🏈 The Swiftie Scoop No. 2: It's a Love Story

You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess

Feb 13, 2024

Dear Reader,

Going into February, I knew there was a LOT going on at the moment. But in true Taylor Swift fashion, it’s become a chaotic month beyond even my Wildest Dreams - filled with wins, announcements and loads of excitement for Swifties everywhere. And making for lots of fun highlights to cover in this month’s Swiftie Scoop!

News & highlights covered in this newsletter:

💌 Adding Paid Subscriptions to Dear Reader
🏆 The Grammys
🤍 The Tortured Poets Department
🫶 The Eras Tour Re-starting
🎥 Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version)
🏈 The Super Bowl
❓ Can I Ask You a Question?

Adding Paid Subscriptions to Dear Reader

Before I dig into all the Swiftie news highlights, I’m super excited to share that I’m launching paid subscriptions for extra Dear Reader newsletters!

The core newsletters of Dear Reader will remain free, with two emails coming to your inbox every month. I love putting these newsletters together and I’m so grateful that you’re subscribed to Dear Reader and are part of this growing community!

For anyone who is enjoying these newsletters, and interested in getting more, you can now sign up for a paid subscription. For $5/month (or $50 for a yearly subscription, giving you two months free) you’ll get extra e-mails, including:

An email on the 22nd of the month, covering:
- Recent Recs, with curated Taylor Swift-coded recommendations
My Eras Tour Round-Up series, covering the highlights of each city’s Eras Tour shows, including:
- note-worthy happenings
- the Surprise Songs for each night and an updated Surprise Song tracker
- links to the best Surprise Song full version videos I can find (on TikTok and Instagram) so you can easily catch up and/or re-watch
- prep for the upcoming city’s shows, including links to my time zone chart and more

I really want to share more helpful, informative and fun content with you! By subscribing to my paid newsletters, you would be a big help in supporting me and making that possible. If you’re interested in these paid Dear Reader newsletters, you can upgrade your subscription by clicking the button below.

Now, let’s get into the Swiftie Scoop!

The Grammys

February 4th, 2024, was a wild night - for Taylor Swift, and for us as Swifties!

Taylor Swift made history, becoming the first person ever to win Album of the Year (AOTY) 4 times - an incredible accomplishment! She added to her Grammy collection, winning her 13th and 14th Grammys, both for Midnights. Best Pop Vocal Album was her 13th and AOTY her 14th. Here’s a round-up of Taylor’s past Grammy wins and nominations, and her updated Grammy wins after the big night.

But Taylor also made February 4th an unforgettable night for us Swifties. Many of us were clowning for a Reputation (Taylor’s Version) announcement. It seemed to make sense, given all the signs. We were right about Taylor announcing an album - we just got the album wrong. Taylor announced her brand new album, The Tortured Poets Department, coming out April 19th! I’m counting down the days (66 days from today, hehe).

I don’t know about you, but I was pretty shocked. A couple months ago I had been thinking TS11 could potentially come next. But lately, with all the Reputation TV clues, I was just not expecting this red herring (even though she did basically tell us in the error code of her website on Grammy day). It just goes to show you, Taylor Swift really is a mastermind. Here’s my reaction to her 13th Grammy win and TTPD announcement! Was yours similar?

The Tortured Poets Department

Speaking of TTPD, how are you feeling about it?!

Taylor shared this post about the album, from backstage at the Grammys after accepting her award. Not long after, she shared “The Manuscript” of the album, and when I tell you how my jaw dropped when I read through it. It’s giving “You’re Losing Me” vibes but even more heart breaking, if that’s even possible??

What tracks from the album are you the most excited to hear? Apart from all of them, of course. I was immediately drawn towards, “So Long, London”. I spent 7 years living in London, and will never forget listening to the Lover album after it dropped, walking through the city streets and blasting “London Boy” in my earbuds. It really hits different. I already thought “So Long, London” was going to be a lot, and then I realized it’s Track #5 😳 Track 5’s have a reputation as being real heavy hitters (think “my tears ricochet” and “You’re On Your Own, Kid”), so I’m not quite sure how we’ll be able to cope with it, let alone the rest of the album 🥺 But, I cannot wait to hear it.

TTPD has taken over Taylor Swift’s website - which is interesting in and of itself. You can currently pre-order the album over there.

Here’s a few fun posts I found on social media about the album drop:

The Eras Tour Re-starting

Just days after Taylor was at the Grammys, she was in Tokyo to kick off the 2024 Eras Tour. It feels so good to have The Eras Tour back!

To help get ready for it, I put together A Swiftie’s Guide to The Eras Tour newsletter. I included the current setlist in that newsletter. But in case you missed it, I thought I’d share the links to the playlists I made of it on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and YouTube. Plus, clean versions on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music.

Depending on where you are in the world, you may feel like the time difference of these international shows is already starting to take its toll. After early mornings to catch the Tokyo shows and surprise songs, and then a very late night after the Super Bowl (how is one meant to sleep after witnessing a game like that?!), I definitely feel like I’m in my sleepless nights era 😅 But it’s so worth it and I can’t wait to tune into Australia’s shows!

I’ll share more about the Tokyo shows in my upcoming Eras Tour Round-Up series for paid subscribers, but here are a few highlights you might enjoy:

Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version)

For a second surprise, Taylor shared this post announcing that Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version) will be coming to Disney+ on March 15th! We are truly getting spoiled!

Just minutes before I saw her post, I was actually typing up a comment on this post about how nice it was to hear Cardigan on the setlist again. Well, in this (Taylor’s Version) of the Eras Tour movie, she’s not only giving us “Cardigan”, but 4 additional songs from the acoustic section as well! There’s 31 days til March 15th, if you want to start your own countdown - it’ll be here “very 🔜😆”.

The Super Bowl

I am still in shock over what happened in Super Bowl LVIII. Taylor made it to Las Vegas from Tokyo in good time, looking fabulous as she made her way up to the box suite she watched the game in. She was there with her family, Travis Kelce’s family, and her friends Blake Lively, Ice Spice, Miles Teller and Keleigh Sperry, and Lana del Rey.

The game was a long hard fight, but the Chiefs were able to pull out a win in pretty spectacular fashion! This is a video I put together of my fav Super Bowl LVIII Highlights, set to Taylor Swift’s song “Change”. The lyrics were just too perfect 🥹 I also shared a lot of game highlights in my stories, and made them into a Story Highlight. I’ve had sweet messages from people saying they appreciate me sharing these, especially for those who don’t live in the US and/or weren’t able to watch the game. I find it fun to go back and relive some moments too. If I ever need a pick-me-up, I can just go back and watch the game winning touchdown. What a moment!

Prior to the game I also made a special mashup to go with the Super Bowl’s Half Time show. And I put together a Tayvis Playlist, including all the songs I associate with Taylor and Travis’ “Love Story”. Speaking of…

The Super Bowl was exciting (and so stressful, I must have lost years off my life 😅). But the post game celebrations were iconic. I’m talking about Taylor and Travis on the field, at the club, and with her parents in the club?! I personally can’t stop watching the video of the two of them dancing to “Love Story”. And Taylor herself even got in on the posting action. We love to see it. Here’s some highlights, in case you missed them and/or want to watch them over (and over) again:

Travis’ interview pre-Super Bowl, talking about Taylor and Swifties
A key fumble of the game, commentating by Spongebob and Patrick 😂
THE touchdown, and Taylor getting buried 🤩
Travis seeing Taylor on the field after the Super Bowl, saying “come here, girl”
Taylor’s post about clubbing with her parents and Travis on TikTok
Taylor and Travis, You Belong With Me (Clubbing Version)
- Camera perspective on Taylor
- Camera perspective on Travis
Taylor and Travis, dancing to Love Story - I just can’t 😭

That’s a wrap on another Swiftie Scoop issue of Dear Reader! I’ve left some questions below as usual, and I always love reading your comments.

Thanks so much for being here 🥹 If you’re interested in a paid subscriptions for extra newsletters all the info is here. I’m really excited to share more with you, and I so appreciate your support in all the different ways you show it 🫶

I hope you have a Valentine’s Day filled with love and joy! Until next time…

Baby, just say, "Yes" 💕

Bekah

🎶 Can I Ask You a Question? 🎶

🫶 What’s been your fav moment/highlight of this past month so far - Taylor winning her Grammys, announcing TTPD, restarting the Eras Tour, the Super Bowl, something else?!
🤍 What was your reaction to the TTPD announcement? Which track from TTPD are you claiming?
🏈 Did you watch the Super Bowl? What was your fav moment of the game and/or post game celebrations?
💌 If you have any questions and/or requests for what you’d like to see in future Dear Reader newsletters, let me know! Leave a comment, and/or shoot me an email.

Dear Reader