By Léa Ringeval, reporter
On May 22, the 28-year-old singer and songwriter Taylor Swift produced stadium-wide ecstasy at Seattle’s CenturyLink Field while touring her latest album, “Reputation.” She performed 14 of the 15 tracks on the album, as well as some unforgettable hits such as “Romeo and Juliet,” “Bad Blood” and “Shake it Off.”
The newest album was slower to sell than her past three, but it eventually pulled through, selling two million copies in 17 weeks. This made Swift the first singer to surpass two million sold copies of an album since 2015.
British singer Charli XCX opened the show by performing a selection of her most popular songs, including “Boom Clap” and “Break the Rules.”
Swift was supposed to be accompanied by artist Camila Cabello, who canceled her appearance after falling ill. Charli XCX paused her performance as a tribute to her missing tourmate, as did Swift later on.
“My tourmate and friend Camila Cabello meant to be here tonight,” Swift told the audience. “I was thinking it might cheer her up if I were to get all 56,000 of you to scream ‘Get well soon, Camila.’”
At around 9 p.m., after Charli XCX’s performance, a video appeared on two huge screens showing the reactions of YouTube creators after seeing Swift’s music video for her song, “Look What You Made Me Do” for the very first time.
The audience took it as a sign that Swift was, at long last, about to take the stage. The highly-anticipated artist made a sensational entrance — just as everyone expected. As smoke clouded the stage, revealing the silhouette of the singer, 56,000 fans screamed their admiration.
Swift began her performance by singing “Ready for It?” — the opening track of the album. With her song lyrics, rebellious attitude and a provocative outfit — a black leather bodysuit and matching over-the-knee boots — the singer gave a foretaste of her two-hour show in the first few seconds.
The cute young country singer she used to be had dramatically changed; she even proclaims the death of the “old Taylor” herself in one of her newest hits, “Look What you Made me Do,” which she performed that night.
During the show, Swift was on a large stage backed by video screens, female singers whom she introduced, backup dancers and many stagehands. One of the most appealing elements of the concert was probably the impressive sets — soon after the singer arrived, two giant cobras with intimidating eyes rose from the ground.
In addition to the snakes’ heads, the singer kept the audience entertained by changing the sets every song. She made the audience itself part of the show by having them wave light-up bracelets handed out before the show, which were color-coordinated to the stage lights, creating a beautiful arena of light.
When she sang “Delicate,” Swift climbed on a platform that flew across the stadium to another stage in the middle of the crowd.
Before she shifted to quieter songs, Swift took breaks to talk to the crowd, sitting in front of her piano, where she also sang “New Year’s Day.” Although her speech might be the same at every concert, it showed she still cares about the relationship she has with her fans. One sentence in particular affected the whole stadium:
“If you think I can’t see you and you’re in the top rows — I can see you,” Swift said.
While her voice was sometimes indistinguishable from the other singers on stage and overpowered by the loud music and cheering, her acoustic versions of “Dancing With Our Hands Tied” and “Holy Ground” proved her vocals are still breathtaking.
She closed the show with a rendition of “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” mixed with her new hit “This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things.”
Special effects on the background, highly choreographed dances around a water fountain, and fireworks created a triumphant ending for the diva’s concert.
During an unforgettable night, Swift showed the audience how much she has matured as a music artist and let the femme fatale rise.