" and will be and interesting mix of both new pop and old country.

Happy 1989 Era all

Here It Comes, August 18th 2014

So we now officially have a release date, well you could call it an announcement date at this pint but we all know that Taylor is most likely announce the date of release, title of the album and the lead single off the new album which will also be debuted at the same time.

I'm talking about the announcement Taylor made in the early hours of the morning on Monday 11th August 2014 which caused most people to wake up to the news across the world.

The announcement is that Taylor will be doing a worldwide live stream via Yahoo in August 18th at 5pm ET/2pm PT live from New York City.

At the last event which was the announcement for RED, Taylor and management hand picked fans who were chosen to attend the event at Taylor's parents home in Nashville however for this event you enter a contest to win a place at the live event which is to be held at a yet to be disclosed location in NYC.

A link to Taylor's website with all the information regarding the live stream can be found Here

Observant swifties have noticed that when the last web chat for RED was announced that the background image then became the lead single cover art so it is a possibility that this background image could follow the same pattern.

Sadly, I will not be able to watch the live stream well live as I have a prior uni commitment (timezone challanges)  but I will be watching and listening as soon as I get home, blogging about it and be an absolute mess all day until I get home.

The next post will be in the New Era, so I hope you all have very much enjoyed the RED Era and I will see you in the New Era.

So, Here's Your First Clue....

On Monday August 4th 2014 (American Time), Taylor gave us what is the first of possibly many clues leading up to the release of Album 5 hopefully later this month. I will be updating this post as time goes on so please check back later and if you wish to contribute let me know, I welcome other theories that are not my own (credit will be given). Taylor's next live performance is on August 24th at the 2014 MTV VMA's so should expect new music by then.

A link to Taylor's tweet is here: First Clue Tweet
Taylor Nation (@Taylornation13) has been ReTweeting a few fans tweets after the first clue was posted with the #TaylorSwiftClue

What we know from this tweet:
- Taylor pushes the button of level 18
- She pushes the button once and then 5 more time in quick succession

Theories:
- August 18th is a Monday so that is a possible release date
- The tweet came through at 12:46pm Eastern Time which adds to 13
- The first push of the button is for the first single and other 5 indicate album 5
- It is 13 days until the 18th August so could get a clue a day
- 18 + 6 button pushes = 24 which is both Taylor's age and date of the VMA's
- 18 could mean the number of tracks/new music that will be on the album/deluxe version
- 6 could mean track number of first single so track 6
- 18th letter in the alphabet is "R"( Credit to owner here)
- Nashville corespondent for USA Today has posted some good tweets which can be found here @brian_mansfield

Clue Two:

So at 7:30pm EDT on Wednesday 6th August from New York City where Taylor was seen out and about earlier in the day came the 2nd of the highly anticipated clues leading us to some mystery destination about when and where Taylor will announce the lead single and album information off the highly anticipated 5th album expected to be released later this year.

A link to Taylor's second tweet here: Second Clue Tweet

Both the #TaylorSwiftClue and #TaylorSwiftClue2 are trending throughout twitter in response to the latest tweet from Taylor.

What we know from this tweet:

- The time is 5pm

- The photo was taken at home to have Olivia photographed

- The card indicates the New York City Skyline

- The card reads "to a beautiful friend, in a beautiful home"

- The photo was posted initially on twitter and the instagram version has the Polaroid camera and card cut out of the frame

Theories:

- August 18th at 5pm

- NYC skyline indicates that the event might be held in NYC but time doesn't show what timezone will be at 5pm when it happens.

- A possible countdown as pushed button 6 times in first tweet but now showing 5 (Credit to: @slaylortaylor13)

- Could indicate time of single release, live chat or both

- Both the U in Clue and O in Two are repeated 5 times and there 5 items photographed

Clue Three:

Thursday 7th August brought the 3rd clue in what is a game of treasure hunt and mystery solving to when, where and how Taylor will announce details of  the highly anticipated 5th album. As we get more clues everything becomes clearer but does cause more rumors after people go looking online for more information.

A link to Taylor's third tweet here: Third Clue Tweet

The latest #ThisIsClue3 was trending in response to this tweet.

What we know from this tweet:
- Yahoo will most likely be the online site to host the live performance/webchat

Adding the last 3 clues together we get August 18th at 5pm live from somewhere in NYC via Yahoo.
Yahoo have previously held concerts such as Demi Lovato which are broadcast live across the world in association with iHeart Radio and have many other performances/announcements lined up for the future so Taylor using this media outlet is a real possibility.

Taylor is also one not to repeat something on more that one occasion (apart from clothes etc) so it is understandable that Taylor wouldn't want to use YouTube for this announcement as YouTube was involved for RED's release. Taylor has also not dropped such obvious hints at us before so this is following the path of something new for each album.

The August Line Up

So, we have arrived at August 2014. The month when we feel that things are about to get real and the new Taylor Swift album will be upon us.

Events this month:
August 10th - Teen Choice Awards in LA where Taylor is presenting
August 11th - The Giver Premier in NYC
August 15th - The Giver comes out in cinemas across America
August 24th - MTV Video Music Awards in LA where Taylor will be performing

What we know/expect right now:
- We expect Taylor to announce/release the first single off the new album on a Monday or Tuesday to allow a full week on the music charts.
- Mondays in August are the 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th. Now what we can assume from this is that Monday 11th August will not be release day of new music due to the giver premier. I personally think that Monday 25th August is also unlikely as Taylor would want to perform new music at the VMAs.
- Taylor is scheduled to perform at the iHeart Radio Music Festival on Sept 19th so she would definitely have released new music by then as would not want to debut new music with a liver performance.

Performing new music live for the first time when no body knows the words is something I wouldn't see Taylor doing. I don't know of any artists who may have done this in the past and I personally think it would be too risky to do such a debut of a new song on such a widely televised show such as the VMAs. MTV is a global television channel and with the show expected to be broadcast across the world both live and on playback, I don't see Taylor taking such a big leap of faith in hoping fans and critics alike enjoy the performance.

History may play a factor in debuting a first live performance of the newest single on the VMAs. Back in 2012 Taylor performed "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" live for the fist time on the VMAs after releasing the single 3 weeks beforehand.

With many festivals and award show season approaching fast, Taylor would want to be able to be nominated for awards across the board and would need new music to be able to do that. Along with nominations, Taylor is highly likely to perform at these award shows and is typically where fans will see the first live performances of new music.

Now that Taylor has given us a true clue towards the new album I shall begin a new post and will update it as we get closer to Album 5

My Hopes And Dreams

I know we all have hopes and dreams that are both Taylor related and not Taylor related so I thought I would share some of my hopes and dreams with you and then I can come back here later on and see just what I was wishing for back then.

Just because I have been lucky enough to get to meet Taylor on The RED Tour, doesn't mean I don't have other dreams which involve Taylor. I am going to share some of them here but also keep some to myself.

-One of my biggest hopes/dreams now is to see Taylor wearing my gift to her.
Me and two friends gave Taylor a Greenstone necklace when we met her which meant friendship and she said she was going to buy one that day before the concert but hadn't done so yet, which means its something that she actually wanted which makes us feel very happy that we were able to give the Greenstone necklace to her and gives me hope that she might actually wear it at some stage.

-Who doesn't not want to see Taylor live in America?
I know I want too and my hope is that I am able to get tickets to the 2015 tour concerts in LA and where ever else I can. I also hope that one day I can attend an opening concert for the start of a tour as that feeling of not knowing what the show is going to be like and being some of the first people in the world to see the concert would just be absolutely amazing and beyond words.

-Album events
As the new album approaches I dream of being able to attend any event associated with the new album such as the Web Chat like Taylor did for RED, RED release week in NYC or the private LA concert Taylor did for The Ellen Show. Aside from meeting Taylor I think this is the highest honor to be invited to one of these type events. Although I don't think it makes you any more of a special or dedicated fan if you get chosen to attend an event like this.

-Contact details
Just because I and many other people have had the chance to meet Taylor and give her letters which most likely contained our personal contact details should Taylor ever want to contact us doesn't make me think that I have a higher chance than anyone else of being selected to meet Taylor again or attend a private event.
A Lot of us have twitter and TC accounts which make us just as easy to be contacted by Taylor Nation or Big Machine should they wish to invite us somewhere. We know Taylor's fan mail address and we know that she receives it and does actually look at the mail so I feel you have just as much chance of being noticed that way as you do online via social media.

I am choosing to keep the rest of my dreams, my dreams and not write them down.

Keep dreaming impossible dreams and one day it might just come true

"Stuff is about to happen"

"Stuff is about to happen" The magical quote from Taylor 1 month before the announcement of RED was made on August 13, 2012. You can find the link to the quote here: Facebook Link.

Swiftes across the world are hanging by a thread waiting for the very vague tweet or Facebook message from Taylor that signals the start of something new for both Taylor and all Swifties. Taylor won't have to say much in her message for us all to know exactly know what she means.

Taylor last told us "Stuff is about to happen" on July 10, 2012 via the message I have linked to above after she sat in a room with lots of important people talking about all important stuff. We all know that when we get another message along these lines we will know that Taylor's new album is not far away. Just a few weeks later we found out that Taylor was hosting a live web chat to announce some important information on August 13, 2012.

Late June 2014 and we find ourselves quickly approaching the announcement of the very highly anticipated 5th Album. There have been many comments from many people who have worked with Taylor or been involved in the new albums production in some way and they are all saying this new album is amazing and completely different from RED.

However, that is not what is drawing me to write this post tonight. Look closely at the date today (June 26th), its not that long until July 10th comes around again and we could have another post similar to 2012 hinting towards the release date of the first single off this new album that Swifties are excited about (including me). There is anticipation to find out whether Taylor will take the opportunity to release her album on Monday 13 October 2014. While its very possible Taylor will take the opportunity to do this, the other October Monday dates are the 6th, 20th and 27th October 2014. With 13 being Taylor's lucky number and the many other events that Taylor has done on the 13th such as tour start dates, music video releases and RED album announcement. It only makes sense that Taylor will choose October 13 as her album release date.

There is all sorts of speculations as to when Taylor may release the new album but we can assume that the album will be released early in the week to allow for a full charting week on music charts. I'm sure Taylor will have another album which will sell over 1 Million copies in its first week and I hope that we can top the sales for RED buy selling over 1.2 Million copies of Taylor's new album.

I leave this post with baited breath awaiting the new album's announcement.

Club RED, My Experience. Dec 1st 2013

So I thought I should post my experience here. This was written in the hours as soon as I got home after the concert.

So, I went to all 3 Auckland NZ RED Tour concerts on Nov 29th/30th and Dec 1st 2013 at Vector Arena. The first night I had pit, second night I was sitting close to the B Stage and third night I was halfway between both stages with an amazing view of the sound booth and Andrea 3 rows from the floor where Taylor walks past for Sparks Fly when she doesn't use the overhead method. My advice is that if you think your seat is going to have a good view of the sound booth, light your self up and never sit down during the concert. We didn't think there was going to be a Club RED tonight as its the last concert and such with everything being packed up to be shipped to Australia for the next concert.

Just before the show started we saw this group of 6 girls in the row in front of us get given Club RED by Andrea as they were going crazy during the opening act and were in custom shirts and had lights. We thought that might have been it and we were not going to get to meet Taylor but we now knew that Yes, there was going to be a Club RED tonight.

We were just dancing and singing away to every song and most of the people around us were just sitting down in between songs and during the ones they didn't know very well. But not us, we didn't care what anyone else thought and its a concert, your meant to stand up.

During Love Story (about half way through, (Taylor was still on the main stage with Mason, and not on catwalk yet) Sorry if you don't understand that, but lots will) we felt someone come up behind us and the lady asked us if we had ever met Taylor, of course we said No. She asked if we wanted to meet Taylor and we screamed YES. We all got wristbands and then preceded to scream and not really concentrate during the last 2 songs. That is when I just had to post the news on Twitter.

After the show we headed to the meeting spot where we were talking to other swiftes who had also got Club RED tonight. Once everyone had arrived, it was time to go back stage, as we were walking to Club RED we could see the stage crew dismantling the RED stage so it can be shipped to Australia for the next concerts. You would be surprised how many pieces there are that you can not see when you see the stage together compared to in a lot of pieces. Anyway, We go into Club RED and its decorated to a tropical theme that is quite New Zealand looking. They had the photo booth and pizza and drinks, but I was too excited to pay any attention to the food available to actually want to eat it. We all started taking pictures of everything and went in the photo booth (got some really bad photos). Tried to figure out what we wanted to say to Taylor but everything you want to say just disappears out the window as soon as you see her.

Our group was the 4th group she came over too and before she got to us, I was just standing there gob-smacked that I was in the same room as Taylor and I was going to get to hug her in just a few minutes. Taylor, you are very tall compared to me and have the most adorable accent in the world. Taylor looked stunning in her white/cream lace dress with long sleeves. Taylor first hugged as all and thanked us for coming to the concerts, we then gave her our present which was a Jade necklace that means friendship and forever which is totally perfect. Taylor opened the present in front of us which was just perfect. Taylor said she was going to get one today while she was here in NZ but hadn't done so it was so perfect that we had brought it for her and got to give it to her in person. I really hope we get a picture of her wearing the necklace. We then each got something signed, I had a book I wanted signed and she dated the autograph too. Taylor then asked if we wanted a picture and again of course we said YES. We had our picture taken and then each got another hug. We wished Taylor a Happy Birthday and she said Thank You. We then proceeded to tell her our ages and she totally understood my birthday being so close to Christmas.
Taylor then said her goodbyes and moved on to the next group.
We all got a hug with Andrea too and were able to thank her for noticing us. We were not able to get a photo with Andrea but that's ok.

It was just a magical experience and very surreal right now.

The Key To Knowing What The Next Tour Will Look Like

So, You may be a bit confused by my title but don't worry. I shall explain fully and will all make alot more sense by the end of this post. This may not be everyone's opinion but it is what I have noticed over the last 2 years and has just taken me a while to get around to writing it.

What I have found over the last 2 years and mainly in the 6 months or so leading up to the start of The RED Tour is that when you look back through various performances at award shows and other events is that what Taylor wears for the performance or how the song is performed directly links back to how we all saw the first night of The RED Tour unfold in Omaha, Nebraska on March 13 2013. I shall give you a few examples then refer back to them.

Starting from the top we have Taylor performing I Knew You Were Trouble at the 2013 Brit Awards in London late February 2013 and Taylor performing 22 for UK's Let's Dance for Comic Relief.

At the Brit Awards we are first shown how Taylor performs IKYWT on The RED Tour. Although her white ball gown is not as gold and sparkly as we see on tour, the basic dress is the same. Taylor's black jumpsuit for her mid song surprise change which we know she loves to do remains unchanged throughout the tour. IKYWT is performed with the back up dancers and music is the same as on The RED Tour. While watching the video you will notice that Taylor hits the same high note, changes costumes, and has musical pause before the high note as on The RED Tour. Her backup dancers also have a very similar routine as to what they do on tour.

Taylor's performance of 22 doesn't have quite so many comparisons to The RED Tour as IKYWT does but there as still some very much worth noting down. The biggest one would be Taylor's top. Her beautiful white lace, elbow length sleeved top is not one she has worn once or twice on The RED Tour, but it is part of her opening performance outfit for the first few months of The RED Tour before she started to change it up a bit but the lace top has still been worn for the opening performance of other concerts since. Some of the background graphics are very similar to the ones that play on the big screen behind Taylor while she is performing 22 each night on the tour.



Other noteworthy performances that shed light into The RED Tour:
-American Music Awards Nov 2012: Taylor performed IKYWT that night and although the costumes and music are not as similar as the Brit Awards, the basic concept of what The RED Tour performance is going to look like is there on the stage.

-MTV European Music Awards in Frankfurt, Germany Nov 2012: Taylor the poor girl had a cold while on this Europe/UK promo tour but still delivered an amazing performance of We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together. This performance was very much circus themed and Taylor continued that theme into The RED Tour.



Now that I have covered what The RED Tour looked like, I will come back to the present and look towards a tour based off an album which hasn't been announced yet.

So predicting what the new tour will look like is impossible without the new album to get a bit of inspiration from but we know that Taylor's next tour will be as spectacular as the last 3 tours. I can see the theme being more towards the grownup theme of The RED Tour compared to the fairy tale themes of Speak Now and Fearless. I see the elaborate stage setting of The RED Tour continuing and still having a pit for the next tour along with continuing to perform on the B Stage acoustically. Surprise or wild card songs? Yes I see Taylor continuing something along those lines but maybe not doing the nightly changing song on the B Stage but on the main stage again and bringing back a performance from a previous tour. The possibilities are endless for what Taylor will do on stage for the next tour.


I will leave you with this thought,
Taylor right now while reading this before the new album is even announced will be busy planning what the new tour will look like while waiting to see our response to the new album to decide what songs to perform and what order.

The Ellen Show

Update 15 May 2014:
Hey Guys, I just want to say Thank you for wanting to even read my posts. I will try to be more frequent with updating but this last week has been particularly tough for me because my cat passed away but anyway here is my finished post now.
Please let me know if you think I should include links to all the videos of Taylor on Ellen that I refer to in this post.

Taylor appearing on The Ellen Show is something all Swifties enjoy watching and it has nearly been two years since Taylor last appeared on Ellen. While we all look forward to the next appearance which will probably be for the next album release in just a few months time. I am taking this opportunity to look back on some of the highlights of Taylor's past appearances on The Ellen Show.

To start of I am going back to the earliest appearances on Ellen which were in 2008. Taylor first appearance was on February 10 2008 on the day of the Grammys when she was nominated for Best New Artist which she lost to Amy Winehouse. Taylor was just starting out and still opening for all the country headliners at the time.

Skip forward to November 2008 and Taylor's highly anticipated 2nd Album Fearless was about to be released. Taylor had a bit of a release party on The Ellen Show with some interesting results. While Taylor was being interviewed by Ellen she was surprised by a few special people that caught her completely off guard.

Taylor has continued to make many appearances on The Ellen Show since 2008. Taylor has surprised some dedicated fans, performed both with The Agency and acoustically, Invited Ellen to her LA Speak Now World Tour, appeared on the show for promotional events, done red carpet interviews and been scared multiple times by none other than Ellen herself.

Taylor has done some pretty amazing things for her fans and they have not just been on The Ellen Show. On The Ellen Show Taylor has had competitions to find her biggest fan and rewarded them with tickets to her shows with backstage passes, Met a military wife who walked down the isle to Love Story and brought her to the CMA awards and held an exclusive concert in the LA studio parking lot as part of RED Release Week where fans could win tickets to the concert.

Ellen joined Taylor on stage at LA's Staples Center in August 2011 during Taylor's Speak Now World Tour concert. Ellen appeared from under the stage 3 songs into the show and stayed on stage while Taylor performed Our Song. I hope Ellen joins Taylor on stage again at some point.

Taylor being scared by Ellen is something that never gets old and the creative ways Ellen comes up with to scare Taylor are great. The best scares in my view are the first time Ellen scared Taylor in her dressing room bathroom before the show started and the Haunted Hallway for Halloween 2012. Taylor being scared in the bathroom is awesome because Taylor just drops to the floor and that is a long way down for her at 5'11 tall. The same thing happens again in 2012 during the Haunted Hallway when someone dressed up pops out of the wall and she just drops to the floor once again. As long as Taylor is distracted by someone in front of her she is really easy to sneak up on as shown below.

Taylor has appeared on The Ellen Show for promoting the release of her new perfumes Wonderstruck and Wonderstruck Enchanted, The release of the animated movie The Lorax with Zac Efron and The release of the movie Valentines Day. Ellen has proceeded to ask Taylor about many different things although a common theme is always her personal life. Taylor is someone who doesn't talk about her personal life and Ellen knows that but it does make great interviews with Ellen making jokes about it.

Ellen often has a corespondent at many of the major award shows that happen through out the year and Taylor often stops for a quick entertaining chat on her way up the red carpet. There are many funny moments between Taylor and Ellen, Some of which can be found below.

I love seeing Taylor appear on Ellen and hope she makes an appearance soon