Great news, European and Asian Swifties! You might get a chance to hear any of the songs Taylor Swift has already performed in the “surprise song” segment of her tour again.
The singer announced she would be resetting the count in the new year as she wrapped up the Eras Tour for 2023 with her last show in Brazil. “When we go back out on tour, I’m just going to open back up all the songs for surprise songs,” she told the crowd in São Paulo on Sunday, and around the world fans of the dozens of songs they thought they had lost cheered and celebrated.
For Swifties, their favorite Taylor Swift song is something that can be incredibly personal, so the prospect of not having theirs as a possible “surprise song” at their show, because it’s been performed so many times on tour already, can be devastating. For me, it was “You’re on your own, kid,” which Taylor had performed three times already, so the announcement definitely put a smile on my face.
What does Taylor Swift’s “surprise song” announcement mean for the remainder of the Eras Tour?
To put it into perspective, Taylor has performed a total of 124 unique surprise songs across 66 tour dates. That leaves 34 songs she has not played from her 10 studio albums, without including any music that falls outside of that, such as soundtracks like “Carolina” or, God forbid, her songs from the movie Cats (not you, “Beautiful Ghosts,” we love you).
While the “Anti-Hero” singer’s announcement means all songs are fair game again, it makes sense that she will go back to these 34 survivors. Some of the most highly anticipated songs from this list include Reptutation‘s “I Did Something Bad,” which people suspect Taylor is saving for when she announces the release of that album’s “Taylor’s Version.”
Fearless (Taylor’s Version) remains the album with the most songs left to be featured on the Eras Tour (eight), among which “The Way I Loved You” is the most beloved. After these two bangers, “Peace” from Folklore and “Dear Reader” from Midnights are the most requested.
London Swifties can probably expect “London Boy” to be performed at one of the whopping eight shows Taylor is set to put on in the British capital. Meanwhile, fans of the singer attending one of her four Paris dates are most likely hearing “Paris” live, too.
There’s also the very real possibility that Reputation (Taylor’s Version) and even Taylor Swift (Taylor’s Version) will come out while Taylor tours the world in 2024, instantly making any “Vault” tracks from either of those albums fair game as well.
“Castles Crumbling” featuring Hayley Williams might join the setlist for all of the shows with Paramore as the supporting act, much like “No Body No Crime” or “Nothing New” did when Haim and Phoebe Bridgers were opening the tour. This will not count as a surprise song, however.
The Eras Tour will come back in full force Feb. 7 in Tokyo, Japan, and will then move on to Australia, Singapore, Europe, and then back to North America at the end of the year. One of this tour’s most exciting parts has been the expectation of finding out which devastating duo of songs Taylor carefully picked each night, and now that she has a pool of almost 200 songs to choose from again, it’s back to chaos and heartbreak. But she better save “You’re on your own, kid” for me. Just saying.