For the sake of the Swifties, let’s get straight down to business. What are the juicy reveals in Taylor, the two-part Channel 4 documentary strategically positioned to air in the overwrought run-up to the release of The Life of a Showgirl? Well, there’s the camp titbit about her first tour bus being decked out in leopard print and previously belonging to Cher; and at one point Robert Ellis Orrall, who co-produced her debut album, deftly fans out a bunch of CDs of unreleased songs like a croupier in a casino.
For the minority who are not Swifties, these takeaways are about as tantalising as a snake emoji (her snake era in 2017 marked the beginning of Swift’s iconic promo cycle for sixth album, Reputation). All I can say is: Taylor is not for you, babes. Because we are now in the era of putting aside our curmudgeonly Madonna-did-it-first cynicism to bask in the 100-watt joy generated by two ultra-earnest long-time American Swifties (Niamh Adkins and Nina Haines, who deserve a Gogglebox show of their own) intensely dissecting their icon. “I just fell in love with how she celebrated girlhood,” sighs Haines. “She gave me permission to yearn.” This is Swift’s power in a nutshell. And, like yearning, it’s limitless.
-copy-29e15046.jpeg?w=600)
