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Swiftogeddon

Belgrave Music Hall & Canteen, Leeds

18th February 2022

Outside Belgrave Music Hall & Canteen, the queue stretches up the hill. The cold air makes us shiver. That and the anticipation. After endless months of listening to Taylor Swift records at home, of non-stop dancing around the kitchen in the refrigerator light, the thought of being back in a room filled with people like us is almost too much.

The music starts. We can hear it out on the street. Already, there are people yelling the words and the noise whooshes through the empty Leeds streets. Yes, we’re in the freezing north of England, Storm Eunice whirling around us, but at the same time we’re not here at all. Such is the magic of Swiftogeddon. It’s as much a portal to another universe as it is a club.

Up the stairs and past the bar and into the main room. It’s prom night, except more so. Just as Taylor Swift’s lyrics offer us a rose-tinted view of a life we almost had, so Swiftogeddon whisks us off to a spiralling, kaleidoscopic version of the world we normally inhabit. Bathed in pastel pink light, we feel perfect.

The music, of course, you know: ‘…Ready For It?’ bounces back and forth between that soaring chorus and crunching title line; listening to ‘Stay Stay Stay’ is more fun than you’ve ever had before; ‘Love Story’ is the most romantic four minutes of anybody’s life  – and then there’s ‘Out Of The Woods’, which floats us away from the last two years of lockdowns and letdowns, and at last we really do feel like we might be in the clear.

By the time ‘betty’ proves itself as the perfect last song of the night, Taylor Swift classics have been playing non-stop for four hours. We feel as if we have inhaled starlight. Our hearts are flickering like hummingbird wings.

We’ve been dreaming instead of sleeping.

You should try it.

TASK 1

If you’re studying English for A-Level, have a go at the question in blue. Aim to write 3 paragraphs. Analyse 2 or 3 quotes per paragraph. Make concise reference to the COVID pandemic – or anything else that you feel might be contextually relevant – in order to add depth to your analysis.

Explore the significance of Swiftogeddon and Taylor Swift’s music in the above article.

If you’re studying English for GCSE, have a go at the question in green. Aim to write 3 paragraphs. Analyse one quote/language technique per paragraph.

How does the writer (in the article above) use language to describe Swiftogeddon and Taylor Swift’s music?

If you want some ideas to use as a launchpad for your longer piece of writing, download them here.

TASK 2

Write your own review. Maybe you’ve been to a show, or listened to an album, or a podcast, or read a book… You can review whatever you want!

Once you’re done, you can send your work in. We want to publish the most exciting writing and offer advice.

Then have a go at this Taylor lesson!

Main photo from Swiftogeddon.