Taylor Swift is sharing some of the inspiration behind her 2020 album Folklore.
During her Eras Tour stop in Dublin on Saturday, June 29, Swift, 34, opened up about how she developed the fictional story of her fantasy-inspired pandemic-era album — and revealed that Ireland played a big part in the story’s setting.
“Folklore in general, it just belongs in Ireland,” she told the crowd after finishing her rendition of “Cardigan” during her second night at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium.
“How I imagined the album world looking [was like] Ireland. Storytelling with lots of different characters,” Swift continued, referring to the stories within the record. “You guys have that on lock, too. That’s very Irish, the storytelling.”
According to the “August” singer, Folklore was an opportunity for her to try out a “different” style of songwriting that she hadn’t explored before, which included more linear stories and characters who “fall in love and get their hearts broken.” Swift added that she got to serve as a narrator for once, rather than sharing her own personal feelings and experiences.
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“When I was making this album, it was two days into the pandemic that I started Folklore, I wasn’t in Ireland. So I had to create an album where the imaginary world that I pretended to go to every single day while I was writing it… I gotta be honest, kinda seemed like Ireland,” the Grammy winner told the crowd.
“So we’re back to where we belong!” Swift added, before getting ready to begin her track “Betty” — yet another character off of her story-driven album. “Folklore belongs with you guys.”
The singer’s first night in Dublin on Friday was also filled with Irish pride — during her performance of “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” her backup dancer Kameron Saunders, 31, spoke some Irish (a continuation of Swift’s tradition of giving each Eras Tour host country a shout-out in its native language). During one part of the song, the dancer screamed the Irish phrase “póg mo thóin” — which translates in English to “kiss my ass.”
Another part of last night’s show saw Swift donning a shimmery orange crop top and ombré green skirt in a nod to the colors of the Irish flag.
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When tickets for the “Cruel Summer” singer’s Irish shows first went on sale in July 2023, roughly 500,000 fans registered for the estimated 165,000 available tickets, according to The Irish Times.
Swift’s three shows in Dublin are her first since her two nights at Croke Park for the Reputation Stadium Tour — which marked her Irish stadium debut. At those concert dates in 2018, the superstar adoringly called the crowd “so loving” and “incredible” — and posted a bouquet of flowers she received from Irish band U2, who signed the attached note, “Your Irish fan club.”
But Swift has visited the country at least once in between her two massive tours. While in town in 2021 to support then-boyfriend Joe Alwyn as he wrapped filming on Conversations with Friends, the singer took photos with several servers at local restaurants in Belfast.
Fans have speculated that the trip is memorialized in Swift’s track “Sweet Nothing” off of 2022’s Midnights, which includes the lyric, “Does it ever miss Wicklow sometimes?” (Some of the filming for Conversations with Friends occurred in Bray, a town in County Wicklow, Ireland.)
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The pop star’s Irish tour dates come on the heels of a buzzy weekend in London last week. Swift snapped selfies with royals and invited her boyfriend and Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce onstage to join the ranks of her background dancers — not to mention she played host to a slew of celebrities who made a point to see her global smash concerts in the English capital city.
After her three nights in Dublin, Swift is set to bring the Eras Tour next to Amsterdam and then to several other cities in Europe. She will close out the European leg of the tour with five more shows in London in August.
