Swifties, this one’s for you. It seems like Taylor Swift's Eras Tour has lasted eons. Yet somehow, there’s always something to talk about. Just thinking about how much she’s accomplished while on tour makes me want to buckle down, lock in, and channel my inner girlboss. But while I can’t even be bothered to cook dinner at home after a long day of work, Taylor is accomplishing milestones most musicians can only dream of. Let’s recap.
The Eras Tour began in March 2023 with its North American leg. It’s set to go until December 2024, with dates in Europe, Australia, Asia, and South America— spanning 152 shows across five continents.
As the queen of multitasking, Swift hasn’t stopped at just selling out stadiums. Since the Eras tour began, she’s released multiple albums — both new and old — and shaken up the tour setlist with each new release. Her list of new releases started on the first day of her tour with “All Of The Girls You Loved Before,” which was quickly followed up by “The Alcott,” a feature on The National’s album — reciprocity for their work on her pandemic era albums, Folklore and Evermore.
She also released Midnights: Late Night Edition (including the iconic collab with Ice Spice), as well as not one but two album re-releases — Speak Now Taylor's Version and 1989 Taylor's Version. As if that wasn’t enough, she announced her latest album, The Tortured Poet’s Department, in a GRAMMY’s acceptance speech. Talk about legendary. Since its release, she’s also been churning out deluxe versions and remixes to keep us on our toes. The Eras Tour was even made into a Blockbuster film that brought Beyonce to its premiere. Star power: confirmed.
But that’s just her work life. Her personal life is just as eventful. She ended her 7-year relationship with Joe Alwyn in April 2023. Then entered into a brief but controversial fling with 1975 frontman Matty Healy. Though it didn’t last long, the relationship was enough to inspire a whole album and catapult her into her current romance with Travis Kelce, aka Amerca’s first nepo boyfriend. Now they’re the American Royal couple — and she somehow had time to fly from tour to his Super Bowl performance.
We all have the same hours in the day as Taylor Swift, but how she uses them will always be a mystery to me. I work eight hours a day and can barely manage a social life. Meanwhile, Taylor has it all — though conservatives are turning on her for daring to be a woman in her 30s who’s not married with kids. If that’s not proof that women can’t do anything right, I don’t know what is.
Clearly, she’s working late because she’s a singer. No wonder Taylor Swift became a billionaire months into her tour in October 2023. Her net worth is currently around 1.3 billion dollars, making her the only female musician to become a billionaire from her music.
Other entertainment billionaires like Rihanna, Kylie Jenner, Kim Kardashian, Jay-Z, and Kanye West have joined the three-comma club thanks to ventures like clothing brands, beauty products, and other entrepreneurial pursuits. Rihanna has her FENTY Empire. Kim has her award-winning SKIMS. Ye had Yeezy. But Taylor has an unbeatable catalog of publishing.
But Taylor isn’t just different from other Billionaires because of how she earned her money. She’s the Taylor we know and love because of how she spends it. Her rollercoaster Eras Tour is how she’s made much of her fortune. And she’s using it to give back in monumental degrees. From individual donations to investing in local infrastructure, Taylor is changing lives on a macro and micro scale. And teaching us what to expect from all billionaires in the process.
The Eras Tour Bonuses — Talk About Workplace Benefits
First to make headlines were the Eras Tour crew bonuses. While some of us get rewarded with a pizza party or a $10 gift card to Starbucks, Taylor casually dropped $55 million in bonuses for her tour crew. The massive sum was paid out to everyone who makes the Eras Tour go around, from truck drivers to dancers and sound technicians.
In fairness, these bonuses are so well-deserved. Taylor’s shows are over three hours long. Imagine dancing for that long — because Swift certainly isn’t the one with the impressive moves — for hundreds of tour dates. Or remembering countless combinations of light cues to go with a setlist that changes daily. Yeah, they’re clocking in. And if my boss had millions to blow, I’d be expecting a comfortable bonus too. But $55 Million? That’s a testament to Swift’s generosity. It's like she's Oprah, but instead of cars, she's giving out life-changing amounts of cash. "You get a bonus! You get a bonus! Everybody gets a bonus!"
It’s similar to how Zendaya gave film equity to every member of the crew that worked on her controversial black-and-white drama, Malcolm & Marie. Filmed in a few days with a bare-bones crew during the peak of the pandemic, the film was Zendaya’s passion project with Sam Levinson, in which she starred alongside John David Washington. Though the film got mixed reviews, it captured the audience’s attention all the same. After all, it was Zendaya — and we’ll watch her in anything. So since the film sold to Netflix for a hefty sum, all the crew members got payouts from the deal on top of their salaries to reward their hard work.
Bonuses and equity payouts are common in many industries, but not entertainment. Even though it’s one of the most lucrative and recognizable American industries, most entertainers don’t make enough to survive. The SAG and WGA strikes last year were proof that there needs to be systemic change in the industry. LA County has even identified show businesses as risk factors for being unhoused — after all, how many stories do we hear of actors who were living in their cars before their big break? And for many, their big break never comes. For even more, they get hired on amazing gigs with giant performers … then go right back to the grind afterward. While individual actions from our favorite stars won’t fix everything, Zendaya and Taylor are providing models for how Hollywood should treat the people who make this town go round.
And in this economy, even a little bit could go a long way. Inflation and the cost of living are not a joke. Especially when, like with many creative careers, you often have to invest in lessons or equipment for your craft. With all this considered, the impact of Swirt’s donations can’t be overstated. Imagine getting a lump sum of cash for dancing to your favorite Taylor Swift tracks? Talk about a dream job.
The Economic Impact of Swift - Swiftonomics, if you will
Like Barbie and Beyonce last year, Swift is still on a tear to boost the economy of the cities she’s in just by traveling there — ad inspiring others to make the trek, too.
The Barbie movie proved that by marketing to women (instead of just making Marvel flops like Madame Web that aren’t really targeted to women at all), the entertainment industry can make giant profits. Barbie fever went beyond the theater. Thanks to a plethora of product collabs, the phenomenon rippled through retail.
Similarly, Beyonce’s Renaissance Tour tour generated an estimated $4.5 billion for the American economy. According to NPR, that’s almost as much as the entire 2008 Olympics earned for Beijing. People were taking money out of their 401ks to pay for Beyonce tickets and the glittery, silver-hues outfits to rock at her shows. Cities even started calling her effect the “Beyonce Bump.”
Swift has the same effect. She’s not just proving her generosity on a micro-scale for the people close to her, she’s having actual, tangible effects on the economy. It's like she's leaving a trail of dollar bills in her wake, and cities are scrambling to catch them like it's a country-pop, capitalist version of musical chairs.
The US Travel Association called it the Taylor Swift Impact after she generated over $5 Billion in just the first 5 months of the Eras Tour. But how does this work? It’s not like Taylor is printing more money at those shows, but it almost is. Her tour dates are pretty much economic steroid shots for local businesses. Hotels are booked solid, restaurants are packed, and let's not even get started on the surge in friendship bracelet supplies.
“Swifties averaged $1,300 of spending in local economies on travel, hotel stays, food, as well as merchandise and costumes,” say the US Travel Association. “That amount of spending is on par with the Super Bowl, but this time it happened on 53 different nights in 20 different locations over the course of five months.” That’s not to say one word about her effect on the actual Super Bowl and the entire NFL season thanks to her ball-throwing boyfriend.
It's like she's created her own micro-economy, and everyone's invited to the party. And unlike some economic theories that rely on wealth trickling down (spoiler alert: it doesn't), Taylor's wealth is more like a t-shirt cannon or the confetti at her shows — showering everyone around.
Donations that truly do good
Taylor isn’t just stepping into cities and calling it a night. She’s also not just throwing pennies at problems - she's making significant contributions that are changing lives. And more importantly, she's using her platform to encourage her fans to do the same.
She kicked off her tour with quiet donations to food banks in Glendale, Ariz., and Las Vegas ahead of the Eras Tour. Once the tour was in full swing, she continued this practice. In Seattle, she donated to Food Lifeline, a local hunger relief organization. In Santa Clara, she showed some love to Second Harvest of Silicon Valley. And let's not forget about her $100,000 donation to the Hawkins County School Nutrition Program in Tennessee.
She’s been making similar donations overseas. Taylor Swift donated enough money to cover the food bills for an entire year across 11 food banks and & community pantries in Liverpool. Swift also covered 10,800 meals for Cardiff Foodbank and many more banks across the UK and EU. Her impact is so profound that her numbers are doing more to combat issues like hunger than the government.
Can billionaires actually be good?
One thing about me, I’m always ready and willing — knife and fork in hand — to eat the rich. Because fundamentally, can any billionaire really be good? In our late-stage capitalist horror story, the answer is usually no. Look how many of them are supporting the Trump campaign just to get some tax breaks.
But here's the thing - Taylor Swift might just be the exception that proves the rule. She's not perfect, sure. She still flies private jets and probably has a carbon footprint bigger than Bigfoot. But unlike most of the others in her tax bracket, she's not flaunting her wealth like it's a personality trait.
Take a look around. We've got billionaires trying to colonize Mars instead of, I don't know, helping people on Earth. In this context, Taylor's approach is more like Mackenzie Scott’s — Bezos’s ex-wife. She's not trying to escape to another planet - she's trying to make this one better.
And look, I'm not saying we should stop critiquing billionaires or the system that creates them. But she's just setting the bar for what we should expect from all billionaires. She's showing us that our collective power as fans can translate into real-world change. That our love for catchy choruses and bridge drops can somehow, improbably, lead to food banks getting funded and crew members getting life-changing bonuses.
So sorry to my neighbors who hear me belting “Cruel Summer” and “right where you left me” at the top of my lungs (and range). Just know it’s for the greater good.
COVID-19 - Part 2: New York is the Epicenter of the World
As of this writing, New York State contains approximately 33% of all cases in the United States and 10% of all cases in the world.
By Anthony Lee, MD
Faculty, Harvard Medical School
As we make our way through this pandemic, the large number of cases in the United States has caught our attention and prompted much discussion. Part 2 of this series will not only update the first article, "COVID-19: Tracking the Changes," but will describe the trends of cases and deaths and their rates of change. It will also differentiate between New York State and the rest of the United States.
To recap: we have been following the pandemic in Italy, New York State, New York City, Massachusetts, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Belgium in terms of cases per 100,000 population and deaths per 100,000 population, as well as the rates of change of these numbers.
Last week we looked at the number of daily new cases and the number of daily deaths to see if they were increasing or decreasing. We looked at the numbers for hard, non-ideological proof.
Read Part 1 of Anthony Lee, MD's research, tracking changes in the spread of COVID-19
Superimposed on the charts were markers indicating when designated locations enacted social distancing or lockdowns and showed the effects of these measures on the number of new daily cases and daily deaths.
Although the popular media tends to treat the United States as a single location, if we separate New York State from the rest of the United States, two different stories emerge.
This article will view the number of cases and deaths on a per 100,000 population basis to describe the density of cases and reveal the true severity of the pandemic in a specific location.
As of this writing, NYS contains approximately 33% of all US cases and 10% of all cases in the world. The US has roughly 583,500 cases with a population of 331 million people, or 176.2 cases per 100,000 people. In contrast, NYS has roughly 195,000 cases with a population of 19,540,000. This represents a very disturbing 998 cases per 100,000 people, which is significantly worse than the US combined.
If we isolate NYS from the rest of the US, the number stands at 124.7 cases per 100,000 people. In contrast, Italy has 159,516 cases and a population of 60,480,000, or 263.8 cases per 100,000 people. In other words, from the perspective within a particular location, NYS is nearly 4 times as severe as Italy, and Italy is roughly twice as severe as "the rest of the United States".
Separating NYS from the rest of the nation achieves two things. First, it provides a more accurate picture of what is happening in most of the US and shows that the overall situation is not apocalyptic. Second, and more importantly, it allows us to focus on the true severity of what is happening in NYS. This will help us make decisions about how to deal with the pandemic's true epicenter.
Below are the updated charts. "The rest of the United States" is represented by the label "US-NYS (US minus NYS)". Because of time differences, US data lags behind that of Europe and the UK. Therefore, plots are likely to be limited to the day before a report is published. In some cases, late reporting from European countries and the UK may also limit plots to the day before.
Cases
Figure 1. Cases per 100,000 population by location and correlated rate of change.
Figure 1 shows the effects of lockdowns and social distancing. It took Italy 12 days to finally flatten the curve of daily new cases. This trend has been continuing for the last 23 days, producing the trailing edge of the pandemic in Italy.
It took Belgium 11 days to reduce the number of daily new cases, and they have also continued on a downward trend for the last 15 days.
Ireland required 7 days of lockdown to reduce their daily new cases. This trend continued over the next 4 days, but then a new surge of cases occurred. The same holds true for Northern Ireland, where 6 days of lockdown reduced the number daily new cases. This trend continued over the next 5 days, but then a small surge of cases emerged.
Sweden maintains a low and flat trajectory despite loose social distancing. This might be accounted for by lack of testing.
The UK and "the rest of the US" (as defined above) remain on low and flat trajectories due to their respective social distancing policies.
NYS and NYC cases are rising dramatically, even in the face of a shortage of testing. Testing has increased in Massachusetts over the last 3 weeks and is reflected in the figure. In the weeks leading up to lockdown protocols NY has been about 5-8 days behind Italy, while Massachusetts has been around 21-23 days behind.
Although NY and Massachusetts started social distancing at the same time, Massachusetts had a roughly 2-week head start ahead of NY. However, this margin has narrowed to about 6 days. Interestingly, the curve of Massachusetts now seems to shadow that of NYC with similar slopes and slope changes.
Deaths
Figure 2. Deaths per 100,000 population by location and correlating rate of change.
Figure 2. shows rising deaths by location.
In the rates-of-change chart, the number of daily new cases flattened are delineated by date.
From the point of delineation rightward, we see when daily deaths begin to decrease. This lag time varies with locations. Italy's lag time was 7 days. This hasn't reliably occurred yet in Belgium. Although we see a decrease in deaths in Ireland, this is most likely temporary, as the country has seen a surge of new cases; and death plateaus follow new case plateaus. The same is true for Northern Ireland.
I will update numbers and discuss their implications in future installments.
Sources of data: Worldometer.com, Spectrum News NY1, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, HSC Public Health Agency