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 Era’s 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 Era’s 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.
Noah Kahan’s The Busyhead Project Is Blazing The Path For Mental Health
When Noah Kahan played at Radio City Music Hall in August, he encouraged everyone in the room to go to therapy. He went into an anecdote about how his mother recognized that he was a “weird kid” by age 8 and sent him straight to the shrink. Some kids might have taken offense, but he’s eternally grateful. Therapy helped Kahan overcome feelings like depression and anxiety and evolve into the performer we know and love.
But his actions go beyond his words with The Busyhead Project, a charity he created with his team with one goal: raise one million dollars for organizations specializing in mental health awareness and resources. Named after his 2019 debut, Busyhead, the Project has shown us all the ways Kahan is willing to help others. SPOILER ALERT: he’s well over that goal.
Starting in May 2023, Noah Kahan used his Stick Season Tour, digital campaigns, and donors to support mental health organizations such as Teenline, JACK.org, JED Foundation, and Here Tomorrow. You can buy charity packages for his upcoming We’ll All Be Here Forever arena tour — which includes a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden — which donates a portion of the sales to a mental health organization.
In order to normalize talking about mental health, Kahan has been transparent about his own struggles. In a TIME op-ed, Kahan wrote:
“As I’ve been touring the country supporting my record Stick Season, many people have told me my music saved their lives—that I gave them the strength to carry on. Though flattered and honored, I am inclined to disagree.
The strength it takes to get through difficult moments and complicated challenges, mental and physical, comes from within. Any person brave enough to share that they have made it through a struggle deserves every ounce of credit for making it to the other side. As the artist Grandson often says: ‘You did this yourself.’”
Kahan has had a breakthrough year with his Stick Season (We’ll All Be Here Forever) deluxe album breaking records, collaborating with mega-names in the industry like Hozier, Post Malone, Kacey Musgraves, and more, and completing not one, but two tours for the album.
However, despite the success, Kahan remains unrelentingly humble- offering self-deprecating jokes and staying active on his social media accounts to connect with fans. It’s part of his charm, but also a comforting reminder that we’re all dealing with our own demons deep down. And that not even the famous are immune to mental health problems.
While music can be a healing agent in its own right, there’s no doubt that therapy can benefit pretty much everyone. Having someone unbiased in your life to talk to, even about the mundane aspects of life, can give you an outlet to discover yourself. And when trouble arises, you have the coping skills to get through them.
Kahan tells TIME,
“It’s a stark reminder of the truth that I have had to come to terms with: there is no perfect ending or conclusion in my journey with my mental health. These problems will likely be with me forever. The difference is now I know I can treat them with therapy, meditation, and medication. I can talk about them with friends and family. I can write them down, and I can make them smaller.
Dedicating my craft to opening up about my mental health has provided me with an arsenal to live a meaningful life, and to not be defined by the chemicals in my brain.”
When the flooding in Vermont happened, Kahan directed The Busyhead Project's efforts toward providing relief to victims. He released exclusive merchandise and performed a show, earning over $150,000 in donations for life-saving measures.
To date, Kahan has raised $1.9 million to aid mental health organizations and provide necessary resources. You can learn more about The Busyhead Project and Noah Kahan’s work on his website.
July Time Capsule: A Look Back in History
As July 4th creeps closer and closer thoughts of freedom and independence start to circulate. The 4th, marking the United State's independence from Great Britain in 1776, is celebrated across the country with cookouts, fireworks and the good ol' red white and blue. Here are a few other significant acts for the sake of liberty that occurred in July:
July 2, 1964 - President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the civil rights act of 1964. This induction prevented employment discrimination against race, sex, color, religion or nation of origin. The law was initially proposed by John F. Kennedy, who was unable to pass the act due to his assassination in 1963. Johnson then took responsibility for the continuation of said civil rights reform, signing the act in 1964 in front of many invited guests, including Martin Luther King Jr.
Lyndon B. Johnson signs the civil rights act of 1964 in front of spectators
July 5, 1946 - French Designer Louis Reard released a skimpy, two piece swimsuit of his own creation, dubbed the "bikini". While the bikini was not the first two piece swimsuit, it was the first to show great amounts of skin in an attempt to represent the feeling of freedom after World War II.
Louis Reard photographs Micheline Bernardini modeling the first bikini
July 5, 2016 - Alton Sterling, a 37 year old African American man, is shot dead by two caucasian police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The police were called to report a man in a red shirt threatened another man with a gun outside of his convenience store. Upon his arrest, officers were attempting to control Sterling's arms when he supposedly reached for the gun in his pocket. Sterling was killed due to several gunshot wounds in the chest and back. The controversy surrounding the case sparked several protests, as it is believed Sterling was shot with unjust reasoning. It's still up for debate.
Alton Sterling pinned down by two police officers shortly before he is shot
July 7, 1972 - On this day in history, JoAnne Misko and Susan Malone were the first two women to be sworn in as FBI agents. Previously, the position had solely encompassed male occupants, but with the induction of L. Patrick Gray as acting director of the FBI, came the opportunity for women to take the stage as special agents for the Federal Bureau of Investigations.
JoAnne Misko (left) and Susan Malone (right) speak on their experience as the first two female FBI agents
July 18-23, 1966 - For five seemingly endless days, roaming gangs of street youths and angered citizens alike were combating the police department in Cleveland. After a dispute at a local bar, residents of the Hough neighborhood looted and rioted due to police racism and brutality being a normality. As the situation escalated, police encountered molotov cocktails and sniper fire from multiple rooftops. Eventually, the riots got so out of hand that the Cleveland national guard was called in. After a period of pseudo-martial law, the public unrest subsided. Then mayor of Cleveland, Ralph S. Locher and his advisors blamed the riots on "outside causes" such as several black rights groups. Today it is known that the unrest was not only due to mainstream racism but also because of overpopulation in the dilapidated area.
A young resident of the Hough neighborhood alludes the national guard
July 20, 1960 - The first ever Special Olympics is held at Chicago's Soldier Field. Around 1,000 athletes competed against one another in swimming and track competitions. Despite their disabilities, the athletes pushed on following the oath: "Let me win. But if I can not win, let me be brave in the attempt".
The first Special Olympics is held in Chicago
July 20, 1969 - This momentous day in history marks the date that the first man set foot on the moon. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin disembark their landing craft, Eagle, and step right into the history books. The astronaut's four day journey included many hardships, but with their success came humanity's first steps off of our home planet.
Buzz Aldrin on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission
July 26, 1948 - President Harry Truman signs executive order 9981, which ended segregation in the armed services. Ever since the revolutionary war, African Americans were vitally important in war. At last, their efforts were acknowledged and an end to racial segregation in the military was ended.
July 26, 1978 - This date is the birthday of Louise Joy Brown, who was the first baby born from IVF (in vitro fertilization). Her mother, Lesley Brown, had blocked fallopian tubes preventing her from conceiving a child. Luckily for her, scientist Robert Edwards and gynecologist Patrick Steptoe removed one of her matured eggs and combined it with her husband's sperm in their laboratory in order to form a healthy embryo. Several days later the embryo was then placed in Brown's uterus. A healthy baby was born via caesarean section thanks to this procedure.
Louise Joy Brown is born on July 26, 1978
July 27, 1953 - This day called the end to a very bloody, three year long war. The United States, People's Republic of China, North Korea and South Korea agreed on an armistice. The loss was huge on all sides, with deaths reaching the millions. With the presidential election of Dwight D. Eisenhower came his insinuated threats of nuclear action. Thankfully, the situation never escalated to that point. After years of bloodshed and gore all participating sides were ready to sign a peace agreement. This armistice created a demilitarized border between the north and the south, as well as prompting the release of any captured prisoners of war.
July 28, 1932 - The Great Depression plagued the people of the United States. Returning veterans from WWI were given certificates that granted each holder $1,000 each, which could be redeemed in 1945. However, many of these soldiers had lost the entirety of their wealth in the depression, prompting veterans to request the redemption dates of their certificates to be moved to 1932. The government denied this request and 15,000 protestors took to the streets, 90% of which were war veterans. The president at the time, Herbert Hoover, ignored their pleas and mobilized an army regiment to control the crowd in the capital. The veterans never had their financial needs met and President Hoover lost his re-election to Franklin D. Roosevelt while the country delved deeper into distress.
Liberty Project April Time Capsule: A Look Back in History
Liberty Project Takes A Look Back: These are significant U.S. events from the month of April over the years...
Liberty Project Time Capsule: A Look Back in History
On April 17, 1989 – Polish labor union Solidarity attained legal status after years of struggle, making way for the downfall of the Polish Communist Party.
On April 18 1776 – Paul Revere and William Dawes rode out of Boston at night to warn patriots at Lexington and Concord that the British were coming.
On April 19,1775 – 70 armed militiamen faced off on Lexington Green with a British guard unit. The confrontation is credited by many as the start of the American Revolution.
On April 19, 1943 – Jewish people in the Warsaw Ghetto stage a revolt against Nazi troops attempting to deport them to death camps
On April 25, 1967 – The first law legalizing abortion, outside of cases when the woman's life was threatened, was signed by Colorado Republican Governor John Love
On April 25, 1994 – Multiracial elections held for the first time in South Africa vote in Nelson Mandela as president and F.W. de Klerk as vice president
On April 28, 1945 – Italian fighters shot the dictator Benito Mussolini and end 23 years of Fascist rule in Italy.
On April 30, 1789 – George Washington becomes the first President of the United States of America on the balcony of Federal Hall in New York City.