Everything we learned from episodes 3 and 4 of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour documentary

Taylor Swift has given fans behind-the-scenes access to her record-breaking Eras Tour as part of a six-part Disney+ docuseries.

The worldwide tour became a cultural phenomenon with fans dressing up as their favourite Era, exchanging friendship bracelets and predicting what surprise songs Swift was going to sing each night. It also boosted local economies, generating an eye-watering $2 billion.

The latest episodes (3 & 4) of Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour | The Final Show dropped on the streaming platform on December 19, where we got to learn more about the development, impact, and inner workings of putting on a tour of this scale.

Here is everything we learned:

The Eras Tour helped Swift get through two breakups

In episode 4, Swift described the experience of recording her 2024 album The Tortured Poets Department.

“Tortured Poets album is like this purge of just, like, everything, everything bad that I felt for two years,” she explained “It was a really rough time in my life, so the songs reflect that. Feeling like I’m not a person, I’m just this, like, big conglomerate that no one sees as a real human being, and especially not men that I date. And in the whole process just being like, ‘Nothing works, there’s no one for me in the world.’”

She then goes on to recall how the Era Tour helped her through her two breakups, as fans reckon this is in reference to her split from actor Joe Alywn and her later breakup with The 1975 frontman Matty Healy.

“There were points in this tour when the tour was the only thing that was really keeping me going in my life,” Swift said. “But there were never points in the tour when I thought, ‘Oh, you know what? I want to quit the tour ’cause the tour’s hard.’ No, my personal life was hard. I went through two breakups on the first half of this tour, and that’s a lot of breakups actually.

"The show was what gave me purpose and was what I could use to get me out of bed. So, the tour has never been the hard thing in my life. The tour has been the thing that has allowed me to find purpose outside of the s*** that was going on in my life. Men will let you down, The Eras Tour never will.”

How Travis Kelce's Eras Tour cameo at Wembley Stadium came to be

Disney+

We also got a behind-the-scenes look at how Travis Kelce joined Swift on stage on June 23, 2024 Wembley Stadium, as a suited and booted backup dancer for the routine to “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart," and the Kansas City Chiefs player rehearsed the bit with his fiancée.

“I can’t remember how it came up,” the singer said. “I think we were just joking around about [Travis] doing it, like him going up there with [dancer Kam Saunders], and it became very clear that he, like, wasn’t joking.”

Andrea Swift supported Taylor and Travis’ relationship from the get-go

Disney+

It's always good when your mum approves of your partner - and Andrea Swift is certainly a fan of Travis Kelce, as she rooted for him and her daughter to meet.

“I’m looking at the headlines and perusing around what’s on the internet, and I see that this guy came to your show and he brought a friendship bracelet and wants to meet you,” Andrea told Swift. “And so, of course, I call up my resident expert on [the] Kansas City Chiefs, my cousin Robin, and I go, ‘Tell me about this guy named Travis Kelce. And she goes, ‘Oh, my God. He’s the nicest guy. And you know what? He really loves his mom.’ And I went, ‘Ding, ding, ding, ding.’ Then I said, ‘Now, how in the world am I gonna get her to meet him or whatever?’”

She also mentioned how she loved Kelce's calling out Swift on his New Heights podcast. “Listen, it was so earnest. I thought it was the sweetest thing in the world that he came to your show. He brought you something from your world. To me, that really said a lot. I thought that was really sweet and I liked it.”

The technical side of executing quick costume changes

Swifties know just how many costume changes Swift has for each show - for those who don't know, it's around 16 outfit changes a night, and in the recent episodes, we got to see how this comes together.

"Every outfit change is about a minute and 15 [seconds] or less,” said dresser Jestina O’Dell in episode 3. “Our fastest quick-change though is 39 seconds with her in the room.”

“There were moments where I thought, ‘I don’t know if these costume changes are gonna happen in time,’” Taylor confessed. “I’m only off the stage for a maximum of two minutes at a time. … You have no idea the panic of worrying you’re not gonna be dressed in time for the song to start."

In one instance, the rapid changes caused her an injury as she recalled the moment, “One time, I tripped over the hem of my dress, skidded the palm of my hand off," but this didn't stop her as she noted she“wasn’t late” for her performance.

Sabrina Carpenter's surprise Era's Tour appearance

Disney+

Sabrina Carpenter's surprise performance at the latter’s Eras Tour gig in New Orleans was also covered - with the Manchild singer telling Swift she was attending this tour date.

And so Swift asked if Carpenter wanted to join on stage for her surprise song section (other surprise singers at certain dates included Florence Welch and Ed Sheeran).

“I was like, ‘Is this, like, child abuse for me to even ask her on her one day off?’” Taylor joked. “I know she’s, like, 25, but still.”

But of course, Carpenter agreed, and the pair performed an acoustic mashup of Sabrina’s “Espresso,” “Please Please Please,” and Swift’s “Is It Over Now?” from 1989 (Taylor’s Version).

Elsewhere from Indy100, everything we learned from first two episodes of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour documentary, and Taylor Swift is giving fans behind the scenes look at the Eras Tour.

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