Amid Taylor Swift’s holiday hiatus from her record-breaking Eras Tour, Swifties have been looking for other fun ways to keep themselves entertained. Luckily, on Dec. 1, Taylor Nation, Swift’s official fan club, revealed that there would be a special celebration for the Grammy winner being named Apple Music’s Artist of the Year. On Dec. 8 and 9, the streaming platform would host an exclusive Swift-themed pop-up in New York City, with less than 2,000 tickets available for the fandom.
Still scarred from the Ticketmaster fiasco circa November 2022, I didn’t have high hopes when I entered for a chance to attend. To my surprise, two days before the event started, I found out I won a coveted spot — and I mean coveted. When I waited in the virtual queue on ticketstoday.com to register, there were over 7,000 Swifties ahead of me, over four times the total amount of tickets being distributed.
Leading up to the event, details were extremely limited. The Eras Experience was held at Skylight at Essex Crossing, a large space in the Lower East Side of Manhattan (though only ticket holders received location information). I also didn’t know how much the event would cost me until the day before, but tickets were completely free. All I needed to bring was my digital ticket and ID in order to enter. Even the lines weren’t too bad; I probably waited 20 minutes total before entering the pop-up for my time slot.
While I waited in line and listened to Swift’s music playing over the speakers, fans all around me were recounting their tales of Swiftiedom — one girl shared her top song on her 2023 Spotify Wrapped (“Cruel Summer”); another shared that one time she DMed Swift a surprise song request that the singer actually ended up playing for the fan’s chosen show (“Clean”).
The Inside Of Taylor Swift’s Eras: The Experience Is Made For Swifties
The pop-up’s design mimicked Swift’s “Lover” house from the song’s music video. Each color-block room represented a different era with plenty of tiny details (potentially even some Easter eggs) for fans to fixate on.
Attendees start at the Midnights room, which featured a massive clock set to midnight (duh) and the Apple Music Artist of the Year Award. Next up is Reputation, where a constant loop of a snake played on projector and a faux headstone proclaimed, “Here Lies Taylor Swift’s Reputation.” To the left, the light blue 1989 room was filled with fish bowls, another reference to the 1989 room in the “Lover” house.
And so it goes, each era had its own room — a pink bedroom for Lover, a koi-decorated dining room for Speak Now (a reference to her koi guitar from the Speak Now tour), a 21st birthday celebration for Red (plus a red scarf hanging nearby), a moss-covered piano for Folklore, a plaid-filled closet for Evermore, a copy of Romeo & Juliet in the upside-down Fearless room, and a portrait of Swift’s cat Benjamin Button for debut.
Walking through the whole pop-up took about 40 minutes. All in all, the pop-up is a great opportunity to meet other Swifties and get some gems for your Instagram. Plus, attendees scored a code for three months free of Apple Music. Guess everyone knows how my Apple Music Replay will look at the end of 2024.
