Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour — so named, I can only assume, because it seems to have spanned several epochs of recorded human history — is still going on.
And now, it’s getting roundly mocked because TayTay’s dancing is wearing a bit thin or getting a bit weird, depending on your interpretation of what happened during a show last week in the United Kingdom.
According to TMZ, a viral clip from a concert in Edinburgh, Scotland, has fans and detractors alike calling Swift’s moves “cringey” and comparing it to dance moves from last century.
Swift played Murrayfield Stadium in the U.K. city between June 7-9; according to Sky News, the sold-out shows had been expected to inject nearly $100 million into the local economy.
“These sell-out shows brought huge and wide-ranging benefits to the city – reflected both in terms of the estimated up to £77m it contributed to the local economy, but also as a further boost to our global reputation as a great place to live, work and visit,” said City of Edinburgh Council leader Cammy Day — who, in spite of the name, is in fact a male.
Trending:
(As anyone who’s ever watched “Trainspotting” can attest to, Scotland’s a weird place.)
Day added that the concerts — the largest arena shows ever in the U.K. country, Sky News reported — were to be a “fantastic start to an incredible summer of culture in the capital.”
That was before Swift decided to shake it like an amateur Chubby Checker in boots:
@harryalex98 I’m the one who makes you laugh when you know you’re ‘bout to cry ✨ #taylorswift #erastour #erastouredinburgh #edinburgh #youbelongwithme #fyp ♬ original sound – HarryAlex98
Is Taylor Swift bad for Gen Z?
The original clip came from TikTok user @harryalex98, according to U.K. Daily Mail.
While this display of dancing talent came, from the sound of things, during her performance of “You Belong With Me,” she appeared to be desperately trying to shake something off.
The clip quickly made it off of TikTok and onto wider social media, where it was less well-received outside the Swiftie bubble.
Best caption wins. pic.twitter.com/PI2ulNmZoS
— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) June 18, 2024
Oh, and there were captions:
White girls can’t twerk
— M2 (@Amer1can_Barbie) June 18, 2024
She wouldn’t make it past the first round in any talent show.
— MAZE (@mazemoore) June 18, 2024
She’ll be Madonna in 30 years. pic.twitter.com/j2mWGnuGBx
— Ralph L Santovenia (@Joker961) June 18, 2024
And, as TMZ noted, other social media users “compared the dance moves to small children demanding snacks or how a person dries off getting out of the shower … with countless other jokes at her expense … it’s brutal.”
Whether or not Swift cares is another matter entirely; as the BBC reported, the Swifties dancing at the Friday Edinburgh show were so enthusiastic they actually managed to register seismic activity miles away.
“It’s amazing that we’ve been able to measure the reaction of thousands of concert goers remotely through our data,” said Callum Harrison, a seismologist with the British Geological Society.
Let’s hope that as they set the Richter scale off, they also managed some less cringeworthy dance moves in the process. Maybe TayTay can get away with this sort of thing with her hardcore fans, but the rest of the world is beginning to think Swiftie-mania is wearing thin and Taylor herself is becoming increasingly ridiculous.
