Taylor Swift fandom is the new religion – Wembley is holy ground

Legend has it you could feel it on the North Circular. In Bishop’s Stortford. It was even detectable at the KFC in Fleet services. A rumble, a vibration, a noise like no other, only made possible by thousands of cowboy boots simultaneously hitting the slatted metal of London Underground escalators.

The atmosphere was devotional, even hysterical. A two-minute countdown clock prefaced Swift’s appearance, and 89,000 people chanted the last 10 seconds as though it was New Year’s Eve. When she did appear, the stadium erupted with screams; people sobbed and hugged their friends as though they couldn’t quite believe she was real.

Even if we can’t relate to Swift’s experiences , her songs capture broad, general emotion that enables us to project our own. The resulting sense is that, like an omnipotent being, she knows us intimately. The outpouring of her own personal worries and heartbreaks in turn seems to absolve us of guilt or shame, as though she’s absorbed our sins. And her authenticity creates a feeling of uncynical faith: she has revealed so much to us already that she can do no wrong.

Among all these rituals and dynamics, there is also the music itself. Like religion, pop music wields a power to act as a leveller – whether you’re Prince William, Hugh Grant or an overexcited eight-year-old, a punchy refrain or a three-chord sequence can stir us to the depths of our souls. That “Cruel Summer” bridge is relatable and catchy and chantable, but it’s the harmonic lift in the final line – “I don’t wanna keep secrets just to keep you” – that gets you in the guts.

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