In the 1950s, an iconoclastic quantum scientist and mathematician named Hugh Everett developed the many-worlds theory, a controversial idea that would lay the groundwork for a canon of alternate universe sci-fi detailing parallel dimensions. Everett’s work focused on the splits in the universe caused by measuring quantum objects, but became fodder for the idea that alternate realities besides our own are forming continually.
I don’t know how many people in the audience at Wednesday night’s Amazon Music concert at New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom have nerded out on Everett’s theory, but a bastardized version played out as Taylor Swift brought her stadium show to a far more intimate gathering to promote the site’s Prime Day next week.
In one universe, Taylor Swift the consummate businesswoman has been publicly airing out her grievances over music manager Scooter Braun’s purchase of her former record label Big Machine and, subsequently, the master recordings for her first six albums. “This is my worst case scenario,” she wrote late last month on Tumblr. “All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at [Braun’s] hands for years.” It’s the closest the music industry has had to a hot war in a while, with pop stars taking sides in Braun v. Swift like it’s the last two minutes of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” video. In one sense, it’s very inside baseball, with “industry insiders,” shadowy cabals of kingmakers and the rest of the music industry all watching a typically backroom deal play out in a public setting. In another, it has led, softly, to a wider discussion about an author’s ownership (or lack thereof) of their own music that is only beginning to reverberate.
In Wednesday night’s alternate universe, though, royalty rates, deal points, masters ownership and the like did not exist, as Swift’s nine-song, 45-minute set eschewed the recent dirty laundry to focus on fan favorites that blended the intimate with the spectacle. (Almost. As Elle points out, Swift did “like” a Tumblr comment noting her enunciated yelling of “Liars and the dirty, dirty cheats of the world” in set closer “Shake It Off.”)
Heavy is the head that wears the gown. But Swift knew why her fans were there. While the night’s other performers Dua Lipa, SZA and Becky G all admirably welcomed the intimacy afforded the venue — a H-shaped stage that extended to the middle of the floor made a relatively small space look even smaller — Swift brought her massive stadium show to a diminished setting. Opener “ME!” featured pyrotechnics that augmented her four back-up singers. Steam machines exploded out on “I Knew You Were Trouble.” And “Shake It Off” featured inordinate amounts of confetti raining down on the shrieking crowd. (Swift gets bonus points, it should be noted, for using live music when the other three acts featured band members gamely pantomiming their instruments while pre-recorded music backed each singer. Not all musicians are good actors.)
It was hardly all pyro and fireworks, though. Swift utilized the rare small stage to perform “Welcome to New York” with only an acoustic guitar. It’s not unprecedented for her, but seeing it in a venue 1/10th the size of what she’s used to is the closest most of us will get to a Taylor Swift: Unpluggedconcert. (Amazon live-streamed the event and is replaying the show for a limited time on Prime Video.)
(Excerpt) Read more in: RollingStone
