Taylor Swift, famed for her ‘1989’ music album, sprung Selena Gomez and Justin Timberlake as a surprise for her fans as part of her ‘1989 World Tour’ concert held at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
The ambience at the concert was electrifying, what with the singer’s glimmering eyes and the arena tailored with 1989 World Tour signets and bracelets. Swift was seen connecting with her fans as she winked at them and as she moved her eyes through the crowd, she saw the new banner right next to the LA Lakers’ Championship flags. The banner had her name printed bright and bold and it literally screamed: ’Taylor Swift: Most Sold-Out Performances’.
As she recreated the magic of the ‘Mean’ song which she had written some years ago targeting an unfriendly critic, the lyrics seemed to make more sense today than when she wrote them. One of the lines in the song ran, ‘And I can see you years from now in a bar… Drunk and grumbling on about how I can’t sing’. She makes a long, meaningful pause here allowing her thousands of fans to imagine what her life would have been if she had let the words of that critic get into her head, instead of fueling her singing ambitions further. She allowed the crowd’s screams for more reach a crescendo before she sings the next line of the song, ‘But all you are is mean!’
In this last night performance of her five-day run at Staples Center, as part of her 1989 World Tour, Taylor Swift seemed soaked in the effects of her success story as she broke yet another record for a fabulous performance. As always, this performance also had surprises for her fans. First, Selena Gomez, who the ‘You belong with me’ singer introduced as her best friend, came on stage and both of them crooned ‘Good for you’ together as they careened up and down the ramp, perhaps recreating the magic of their performance at Madison Square Garden in 2011. Later, Lisa Kudrow, the Friends’ star who played the role of Phoebe Buffay, walked on stage and both of them sang the ‘Smelly Cat’ to the joy of all fans in the concert.
And finally, like the chocolate-cream topping on a rich chocolate cake, Justin Timberlake took the audience by surprise as he sneaked in from beneath the stage. He and Swift sang ‘Mirrors’ sending the crowd into raptures. This was Justin Timberlake’s first public performance after he became a dad in April this year. Taylor Swift did not disappoint her fans as she crooned many of her hit songs from ‘1989’ including ‘Bad Blood’, ‘Are we out of the woods’. ‘Style’, ‘Mean’, ‘I knew you were trouble’ and ‘Love Story.’
It did seem that the unfriendly critic of years ago was wrong about Taylor Swift. Her ‘1989’ album went 5-times platinum, her ‘Blank Video’ has got more than a billion hits and she is nominated for nine awards at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards.
