Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the better part of a decade, you’ll know exactly who Taylor Swift is and the success of her Eras Tour.
Selling out stadiums of thousands and generating thousands of dollars in profits (often attributed to saving the USA’s economy, according to Time) only means the title of Time’s Person of The Year is well deserved.
What exactly are the ‘Surprise Songs’?
Anyone who has an internet connection will know who Taylor Swift is by now. Her Eras Tour, the second-highest-grossing tour of all time, includes a three-hour setlist that transports the audience through ten albums’ worth of music.
But the acoustic set that comes right before the final act is a complete game-changer. This is when Taylor graces the stage on her own to play two random songs from her discography.
Typing the words ‘surprise songs’ into any social media platform will bring up a huge variety of posts. These range from disappointment at fans missing their personal favorite hits to the delight of those in the audience that got them. Kicking off the tour in Glendale, she opened with “Mirrorball” from 2020’s Folklore and her debut album “Tim McGraw.”
From then on, it’s been a whistle-stop tour of each of her musical eras, with a range of reactions that mirror the decade-long timespan she covers. It is easy to see when a surprise set has finished due to the sheer numbers of fans who grace social media to share their opinions.
As the title suggests, these songs were completely unknown to the audience. She has her own rules, of course. For example, if she messes up a song, she gets a pass to play it again. Anything from her newest album, Midnights is also fair game.
Are they a good addition?
One of the most exciting elements of these surprise songs is not just the anticipation element but the possibility of her long-awaited ‘Taylor’s Version’ re-releases. This year brought the highly anticipated arrival of both Speak Now and 1989 (Taylor’s Version). Both of these were announced during the acoustic set of the show. Speak Now was announced in Nashville in May with the acoustic version of “Sparks Fly.” 1989 was later followed by “New Romantics”. With the age of social media, we’ve gotten used to album announcements through Instagram posts, and what Taylor is doing is not only innovative, but it’s refreshing.
But, as with most things, the good also comes with its fair share of bad. The surprise songs are a way of her being able to celebrate the songs that get less love indeed. But, like everything a successful woman does, they’ve been criticized. This is because they can also be seen to be acting as a method of ‘invisible merchandise’.
If a fan knows their favorite song might just be played at a show, does this make them more likely to purchase two tickets? Does it encourage people to travel to different cities on numerous dates just for the higher likelihood of finally hearing that one song?
It’s an interesting one. Certainly, for Swift, there will be fans who intend to attend more than one show anyway. Fans often want to know when their favorite artist will finally tour again. (Obviously, this is reliant on the fact that these fans were able to get more than one pair of tickets). So why should she be criticized for this? The intention of this setlist was certainly not malicious, and it’s not a ploy to sell more tickets.
Obviously, she was going to sell out stadiums anyway. People may also be disappointed when their show gets songs they don’t care or know about. But when you compare that to the rest of the three-plus-hour set they are being treated with, it feels like an unnecessary complaint in the first place.
What about other artists?
Swift is not the only one who’s added the elusive surprise songs to her setlist this year. Fall Out Boy, an alternative-rock band best known for their early 2000s hits such as “Sugar We’re Goin’ Down,” created a huge storm on X (formerly known as Twitter) this year with the arrival of their Magic 8 Ball tour.
Hanging threateningly above the stage, it’s a terrifying symbol for any Fall Out Boy fan. With every new date, fans wait expectantly for the result – hoping, praying, that they don’t get their favorite song while they’re not there. Deep Cuts, live debuts – it could be anything. And that’s what is so thrilling about it. There’s a fan page on X dedicated to updating what songs have been played on different shows. And, in turn, there’s a slew of devastated stans in the replies, mourning what could have been at their shows.
And, yet, there’s more. Five Seconds of Summer, in their tour earlier this year, added a twist to it. They allowed the audience to do it themselves. Hurling a huge dice into the audience, it’s tossed back and forth until it makes its way to the stage. Waterparks, a pop-rock trio from Houston, play their surprise songs in a mix between 5SOS and Swift. Frontman Awsten Knight graces the stage with a single acoustic guitar to take requests from the audience. Whether artists had the idea themselves or whether they’ve taken inspiration from the Eras Tour, you can’t deny their impact.
The simple fact of the matter is – they’re new. Gigs at the moment are full of clichés, from emotional “you guys saved me” moments to phone torches. Surprise songs are a welcome break from what we’ve gotten used to . They’re arguably the thing that has created the most excitement around the Eras Tour. A fan could plausibly go to the show ten times and not get the same show twice.
The surprise songs add variety in a set that otherwise would have remained mostly the same, most likely making it more enjoyable for herself as well as her audience. I, for one, would be absolutely thrilled if every artist I went to see did a surprise song or two. We can’t always get what we want on the setlist, and it seems like the best compromise between artist and fan.
