Last night, Taylor Swift brought The 1989 World Tour to London for a sold-out outdoor show in London’s Hyde Park. It was a fitting ending to a triumphant week for the singer, whose open letter to Apple Music persuaded the tech giant to reverse its controversial policy of not paying artists during the free three-month trial period it will be offering prospective customers. Of course, Swift would never be so gauche as to talk business on stage, but her supremely polished performance underlined why she’s currently the biggest pop star on the planet.
T-Swizzle’s superstar charisma peaked during a performance of recent single Style, during which she was joined by several of her famous friends: models Cara Delevingne, Kendall Jenner, Karlie Kloss, Gigi Hadid and Martha Hunt, plus tennis champion Serena Williams. Delevingne drew the biggest cheer by walking the runway into the Hyde Park crowd brandishing a Union Jack flag, but Swift made clear she’d brought her girls on stage to celebrate friendship and solidarity rather than anyone’s individual achievements. When they all posed together at the edge of the stage, it was surely the ultimate “squad goals” moment.
Elsewhere, Swift delivered gleaming renditions of nearly every song from last year’s 1989 album, including deluxe edition bonus tracks New Romantics and You Are in Love. Swift may not be a natural dancer, but she’s learned how to use her lithe, long-limbed body for maximum visual impact, wielding a golf club in Blank Space and twirling light-up umbrellas with her backing dancers during How You Get the Girl. When pop stars rework older songs they feel they’ve perhaps performed once too often already, the new versions tend to be disappointing, but Taylor offered effective re-imaginings of three of her biggest hits: Love Story became a moody electro jam; We Are Never Getting Back Together got a spiky rock makeover; and Swift seemed to be channelling her friend Lorde during a darkly dramatic I Knew You Were Trouble.
Swift punctuated her consistently catchy music with messages of encouragement to her fans that could have felt cloying if they hadn’t been delivered with such obvious sincerity. Just because we’ve made mistakes, she told us at one point, it doesn’t mean we should think of ourselves as “damaged goods”. It’s not easy to stay relatable when you’re as famous as Taylor Swift, but somehow she manages it with ease.