#2018.12.31

Taylor Swift’s ‘Reputation’ Netflix Special Is an ‘Unforgettable’ New Year’s Eve Gift: Review

By Nicholas Hautman December 31, 2018

In keeping with the theme of her most recent album, Taylor Swift’s new Netflix concert special, Taylor Swift Reputation Stadium Tour, opens with a black-and-white retrospective montage featuring some of the many headlines — the good, the bad and the very ugly — that the country-turned-pop star has made over the years. After one reporter announces, “Taylor Swift is in hot water again” and another whines, “She holds too many grudges,” the word “reputation” begins to repeat as the woman at the center of it all takes the stage.

Swift, 29, arrives at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, in a sparkly black leotard with a hood over her head. She looks tinier than ever as she stands before a pair of larger-than-life video screens on a grandiose stage with four massive catwalks shaped like an X. Without much pomp and circumstance, the growl from the beginning of “…Ready for It?” kicks in after Swift utters the first lyric and strikes a pose, driving the sold-out crowd of 60,000 fans wild.

Taylor Swift performs on stage during her reputation Stadium Tour at Croke Park on June 16, 2018 in Dublin, Ireland. Gareth Cattermole/TAS18/Getty Images

Early on, the 10-time Grammy winner exudes confidence and attitude. She makes sure to ramp up the dramatics by slowing down the opening lines of “I Did Something Bad.” And when she’s joined by a group of all-female backup singers, Swift stares directly into the camera before launching into a choreographed routine, backed by fireworks so massive that the heat practically radiates through the TV screens of viewers at home.

Swift breathes new life into each and every song with innovative arrangements. Not a single track from her career-spanning setlist sounds identical to the album version, which is refreshing in an age where many pop stars lip-synch their way through less-than-inspired concerts. Swift makes the usually upbeat “Dancing With Our Hands Tied” an acoustic campfire sing-along, while the country-twanged “You Belong With Me” transforms into a Springsteen-esque stadium anthem. Even “New Year’s Day” is, somehow, more tender.

“I’ve always written songs with the lyrics, the feeling and the melody in mind, hoping that no matter what production I added to the top of it — whether it took a turn for pop or acoustic or whatever — I always wanted for a song to be able to be stripped back down and still be something that you liked and wanted to sing at the top of your lungs,” she tells the audience.

Taylor Swift performs on stage during her ‘Reputation Stadium Tour’ at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada, on August 4, 2018. Jason Kempin/TAS18/Getty Images

Throughout the unforgettable two-hour show, the cameras cut to fans hysterically crying and screaming in support of their idol — and that feeling of admiration is mutual. Swift often gets nostalgic while speaking to the crowd, at one point noting that she has been performing in Dallas since the age of 15. In fact, she boasts that the concert special, which was filmed in October as the final U.S. date of her world tour, marks her 30th show in the area.

“I can see you dancing. I can see you throwing your hands in the air,” she says. “And on top of that, I can hear that it really seems like every single person in this crowd has memorized every single word to the songs and is not just singing them, but is, like, screaming them.”

There are cameos aplenty in the Paul Dugdale-directed special. In a video that plays during “Look What You Made Me Do,” Tiffany Haddish declares that the so-called “old Taylor” is dead. Later on, Swift’s opening acts, Camila Cabello and Charli XCX, join her for a fun, confetti-filled rendition of “Shake It Off.” But the most unexpected guest comes in the form of a 63-foot cobra named Karyn that inflates during performances on both the A- and B-stages. (Hi, Kimye!)

The highlight of the show comes when Swift takes a moment to sing “All Too Well,” describing it as one of the songs that her fans request the most. She explains that she wrote the ballad (which is widely believed to be about her brief 2010 romance with Jake Gyllenhaal) during a period of “catharsis and venting and trying to get over something and trying to understand it and process it.” However, her fans have since turned her view of the song into “a collage of memories of watching you scream the words.”

Other standout performances include a theatrical version of “King of My Heart,” a haunting “Don’t Blame Me” with immaculate production, a stomping medley of “Bad Blood” and “Should’ve Said No,” a crowd-pleasing take on her masterpiece “Blank Space” and an epic encore of “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things.”

Sure, Swift’s vocals are a bit shaky at times. But in her defense, she explains that she has been battling “a tiny, minuscule cold” and even pauses to blow her nose on stage after one of her dancers presents her with a tissue — on bended knee, of course. Swift’s imperfections are a reminder that no matter how big of a force she is in the music industry, she is still human. She isn’t afraid to pause mid-lyric to take a breath or giggle with fans at her own lyrics, proving that maybe, just maybe, the “old Taylor” is still alive after all.

Taylor Swift Reputation Stadium Tour is now streaming on Netflix.

Taylor Swift Knows All Too Well How to Put on a Masterful Performance: Netflix Doc Review

12/31/2018 by Denise Warner

Kevin Mazur/TAS18/Getty Images for TAS Taylor Swift performs onstage during the Taylor Swift reputation Stadium Tour at MetLife Stadium on July 21, 2018 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Are you ready for it? Taylor Swift's Reputation tour documentary is now streaming on Netflix, which illuminates the singer's power, dedication, and strength as an artist.

Filmed on the last night of her U.S. tour in Arlington, Texas, Swift brought as much energy to this stop as she did to her opener in Glendale, Ariz. (which I attended in person).

Swift explained that this was her 30th show in the Dallas-area, and thanked those in attendance for spending their Saturday night with her. And we get to see just how hard to she truly worked to make this special.

As amazing as her show is if you're in the audience, the doc allows you to get more of a feel of the singer as a performer -- and experience just how delicately everything is staged. From passes of the microphone, to tilted stages and costume changes, Swift made everything look effortless.

Even the cold she had that night was expertly choreographed. As one backup dancer presented her with a tissue, Swift told her fans she was going to turn around to blow her nose, then gushed over the presentation of the tissues. "I've never been handed a tissue with more ... commitment." And her voice soared, despite her ailment, filling up the stadium as the audience sang and swayed along with her.

At every city on this tour, Swift took care to give fans what they craved -- in the form of one of her rarely played songs. Like in Glendale, this time in Arlington she chose "All Too Well," which allegedly chronicles the end of her relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal -- but is a huge favorite of Swifties across the world.

Another agenda item for the star? Artists' financial independence. In the concert, she dedicated "Dress" to Loie Fuller -- a woman "who fought for artists to own their work." Swift recently put her money where her mouth is, signing a new contract with UMG that will allow her to own her masters going forward and paves the way for other artists in the streaming era.

Swift also highlighted the people who made the concert -- and her tour -- possible. From her dancers, to her band, to the parking attendants and people who sold the food, she left no one unacknowledged.

"And in death of her reputation, she felt truly alive," the end card read. We know now that Swift is truly living her best life.

The songs, the lights, her glittery outfits and nails, her loosely curled hair flowing from her head like a well-groomed rock star -- Swift gave a gorgeous look into her world as one of today's greatest entertainers.

Watch Taylor Swift's Reputation tour documentary on Netflix now.

Taylor Swift’s ‘Reputation’ Film Shows Why She’s One of the All-Time Greats The Netflix concert film immortalizes her best tour yet

By ROB SHEFFIELD December 31, 2018

Taylor Swift’s triumphant Reputation tour gets immortalized the way it deserves in her new Netflixconcert film, which premieres on the streaming service on New Year’s Eve. (Just in time for “New Year’s Day”: that’s our Taylor, always thinking conceptually.) It shows off the biggest and best tour yet from one of pop’s all-time great live performers — Swift goes for stadium-rocking spectacle, without toning down any of her songs’ one-on-one emotional intimacy. Nobody else is in this girl’s zone. The Reputation doc was shot on the final night of the U.S. run, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, with 60,000 fans singing along with every word, right down to every last “isn’t it?” in “Delicate.”

Swift is an artist who knows she doesn’t need special effects — she can get up there with just her acoustic guitar and slay, any night she chooses. All she needs is her songs, and she’s sitting on a songbook full of classics. But if she’s going to do a mega-pop show, she’s going to go all the way, because that’s what she does. So Reputation is a tribute to her epic ambition, with a dazzling battalion of dancers, pyro explosions, video screens and giant inflatable snakes, including a 63-foot cobra named Karyn. As her secret soul sister Courtney Love would say, Taylor wants to be the girl with the most snake.

It’s a New Year’s Eve victory toast to top off her historic 2018. Reputation was the year’s best-selling album, according to Billboard, even topping Drake’s Scorpion. She also had the biggest-selling U.S. tour in history, according to Pollstar. Has any female solo artist done an all-stadium tour before? With two female opening acts, Charli XCX and Camila Cabello? Swift took her tour to seven countries on four continents, selling nearly three million tickets. (The only artist who outgrossed her globally? Her old protegee Ed Sheeran, with whom she co-wrote “Everything Has Changed” while they were both bouncing on a trampoline.)

I saw the tour’s first night — in Arizona, back in May — and it blew the wheels off my getaway car. But as the film proves, this tour got more legendary as it rolled on. She makes “Delicate” so theatrically splendid (she glides above the crowd in a golden basket) and yet so personal and vulnerable. “Delicate” was my favorite song of 2017, before it was a hit, but I love it twice as much after hearing it constantly on the radio all year — I recently passed my millionth “isn’t it?” and I plan to keep over-isn’t-it-ing my way through 2019.

Swift turns “Shake It Off” into a serpentine throwdown with Camila and Charli. “Getaway Car,” the Rep gem that really should have been a hit, begins with a dramatic poetry recital: “And in the death of her reputation, she felt truly alive.” She sits at the piano for a medley combining two of her best deep cuts, “Long Live” (from 2010’s Speak Now) and “New Year’s Day,” showing how far she’s traveled as a songwriter. “New Year’s Day” is the surprise ending to Reputation — a quiet piano ballad after so many synth jams. She sings about cleaning up the morning after the party, sweeping glitter off the floor with somebody who makes her look forward to the year ahead. Only Taylor could focus on the least glamorous, most boring holiday in the calendar and find some romance in it. (Maybe next year she’ll do Arbor Day?)

Swift made every show different by picking a surprise for the B-stage wild-card slot — an oldie from her songbook, played on acoustic guitar. Part of the fun was waiting to see what she’d bust out every night. Seattle got “Holy Ground,” Dublin got “Mean,” Atlanta got “The Lucky One.” Chicago got “Our Song.” Nashville got “Tim McGraw,” joined by McGraw and Faith Hill. New Jersey got “Enchanted,” timed perfectly so the rain storm hit the crowd right at the “please don’t be in love with someone else,” proof she’s in cahoots with the weather. It’s a tribute to her vast catalog — but also to her fans, who stand ready to sing all 129 of her songs at a moment’s notice. For this show, she ends the U.S. tour with the B-stage surprise she picked the first night: “All Too Well,” the mightiest song she’s ever written. She hadn’t sung it live since 2014 — but she delivers this majestic scarf-core ballad with a voice full of adult regret.

Reputation was a risky move — after the Number One hit “Look What You Made Me Do,” the world was primed for her to sing about celebrity score-settling, but instead, it turned out to be an album full of deeply personal love songs. It didn’t fit the “narrative” of what people thought she was about. People predicted that she was killing her career, alienating fans, etc., but people have been saying that ever since she had the gall to change the plot of Romeo and Juliet. It turned out to be a lot more than just another great Swift album — it was a statement about how far she’s willing to go as an artist, starting over from scratch every time. Even when she started as a kid, she had her own scholarly sense of pop history and a brash notion of her place in it. But with this tour and the whole 2018 she’s had, she shows why she’s making history. She’s never willing to rest on her reputation — but in the death of her reputation, she feels truly alive. Long live.

2018.12.31 お昼