What Taylor Swift and The Eras Tour Teaches Us about Building a Once-in-a-Lifetime Creative Brand
Article Published for The Creative Woman Diaries Collection—Written by Our Editorial Director, Casey J. Balon
Adoringly described as “a career-spanning victory lap” by Rolling Stone , Taylor Swift’s ‘The Eras Tour’ gives us an insider’s look at what it takes to leave an extraordinary creative imprint well beyond the confines of your industry.
With unprecedented cultural demand (and an almost shocking economic impact), the tour took on a life of its own — an enchanting extension of how the world responds to Taylor herself.
It was more than a homage to her most recent albums; The Eras was a full-spectrum celebration of her womanhood. She was the walking permission slip — of embodied beauty, temptation, longing, and devotion.
Her presence, movements, and gestures offered a tongue-in-cheek reclamation of every word used in an attempt to slander her value, legitimacy, or reputation. All of it, a signal of her essence and power. Every spec of it, a cultural representation of what is possible for us all. None of it, overly complicated. The show was intricate, detail-oriented, and majestic, but not overtly so, which allowed the experience to be enticing, energizing, and emotionally alluring.
It’s hard to ignore: Taylor Swift has commandeered the live music scene, and whether or not we consider ourselves official Swifties, she has captivated us.
As her concert film hits theatres, now is the perfect time to take notes. Here are 3 major commentaries on what The Eras Tour can teach us about building a remarkable Creative Brand.
Written by Casey Balon
(click here to read more about the writer)
1. Your creative imagination is your ultimate dream career unlock.
Taylor Swift isn’t trying to be different from everyone else. She is focused on being the fullest expression of, well — Taylor.
Stationed at the helm, with full reigns in hand, she is deliberate about paving her own path (and doing it in a way that exudes the whole range and continuum of who she is).
When we look at The Eras through the lens of ingenuity, she hasn’t necessarily reinvented the wheel, but she has unapologetically personalized her approach.
This is one of the tickets to her magnetism. (The proverbial ‘unlock.’)
Releasing multiple albums in recent years — from Lover in 2019, folklore and evermore in 2020, Midnights in 2022, as well as the re-recorded albums Fearless, Red, Speak Now, and 1989 — her worldwide tour cleared a path for something brand new: a cinematic encapsulation of her entire discography.
Welcomed by some as a reprieve from the current collective discourse, her tour performances were impressive and enjoyable. The mark she left was clear: She is a phenomenal performer, and she knows how to delight her worldwide fanbase.
What does this teach us?:
The Reciprocal Relationship is Essential
Building a distinctive, unforgettable creative brand begins with developing a symbiotic relationship between an authentically-expressed human (the performer, Taylor) and their community of supporters (in Taylor’s case, her fans). This relationship requires the performer to commit to continually evolving through the lens of her work in a way that speaks to the lived experience of the individual member of her community.
The reason Taylor’s lyrics work isn’t just because she’s telling the truth about her experience — it’s because she’s telling the truth about ours.
Fully Indulging Your Creative Imagination Is Not About Being Better Than Everyone Else; It’s About Being So Fully Connected To What Is Speaking Through You
The massive success of her tour reveals something cardinal: The full arc of creative development works when you create, develop, direct, and perform according to a template and method that is designed to suit you and your mission.
Taylor’s approach has power and longevity because its her own — not borrowed or based on someone else’s path before her. She possesses a gusto and a seemingly unstoppable sense of momentum… because she is carried by a framework that is so deeply her, and yet so much bigger than “just” her.
How big you dare to dream — how willing you are to meet that dream, to BE that dream, and to allow space for that dream — is the key to wielding your creative imagination in a way that is profoundly resonant to you.
Cue: Dream Career Unlocked.
2. Striking while the iron is hot: The Eras Tour concert film was the perfect follow-up move.
If re-recording her entire back catalog (including previously unreleased tracks such as Suburban Legends and Now That We Don’t Talk) wasn’t enough, announcing the concert movie, which debuted on Friday the 13th, was a near miracle moment for Swifties unable to get their hands on tickets to the live show. Earning an estimated $126 million during its opening weekend, the film set the record for the biggest concert documentary weekend to date.
In the midst of hectic and heartbreaking global times, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour seemed to storm the big screen just in time to deliver a sweet chronicle of her LA show. I can’t help but note the impeccability of her timing; Swift’s body of work seems to create a continual stream of engagement, a smooth yet fierce force to be reckoned with — not unlike the swell of the ocean.
And week’s before the movie, her relationship with Travis Kelce dominated mainstream attention, as if providing a perfect segue from the first leg of her tour to her concert film.
What does this teach us?:
The Storyline of the Art (and the Artist) Matters — Especially When It Provides Medicine for Our Own Wounds
Where she’s gone, where she is, where she’s going. People care, but not only because they care about T-Swift. They care because of what her life demonstrates to them — what her choices, monumental (and minute!) moves, and relationships reveal about what is possible in career, friendship, romantic partnership, and life. They’ve witnessed the arc of her Heroine’s Journey, and they’ve used it as a reference point (expansion and evidence for the subconscious mind and body) for what can be created in their own.
This is a striking component of humanhood, and a valuable organic asset in Creative Brand building.
Embracing The Oceanic Swell — How The Pace and Approach of An Artist Creates a Consistent Rhythm of Experience for Their Community of Supporters
In many ways, timing is everything. It goes without saying that a high caliber of performance, craft, user experience, tangible structure, management, team and crew, collaboration, community relationship building, exhilaration, and seduction are critical elements for the success of a creative and their brand…
But timing and rhythm (including the signature form of consistency, presence, and potency embraced by an artist) creates the long-term build — and perpetuates The Swell.
Receiving from the Pace of Her Artistry:
When we were obliged to remain in our homes during 2020, she surprise-released multiple albums, dropping new and rerecorded songs as she continued into 2021.
And its exactly what we didn’t know we needed.
Bewitched by the Unfolding of Her Love Story:
After an intense few years of witnessing relationships dissolve ubiquitously (not to mention that very effective season of Venus Retrograde in the summer of 2023), Taylor’s relationship with Travis Kelce did more than capture our attention. It enthralled the world stage, especially so from the feminine lens (because we recognize unaltered joy when we see it).
As the torchbearer for several iconic breakup songs, we were now witnessing something different in the performer.
Her peaceful elation emanated from the stands at her well-known lover’s football game… and it was contagious. Her relaxed body, smile, and natural posture opened up an unspoken sense of hope to what is possible in relationship and love again, no matter (perhaps especially with) a person’s track record and relational patterns.
Watching her now makes her past walk with love seem completely worth it.
Nourished by The Movie — The One that Builds A Bridge to The Next Leg of Her Tour:
Swift has elegantly (and repeatedly) used the element of surprise as a way to augment anticipation. On July 23, 2020, she announced she would be releasing her next album, folklore, by midnight. The album ended up debuting at #1. She did this again with her ninth album, evermore, in December that same year.
She tells us when its here, and we’re here for it.
She used a very similar method when she announced her upcoming concert movie, giving two weeks notice of the upcoming film.
Surprise and delight are MAJOR components within the pulse of her marketing. Often “gifting” her fans with more than they asked for, surprise is something that steadily amplifies her colossal Oceanic Swell.
The reason surprise works for her is because it infuses an electrifying magic into her (obviously very well-organized) trajectory of release dates and subsequent marketing. With the magic of her presence, she IS her Creative Campaign — and the entirety of her worldwide community eats it up.
Infusing intuitive and unspoken elements into the arc of your Creative Campaigns plays just as big of a role as carrying out your next move — in fact, it’s a big part of how you choose your next move.
3. Reframe: Small beginnings are an irreplaceable gift, often acting as the seedlings for extraordinary potential.
Born in West Reading, Pennsylvania in the last month of 1989, Taylor spent her early years on a Christmas tree farm. What could have been perceived as an unremarkable start was actually the beginning of an extraordinary career.
At the age of 9, Taylor began taking acting and vocal lessons in New York City. When she turned 14, her parents relocated their family to Tennessee in an effort to support her break into country music. By 2005, she caught the attention of record executive Scott Borchetta who soon signed her to his independent label, Big Machine Records. In true Taylor fashion, she quickly began working on her first album, released Tim McGraw in 2006, and the rest is well-known music history.
What does this teach us?:
We Have a Tendency to Undervalue — and Underestimate — The Power of Small Beginnings
They not only gift us the opportunity to ‘practice’ and evolve in private, they act as a fresh start and fertile grounds to make aligned choices in the direction of our most profound creative dreams. Whether our resonant path shares any similarities to Taylor’s or not, her Eras Tour expands our understanding of the depth and magnitude of what is possible.
The most fulfilling levels of creative reach, intimacy, and impact are available if we devote to our path in the way that fully resonates with our core.
What if: Instead of taking humble beginnings for granted, we saw them for what they truly are — an undeniable opportunity (and richly generative starting point) for pioneering a Creative Brand with infinite potential… or does the idea of that sound a little too much like folklore?
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Photo by Nicole Romanoff
Article Written by Casey Balon, Editorial Director of Casey Jacque
Casey is a writer & creative director based outside of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. With a heart for literary journalism, an appetite for adventure, and a spark for creating dynamic — and deeply collaborative — environments, her aim is to bring Genuine Voices back to the Creative Table. When she’s not carrying out an interview, or writing about Creative Vitality through the lens of the body, you can find her hiking with her dogs, regenerating with her fiancé, diving deep with dear friends, or exploring a new country.
Let’s Connect: Instagram @iamcaseybalon, e-mail casey@caseyjacque.com
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