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
