In my opinion, there are two things that separate Taylor from other artists:
1. Her work ethic. There’s a reason she’s the only artist to perform a 3.5 hour show for 2 years straight. (She also has the catalogue.)
2. Her ability to reinvent herself while staying true to who she is. The genre, the look & the style may change but at the heart of every project, you still know it’s Taylor.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… she’s 1 of 1. You are not entitled to her same accomplishments if you’re not willing to put in the work.
@TTPDoftheNorth I never believe those sources but I don’t think we know if she’s a real sports fan other than the chiefs at this point. She’s been watching more sports and may have more interest now
@fedeebongiorno Tmz confirms 😆 why are you believing a tabloid? Some random person online made a joke about it being at MSG and that’s all tmz has to go on
@willistortured1@cecealways_ I don’t even think it’s that much promo at this point. Besides the billboards and even those a lot of the gp is only going to think they mean Toy Story. I was just talking to a friend that is a swiftie but not much on social media and she had no idea about Tay story
It was a Monday in early August 2023. The exhausted truck drivers of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour thought they were heading to a routine production meeting before the Los Angeles shows.
They had no idea what was coming.
Scott Swift walked in. Taylor's father didn't say much—he just began handing out envelopes. When the drivers finally peeked inside, some thought the check said $1,000. Others read $10,000. The third driver stared at his and said out loud: "This has to be a joke."
It wasn't.
$100,000.
Each driver. Nearly 50 of them. The industry standard bonus from the biggest stars? $5,000 to $10,000. Taylor had given them more than ten times that.
But here's what made it matter most: these drivers weren't wealthy. They lived in truck cabs. They hadn't seen their families in 24 weeks. They were people who would never own homes—until now. Until that envelope.
That moment of shock and tears? It was just the beginning.
Across the entire Eras Tour, Taylor quietly handed out $197 million in bonuses. The dancers. The band. The riggers. The lighting and sound technicians. The caterers. Every single person who built the show—they got bonuses, handwritten notes, and wax-sealed letters. When dancers opened theirs on camera in her docuseries, they broke down crying. Some couldn't believe she was real.
"If the tour grosses more, they get more," she explained simply. These people work hard. They deserve it.
But the crew bonuses weren't the only quiet revolution happening.
Starting in March 2023, in every city where the tour touched down, a call came to local food banks. Taylor wanted to donate. No press conference. No announcement. No photo op. One donation fed 75,000 meals. Another provided hundreds of thousands of pounds of fresh produce. Across the tour, the total reached millions of meals—possibly more—all delivered in silence.
She never posted about a single one.
And it wasn't new for her.
In March 2020, when the pandemic locked down the world, Taylor scrolled through social media posts from fans who were breaking. A photographer about to lose everything. A person staring down eviction. She sent direct messages with rent money—$3,000 here, $13,000 there. Some fans got enough for months of bills. She read the Washington Post. She noticed the names. She helped.
She never announced it.
Years later, in October 2025, a two-year-old named Lilah—fighting a cancer so rare that only 58 families in America had ever known it—was filmed by her mother dancing to a Taylor Swift song. Lilah called Taylor her friend. A few days later, the GoFundMe received a $100,000 donation.
The note said: "Sending the biggest hug to my friend, Lilah! Love, Taylor."
Mike Scherkenbach has worked with the wealthiest people in music. He's seen the bonuses. He's seen the behavior. He's watched billionaires guard their money jealously.
What he saw with Taylor was different.
The biggest tour in history grossed $2 billion. The artist behind it became a billionaire from her own songwriting. And then she signed her name onto hundreds of envelopes by hand and sent enough money back to the people who built her dream that they cried opening their letters.
That isn't strategy. That isn't a publicity stunt.
That's what happens when someone, somewhere along the way, remembered what matters.
a little reminder that taylor removed her entire catalog from streaming platforms in support of new and smaller artists 11 years ago and not a single artist supported her
i just block any artist on spotify and apple music instantly if i see them liking shady posts about taylor.. you khias are not getting a stream from me. 😴
i don’t think taylor should listen to criticism ever when creating art actually lmao a bunch of non artists trying to pressure an artist into doing something she has done before and they want more of or something that has nothing to do with her that they like in other artists.
@kodzuken_sophie@goldnvirgo Sounds like you don’t like her pop music. That’s fine if it’s not for you but there are lots of people who love it. It’s also very unlikely that her next album is the same style based on the way she’s always done things, and not bc some people online complained.