Taylor Swift Shows More Work

It was never a question that Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl would be big, it was just a matter of how big. And now we know – 4 million units sold, a new record. And when you consider that over 1.4 million of these were vinyl, in these streaming times, it’s another reminder of her commercial power. No surprise then that all 12 tracks on Showgirl occupy the top spots on the Billboard Hot 100, led by “The Fate of Ophelia”. Taylor Swift loves autumn, and this autumn has been her best, if we’re going by the numbers. After all, this is a girl who loves stats and trophies. Never mind the score, she owns the whole scoreboard. 

And she’s not done. A couple of days ago Good Morning America started teasing a major announcement on Monday morning, with most people assuming that it would be The Eras Tour documentary. GMA is on ABC, which is owned by Disney. Disney is where her concert film lives. So that is indeed what’s happening – a six-part docuseries featuring the Show Your Work of The Eras Tour. And even though I’m not a Swiftie myself, this is exactly the kind of Taylor Swift content I’m all-in on… even though, obviously, Taylor Swift will only let us see what she wants us to see. 

Still, she’s never been a mystery about her work. She has always explained her work, and part of this, as I’ve always theorised, is because there were doubts about her songwriting at the start of her career. This, in my opinion, is why she started filming herself during the songwriting and producing process – sure, more material for her fans to consume, but also a way for her to prove to the haters that the music comes from her. And now, as an extension of that, we’re seeing a lot more of her creative process as she narrates off the top of this trailer that nothing about it is magic or serendipity, it’s labour, it’s effort, it’s collaboration. 

 

This is Taylor’s gift to Swifties but also Disney. Because that rollout – two episodes on December 12, two more the week later, and then the final two on Christmas Eve, ensuring added streaming traffic to the platform during the holidays. I understand the business decision but from a viewer’s perspective, this is the kind of series you want all at once. 

Also interesting is the director choice. Taylor did not direct the series herself, it’s Glenn Weiss in the chair and if you’re an award show junkie, the name is familiar to you because he’s a live award show specialist. He was in the control room during the Slap at the Oscars, and the Moonlight/La La Land mix-up, so it makes sense, given that this a documentary about a concert tour, that Taylor would have chosen him. I wonder, though, how this will work with the footage behind the scenes – and I don’t mean backstage but when Taylor was not at the venue(s), when we’re meant to see her in rehearsal, in her hotel room, on the PJ, and more. As in documentary setting and style. Because a documentarian isn’t just setting camera angles and capturing the shots, they’re also looking for the narrative, and asking the right questions to find it. This was the key to Miss Americana, the documentary about Taylor directed by Lana Wilson – because it was Taylor through Lana’s lens, which is why it was so insightful and intimate. I don’t know that this new docuseries will have quite the same approach.

Update: In the first version of this post, I thought it was Glenn who was directing both the docuseries and the concert film. Glenn’s expertise is being applied to the concert, but the docuseries was directed by Don Argott and Sheena M Joyce. Don notably worked on the Kelce documentary, which was really good. So, hopefully, that experience will add more dimension to whatever version Taylor wants to present of herself in the project. 

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