It is a ritual that has become inseparable from Tour of the eras, superstar Taylor Swift’s pharaonic tour: at each of her performances, tens of thousands of fans fill the stadiums with their arms covered in plastic bead bracelets, which they exchange during the performance. Her four dates at the Arena Paris La Défense, which began on Thursday, May 9 and will end on Sunday, the 12th, are no exception.
The celebrities who flocked to the American fashion shows followed the movement and appeared, for the most part, adorned with these famous jewels: the model Gigi Hadid, the Oscar-winning actresses Emma Stone and Jennifer Lawrence, the singer Halsey…
Taylor Swift, who began her world tour in March 2023 in the United States, has never given such instructions to her audience. At least not directly. A retrospective look at a phenomenon within a phenomenon, on the occasion of her passing through the largest covered room in Europe.
“Make friendship bracelets”
This trend finds its origin in one of the pieces of midnightthe last album released by Taylor Swift before the start of the tour, presented in October 2022.
This title titled You’re alone, boyin which the singer chronologically recounts her first heartbreak, the discovery of her love for composition, then the ups and downs of her years of success, ending with advice that addresses both herself and her audience:
“Every thing you lose is a step forward / So get your friendship bracelets, seize the moment and savor it / You don’t have to be afraid.”
Although the name “friendship bracelets” – “friendship bracelets”, in its original version – is not very widespread in France, these jewels constitute a children’s tradition in the Anglo-Saxon world: as their name suggests, they are bracelets fabric or plastic. beads that girls make and exchange as a sign of their friendship. According to the guardianThey are said to originate in indigenous communities in Latin America, and similar traditions are found in hippie communities of the 1970s, as well as rave parties of the 1990s.
Pearl shortage
Two weeks after the release of midnightTaylor Swift announces The tour of the ages, a retrospective tour of his 16-year career. And immediately the idea arose to be inspired by You’re alone, boy exchanging friendship bracelets During the tour it begins to break out on social media among fans.
It is difficult to say exactly who is behind the initiative. However, the first tweet mentioning this project was posted by a netizen who goes by the name @1mtheproblem on November 2, the day after the singing tour was announced.
No matter how fervent they are, Taylor Swift fans, called “swifties,” have managed to transform this typical sleepover activity into a phenomenon. After months of organizing on social media, she went with arms full of pearl bracelets to appear in Glendale, Arizona, on March 17, 2023, for the first concert of the tour.
Often handmade, sometimes purchased – CNN collected the testimony of Jamie Tompkins, from Oklahoma, who claims to have raised $16,000 selling Taylor Swift-themed friendship bracelets on the online sales site Etsy – these jewels include mostly names. of the singer’s albums, the titles of her songs and respect a color code associated with each of her albums.
According australian mediaSpecialty stores found themselves short of pearls on the eve of the star’s concerts last February.
Gabby Deimeke, an American fan, spoke about this phenomenon for Today. For her, “friendship bracelets” resonate directly with the Tour of the erasa show tinged with “nostalgia”:
“Making these bracelets is a celebration of all that, a celebration of the fact that we are growing older with Taylor Swift, who has also grown older and made albums for every phase of our lives.”
Historical success
HE Tour of the eras It established itself as a global phenomenon since ticket pre-sale in mid-November 2022. The American box office Ticketmaster had not been able to respond to the crowds on its site (3.5 billion connections in total, according to a press release), which caused Endless queues, repeated failures… and a fiasco with worldwide repercussions, which led the box office to have to give explanations to Congress.
From the Tour of the eras continues to make headlines and rack up staggering numbers. It is already the most lucrative tour in history, with a billion dollars raised, the recording grossed almost 100 million dollars in American theaters in its first weekend of operation, and the Bank of America estimates that these shows could generate no less than 4.6 billion in spending in the United States alone.
Enough to allow these friendship bracelets to cross the borders of Tour of the eras. The Guardian claims that Millennials and Generation Z have taken advantage of the phenomenon and notes that these bracelets have been invited to other events: notably, concerts by Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles.
Vogue magazine also wants to see in this the broader sign of a search for a return to childhood and a rejection of the responsibilities of adult life. “Even Taylor Swift encourages her listeners to fantasize about prom queens, house cats, and high school sweethearts,” the magazine claims in a final editorial.
“If politics and consumerism treat people as less than adults… then even 30-something Swifties can wear friendship bracelets and escape pseudo-childhood.”
Source: BFM TV
