|
Post by Admin on Oct 15, 2019 6:52:32 GMT
A fortnight ago, I lined up for 48 hours in the pouring rain for a chance to see Taylor Swift on Saturday Night Live. Pretty interesting life choices I’m making here, right? I wish I could say this is the wildest thing I’ve done but, as a Professional Stan™, it probably only ranks top three. One time I flew from Australia to Texas for four days to see her perform a set at the Formula 1. I could only get a couple days off work, so we got there on Thursday night, saw her on Saturday, and left on Monday. Saturday marked the fourth time Taylor had been a musical guest on SNL, and it conveniently fell on the one weekend that I’d planned to be in New York (Was I there because earlier in the year I thought this would be the weekend she’d drop Lover, so I booked flights before we even had a lead single? Maybe.). Plus, the host was Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and as a lesbian I am pretty much contractually obligated to love Killing Eve. The universe told me that I had to be at this show, and I listened. But by Friday night, the rain cleared and the end was in sight. Spirits were high, and we all started to feel like we could actually make it through — though that could also be attributed to the case of alcoholic seltzer that we bought and absolutely plowed through. At one point, Taylor saw on Twitter that we were all camped out, and sent down boxes of pizza. This sent us into a frenzy which helped time pass for a good two hours. That night, the temperature hovered around 5°C. I’d figured out that the subway grates on the sidewalk emit disgusting warm air, so I curled up on one of them for a little nap. It might have been one of my lowest moments, but it was all worth it when I got my standby ticket at 7am — exactly 48 hours after I started lining up. I chose to try for tickets to the dress rehearsal over the live show, to guarantee I’d get in. After going home to sleep, shower, eat, and re-caffeinate, we headed back to the studio. It was time.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Oct 15, 2019 20:45:48 GMT
‘Never Start A Fight With A Swiftie’ Before I go any further, I want to clear something up. Let me assure you that, despite what I saw one person on Twitter say, no one in that line was wearing a diaper. Every time we needed to pee, or get food, or just get away from the streaming ticker-tape of headlines on the Fox News building across the street, we could leave our post for a little bit. As long as you’re not heading home to nap or go sightseeing, someone will hold your spot. Swifties are no amateurs, and are prepared to camp out — the two people in front of me had seven battery packs, and things stayed pretty friendly, too. The guy in front of me invited me to hide in his tent from the rain, the woman behind me lent me a pair of socks, and we all offered to bring each other coffee and snacks when we took breaks. Okay, I did almost start a fight with a group at the front. But one of them left for 10 hours to escape the rain before reclaiming her spot! Thankfully, I remembered the cardinal rule every human on the internet should follow: Never Start A Fight With A Swiftie. I stepped back, blaming that temporary lapse in judgement on the fact that it was 5am and I’d had about a half-hour of sleep.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Oct 16, 2019 1:51:43 GMT
OMFG stands for Oh My ‘False God’ Obviously, Taylor’s performance was amazing, but you knew I was going to say that.
I’ve seen other artists rehearse before X-Factor and The Voice, where they took a couple of takes and ironed out kinks. But for both songs, Taylor just came out, did her thing perfectly, and left.
I’d wondered if musical guests phone it in for the rehearsal, but I’d actually say her vocals on ‘False God’ were stronger than when she did it for real on the show. The whole performance was done exactly as on TV.
My section of seats was full of Swifties, so of course there was a lot of screaming when she came out. But other than that the audience was pretty subdued, probably because she gave such a stripped-back, almost a capella performance.
Seeing her in a quiet studio with a couple hundred people is such a different experience than in a stadium full of screaming fans. The energy was off the charts. I may be biased but I’m sure even the non-Swifties in the audience would agree she captivated the entire room.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Oct 18, 2019 4:23:30 GMT
Justin Bieber was generous enough to indulge the paparazzi in an relatively personal question: is he cool with Taylor Swift about all his public drama with her in the past couple months? That drama included Bieber publicly accusing Swift of "defacing" his manager Scooter Braun after she posted an open letter against Braun acquiring her song catalog, which featured a Bieber Instagram screenshot; Swift liking a Tumblr post that suggested Bieber cheated on her friend and his ex Selena Gomez, and Bieber being accused of mocking Swift when he reenacted her viral post-lasik surgery video earlier this month. According to the Biebs, things are all good now. "Always homies," he told a paparazzo when asked if he and Swift are "cool" and "just homies" via Entertainment Tonight. When he was asked if they were always cool, Bieber said "yeah," and then revealed the big lesson all this drama taught him: "I'm done with all that other stuff," he said. "Other people's drama is not my drama." Other people as in Scooter Braun and Taylor Swift's drama, presumably. Not a bad lesson for the Biebs to learn. It's unclear whether Swift agrees with this "homie" characterization of their relationship, but at the very least, she is not at war with the Biebs publicly. Swift has said nothing directly about Bieber—for or against him—since the Braun drama died down in July.
|
|