Ever since the reputation album came out, I was on eagle eye on Taylor Swift's activities. I was always on Reddit keeping track of all the album promotions and upcoming stadium tour affairs. When the tour began, I was always on top of things - I'm updated with what the surprise song was for that night, who the guest was, if it rained on that show, etc. I also especially enjoyed looking at those badass costumes that the fans wore, which of them got rep room pass, their photos with Taylor, and their anecdotes on their conversations with Taylor. I was there on the birth of the '1,2,3, let's go bitch' fanchant and the fad of clanking the triangle during Gorgeous.  I was really obsessed. Thanks to all the fans that uploaded their fan vids and photos on Reddit, it felt like I was also on tour with them.

These are the reasons why learning that the rep tour will be shown on Netflix drove me wild. I happily anticipated it. It was like I did shooting for a movie for months and finally it's premiere night and I will be seeing the final product for the first time. And what greater timing it is to release the tour video than on new year's eve? It's like Taylor is telling her fans to jam and party to her songs in full blasting volume on huge TV screens while doing the countdown for the new year. 🎉

On New Year's Eve
And that's exactly what I did actually. On the evening of December 31, I grabbed my homemade graham cheesecake and went to my room (yes I am an antisocial 😐) and booted Netflix on full volume. With the lights out and while I was munching my cheesecake, I watched the rep tour show. It was everything that I imagined, even more. I super loved how the camera moved, as if it was tracking Taylor. I could see the choreography of the dancers and the smiles of the backup singers. It's in these footages that I was able to absorb how massive the production of this tour is. The gigantic screens on the stage was just jaw dropping. The effects (those lightnings during I Did Something Bad!) were so cool. It's a wide venue, but at the same time it felt intimate. Only Taylor Swift can have this effect I guess.

It's About the Fans Too
Another thing that I really liked about the tour video is that it was not all about Taylor, it's also about the audience. Throughout the show, clips of the audience, doing all the fantastic stuff, were included. There were fans crying, screaming the lyrics as hard as they can, dancing, and just having the greatest time of their lives. With just a few-second clips of them, you could just make out the story of why they were there. There were friends, couples, mother-daughter, and father-daughter tandem footages, all of them just enjoying the show. Of course social media blew up as the fans went crazy seeing themselves on the rep tour video, and the happiness is just so contagious.

Taylor's Low Register Voice
I know Taylor's voice has changed through the years, but it didn't become so evident to me until now. Just hearing the tour's version of You Belong With Me, the key change is very very noticeable. But I must say her voice is so much stable here. It's a two-hour show, and with all those dancing, it was not even evident that she had a cold that night. We love our queen!

Karyn's Netflix Debut
Who's Karyn, do you ask? Well there you go, the difference between fans and non-fans. 😉 Karyn is the name of that huge inflatable snake that goes up during Look What You Made Me Do. How did fans confirm that indeed this is the snake's name? Well Taylor told this information herself to a fan in one of the rep room sessions. And everything was history. Now, snakes have become Taylor's icon as all of her rep merch are marked with it. I will always be amazed how brilliant Taylor is because she converted all the bullying she received online (after that infamous leaked call posted by Kim Kardashian) to huge profit. 🐍 During LWYMMD, the stage displayed huge snakes on screen striking headfirst to the dancers from the side. I think one detail that the tour video wasn't able to capture was the swirling snake effect that the wrist bands formed during each of the song's chorus (I saw this in one fan's IG video). It could have been so cool. It just shows how detail-oriented Taylor's stadium production is.



This tour wasn't able to come to Manila so it's really a joy that the rep tour video was released on Netflix, something that was accessible to me. It's also a game changer because now, even non-fans bingewatchers would casually stumble upon the tour video on their Netflix menu, opening the possibility of gaining new fans in the process. I'm not a regular "Netflix watcher" (I only subscribe when a new season of my favorite show comes up, in past cases that's Black Mirror), but when I'll do from now on, I know exactly which show to put on first.