Category: Music

The concept of Taylor Swift’s latest tour has attracted tens of millions of people intending to buy tickets. The Eras Tour is comprised of songs from all of Swift’s albums, including her latest album Midnights. The tour encompasses 52 shows across the United States, with predictions for it to be the highest-grossing tour ever. Most of the 52 stadiums across the country would be using Ticketmaster; However, shows in Arlington, TX, and Glendale, AZ, were set to use SeatGeek. Ticketmaster stated that over 1.5 million people had received Verified Fan Presale codes, for which Swift released a registration code on her social media accounts. Ticketmaster added that there would be a separate sale for CapitalOne cardholders. Fans were assured that Ticketmaster and SeatGeek could handle the massive demand, but when the sale began, it proved otherwise.

I registered for a presale code about a week before the sale date. When it became the big day, around an hour before the release of tickets, I was in psychology, stressing about the worst. Unfortunately, my suspicions and worries had become fulfilled. Since the AT&T stadium is partnered with SeatGeek, that was where I had to buy tickets instead of Ticketmaster. I entered the SeatGeek queue at 10 am, maybe a few minutes before. For the remaining duration of the class, my queue bar remained unmoved. It had come to my attention that SeatGeek paused the line due to “unforeseen demand,” which was most likely to prevent the crashing of the website. When I returned to my dorm, my queue resumed its movement, but VERY slowly. After two hours of waiting for my roommate and I’s bars to grudgingly progress, my roommate advanced to buy tickets for the show on 3/31 in Arlington.

For three and a half more hours, I sat in my bed and continued waiting for my chance to buy tickets for the show on 4/1 in Arlington. After all of that time, my bar, not even reaching the halfway mark, disappeared from the website. SeatGeek failed to release a statement, so out of confusion and exhaustion, I threw in the towel and left the queue. However, two hours later, thinking I was not going to get tickets, I got a text from my friend who I was supposed to go with saying that she somehow got us two tickets! They may be the worst seats in the stadium, but I am happy that I even get to go. I can confidently say, however, that this was the worst ticket-buying experience of my life. Fees should not equal the cost of a ticket, and it should not feel like war when attempting to get one.

However, a considerable number of fans did not get tickets. According to Ticketmaster, an estimated 14 million people entered the queue compared to the anticipated 1.5 million. After the chaotic nature of both the Verified Fan presale and the CapitalOne presale, Ticketmaster released a statement. They declared, “Due to extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand, tomorrow’s public on-sale for Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour has been canceled.” This means that if you hadn’t already gotten tickets for Swift’s tour, you were out of luck and must go through resellers. Fans of Swift understandably feel outraged with Ticketmaster’s handling of the sale. Swift released a statement on Instagram expressing her fury and disappointment with the company. She assured she is “trying to figure out how this situation can be improved moving forward.” Swift also stated her hope for future additional concert opportunities.

Who is Kanye West?

Kanye “Ye” West is an American rapper, songwriter, producer, and fashion designer. He is widely known as one of the most influential hip-hop artists and one of the greatest musicians of our time. He began his rap career in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois, during the 90s. He later started producing for artists such as Alicia Keys, Jay-Z, and Twista.

In 2004, after being pushed aside by record labels who viewed him as unmarketable, Kaye released his debut solo album, The College Dropout. The album subsequently garnered 10 Grammy nominations and went on to win the categories of “Best Rap Album” and “Album of The Year.” Kanye went on to release Late Registration (2005) and Graduation (2007), which both generated critical acclaim and heaps of sales revenue. Following the death of his mother, Donna West, Kanye debuted his fourth studio album, Heartbreak (2008), which was full of autotune singing and very little rapping.

After interrupting Taylor Swift’s VMA speech in 2009, Kanye faced public vilification, even disgraced by former President Obama, and took a hiatus. In 2010, he released what many consider to be his magnum opus: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Kanye continued to release two additional studio albums: Yeezus (2013) and The Life of Pablo (2016). After the announcement of The Life of Pablo, Kanye made his controversial political support for Donald Trump public, which led to his appearance at campaign rallies with Trump himself. Following this, Kanye published three more albums, KIDS SEE GHOSTS (2018), JESUS IS KING (2019), and Donda (2021), which were all massively successful. In 2018, Kanye also revealed that he lives with Bipolar disorder.

So, how did Kanye West go from the richest black man in America who changed the face of hip-hop to “losing 2 billion dollars in a day?”

Kanye’s Downfall

Beginning in early October of 2022, Kanye went on a spree of public appearances in which he boasted antisemitic comments, stereotypes, and conspiracy theories. He has also criticized the Black Lives Matter movement and was blocked from various social media platforms, causing disavowal by industry peers. Here is everything he has said, done, and does not regret:

October 3

• West and Candace Owens teamed up to wear matching “White Lives Matter” shirts at the Yeezy fashion show in Paris. The term is allegedly associated with a Neo-Nazi group created as a racist response to the civil rights movement, Black Lives Matter.

October 6

• West participated in an interview with Fox News host, Tucker Carlson, in which he demonstrates his pro-life views by stating, “There’s more Black babies being aborted than born in New York City at this point. Fifty percent of Black death in America is abortion.”

October 7

• Kanye was restricted from Instagram after posting a text from Diddy in which he says he was going to use Combs “as an example to show the Jewish people that told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me.”

October 9

• On Twitter, Kanye claimed he was going to go “death con 3 on Jewish people,” (a misspelling of “defcon”) and says it was not anti-Semitic for him to say so because “black people are actually Jew also.” Following this, Twitter locked his account.

October 15

• In an episode of Drink Champs, Kanye falsely claims that George Floyd died because of a fentanyl overdose, not the knee on his neck suffocating him. Floyd’s family plans to sue West for these remarks.

October 17

• In an interview with Chris Cuomo, West discusses the “Jewish underground media mafia” and states that “Black musicians signed to Jewish record labels and those Jewish record labels take ownership,” a form of “modern-day slavery.”

October 27

• CNN Reports that Kanye wanted to name his 2018 album after Adolf Hitler and cites several anonymous sources that claim the rapper had an “obsession” with the dictator.

November 2

• Six people who have previously worked with West tell NBC News that he has made many “pro-Hitler” and “pro-Nazi” remarks, dating back to 2018.

November 4

• West tweeted he is “starting to think anti-Semitic means [the N word],” which Twitter eventually removed.

The Aftermath

Before Kanye debuted the “White Lives Matter” shirt, Forbes estimated his net worth to be $2 billion. However, after further antisemitic and generally racist remarks, Adidas dropped West’s partnership with the brand, costing his net worth $400 million. Several other companies have severed their ties with West following his statements, including Balenciaga, the Gap, and Foot Locker.

On October 21st, Taylor Swift released her newly anticipated tenth studio album, Midnights. She described it as “the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout [her] life,” establishing it as her most personal album to date. Before the release, Swift went to TikTok to promote and reveal the tracklist using a bingo spinner, which generated massive amounts of publicity for the album. Swift dropped the initial 13 tracks at midnight, of course; However, she secretly released 7 more songs at 3 am, dubbing them “3 am tracks.” The album consisted of the following songs:

1. Lavender Haze
2. Maroon
3. Anti-Hero
4. Snow On The Beach (feat. Lana Del Ray)
5. You’re On Your Own, Kid
6. Midnight Rain
7. Question…?
8. Vigilante Shit
9. Bejeweled
10. Labyrinth
11. Karma
12. Sweet Nothing
13. Mastermind
14. The Great War
15. Bigger Than The Whole Sky
16. Paris
17. High Infidelity
18. Glitch
19. Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve
20. Dear Reader

I could review each song individually, but that would take ages. Instead, I will say that each song discusses an anecdotal experience or emotion of Swift’s, ranging from love, anxiety, revenge, and insecurity. The lead single of Midnights, “Anti-hero,” delves into Swift’s deepest self-loathing insecurities. She repeatedly describes herself as “the problem,” and portrays various forms of self-hatred, such as her eating disorder, narcissism, and depression.

Honestly, I was disappointed with the contents of this album. The publicity of Midnights was so intense and engaging so it gave me high hopes. I did not enjoy the production, sorry Jack Antonoff. It was too synthetic for me and lacked the depth needed to establish uniqueness. With many tracks on Midnights, I felt as if I had heard them before on her previous albums. There were barely any differentiating factors, which decreased my overall enjoyment of the project. However, I thoroughly adore tracks like “Lavender Haze” and “Mastermind” because they have nuance and the production does not fall flat. I am quite disappointed about not fawning over the entire work, but I did appreciate parts of Midnights and recommend that everyone give it a listen.

Who is Phoebe Bridgers?

Phoebe Bridgers is a Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter of dreamy and lyrical melancholy indie pop tunes. Bridgers emerged in 2015 and later released her first studio album, Stranger in the Alps, in 2017. Shortly after, she began collaborating with veterans such as Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker and forming the group Boygenius. In 2020, Bridgers released her latest studio album, Punisher, which garnered significant praise and a Grammy nomination.

In May of 2022, my friend Rhea and I saw Phoebe Bridgers in concert at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Dallas, Texas. Since we bought pit tickets, we arrived four hours before start time and camped outside the venue in the hot sun. Despite the sun’s unrest, it was worth it. We ended up in around the third row behind the stage’s barricade.

The concert began around 9 pm, with the band Sloppy Jane as the opener. After Sloppy Jane’s setlist, featuring songs that showcased their punk-rock and chamber-pop sound, Bridgers began her set around 10 pm. She performed according to the setlist pictured below, opening with “Motion Sickness,” the most well-known song from her album Stranger in the Alps.

Setlist

1. Motion Sickness
2. DVD Menu
3. Garden Song
4. Kyoto
5. Punisher
6. Halloween
7. Smoke Signals
8. Funeral
9. Chinese Satellite
10. Moon Song
11. Scott Street
12. Savior Complex
13. ICU
14. Sidelines
15. Graceland Too
16. I Know The End

Encore: Waiting Room

Bridgers performed her album Punisher in its entirety, along with some notable songs from Stranger in the Alps and her new single, “Sidelines.” Bridgers asked the crowd which song they wanted to hear for the encore, and the general consensus seemed to be “Waiting Room,” one of her oldest songs. Bridgers wrote, “Waiting Room” in her teenage years, which explains its dramatics and had only performed it live once prior to this show.

For me, I felt this concert in my soul. Dramatic, yes, but I think it’s an accurate description. It was a phenomenal experience. Remembering the entire pit singing and swaying along to Bridgers’ voice is intensely moving. Now, whenever I listen to her songs, I always refer back to the experience of hearing them live. If Phoebe Bridgers ever holds a concert near you, I highly recommend going and enjoying it for yourself.