Taylor Swift Performs ‘Who’s Afraid Of Little Old Me?’ For The First Time
Taylor Swift is continuing her Eras Tour over in Paris, France. As Swifties guessed, the pop icon played tracks from her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, during her Thursday night (May 9) set for the first time.
Fans in France went wild when Swift, 34, added TTPD to her Eras intro with lyrics from “The Alchemy:” “What if I told you I’m back?” The European kickoff of her record-breaking tour and her first show since the album’s release debuted several of her new songs while cutting some of her regularly played songs.
What Changed During Swift’s Europe Eras Tour Set?
She kicked off the first Era with four songs from Lover, followed by three Fearless songs. The artist’s third and fourth Era that followed was Red, featuring four songs, and one Speak Now track. After four songs from Reputation, Swift combined albums folklore and evermore as one chapter (FolkMore) during the show because she’s always seen them as sister albums.
Swift removed “Archer,” “Long Live,” “the 1,” “‘tis the damn season,” “the last great american dynasty,” and “tolerate it” from the setlist.
Taylor Swift Performs “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” and Other TTPD Tracks
She then performed songs from both albums before segueing into 1989, featuring new visuals with clock imagery, signaling the transition into The Tortured Poets Department.
From TTPD, the award-winning singer-songwriter played “But Daddy I Love Him, “So High School,” and “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me.” During her performance of the latter song, the superstar stood atop a mirrored glass-plated block that levitated around the stage. She followed that performance with other TTPD tracks, “Down Bad,” “Fortnight,” and “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived.”
Swift’s surprise acoustic songs for night one in Paris are fitting: “Paris” and “Loml.” Her final Era of the night was Midnights. She closed her performance with a theatrical performance of “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart.” During her set, Swift called the Eras Tour “Female Rage: The Musical.”
Taylor released The Tortured Poets Department on April 19 with a surprise double album with 31 tracks. She called TTPD “an anthology of new works that reflect events, opinions and sentiments from a fleeting and fatalistic moment in time – one that was both sensational and sorrowful in equal measure.”
Taylor will play 51 shows in 13 countries over the next five months in Europe, with an expected $2 billion gross in ticket sales alone, smashing the record from 12 months ago, according to The Sun.
5 Lyrically Depressing But Fun Songs To Dance To On Taylor Swift's Record
Taylor Swift’s 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, has already come with surprise after surprise. From the double album release to the songs shading Kim Kardashian, Matty Healy, and Joe Alwyn, TTPD has “left no crumbs,” as they say.
What stood out to us most about the 31 songs is that Swifties — whether happy and in love or going through it — all loved her dark and cheeky lyricism. Despite whatever mood you are in, it seems as though the pop icon has managed to perfectly balance vulnerable, crushing lyrics of hurt and heartache, all while giving her fans something to dance to and smile through the pain.
(Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management)
I am not a Swiftie, but I can recognize when Swift, 34, has a hit. As a songwriter, Swift can be clever, and her usage of advanced vocabulary absolutely shines on this album. At other times, as pointed out by others on social media, Swift can be a little juvenile with some of her lines, making us wonder what the hype is all about.
RELATED: Taylor's TTPD Features A Track Shading Kim Kardashian
However, compared to other successful pop artists of today, no one else does it like Taylor Swift. She reaches her fans worldwide with her lyricism and musicianship. Every album is an event, and this one is no exception. TTPD has been compared to her 2020 album, folklore, with fans commending her use of synths on this album as well.
Longtime collaborator and friend Jack Antonoff shared his love for Taylor on X (formerly Twitter) and listed his favorite tracks on the record, both of which actually ended up on our list as well. “!! FOTS heads lets go !!” he writes of the 7th track, “Fresh Out The Slammer.” He later hyped up track 4, “Down Bad,” as it “heads as well.”
Take a look below at X Lyrically Depressing But Fun Songs To Dance To On TTPD:
