Taylor Swift recently left her fans in awe with her performance Dublin Eras Tour stop. She spoke about the inspiration behind her 2020 album ‘Folklore’, reported People.
During her Eras Tour stop in Dublin, she opened up about how she developed the fictional story of her fantasy-inspired pandemic-era album and shared that Ireland played a big part in the story’s setting.
“Folklore in general, it just belongs in Ireland,” she told the crowd after finishing her rendition of ‘Cardigan’ during her second night at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium.
“How I imagined the album world looking was like Ireland. Storytelling with lots of different characters,” Swift added, referring to the stories within the record. “You guys have that on lock, too. That’s very Irish, the storytelling.”
According to the singer, Folklore was an opportunity for her to try out a “different” style of songwriting that she hadn’t explored before, which included more linear stories and characters who “fall in love and get their hearts broken.” Swift also shared that she got to serve as a narrator for once, rather than sharing her personal feelings and experiences.
“When I was making this album, it was two days into the pandemic that I started Folklore, I wasn’t in Ireland. So I had to create an album where the imaginary world that I pretended to go to every single day while I was writing it… I gotta be honest, kinda seemed like Ireland,” the Grammy winner told the crowd.
“So we’re back to where we belong!” Swift added, before getting ready to begin her track “Betty” — yet another character off of her story-driven album. “Folklore belongs with you guys.”
The singer’s first night in Dublin on Friday was also filled with Irish pride: during her performance of ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,’ her backup dancer Kameron Saunders, 31, spoke some Irish (a continuation of Swift’s tradition of giving each Eras Tour host country a shout-out in its native language).
Swift’s three gigs in Dublin are her first since her two nights at Croke Park for the Reputation Stadium Tour, when she made her Irish stadium debut. At those 2018 concert dates, the singer adoringly hailed the crowd “so loving” and “incredible” — and shared a bouquet of flowers from Irish band U2, who wrote the accompanying letter, “Your Irish fan club.”
However, Swift has visited the nation at least once between her two huge tours. While in Belfast in 2021 to support then-boyfriend Joe Alwyn as he finished filming Conversations with Friends, the singer snapped selfies with many waitresses from nearby eateries.
After her three nights in Dublin, Swift is set to bring the Eras Tour next to Amsterdam and then to several other cities in Europe. She will close out the European leg of the tour with five more shows in London in August, reported People.