Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour kicked off in March of 2023 in North America, and since then, Swifities haven’t had a day of peace.
We’ve stayed up late to watch grainy live streams, and spent our lunch breaks at work frantically searching TikTok to find out of Blondie has done anything crazy at today’s show (See: August 9 in California when she announced 1989 TV.)
So it’s safe to say, it’s been a hectic 11 months for those who are fans of the international pop sensation.
But the waters won’t be calming down anytime soon.
READ MORE: ‘I’ve been to eight Eras shows so far – here’s what it’s like’
After performing the Tokyo leg of her concert, Taylor Swift quickly jetted to Vegas to catch her beau Travis Kelce play in the Super Bowl, and now – she’s come to us.
Swift officially landed at Tullamarine airport in the early hours of the morning on Thursday, February 15, and while her schedule has been jam packed, our calendars have been full of friendship bracelet making, outfit shopping, and very impatiently waiting to scream the Illicit Affairs bridge with our besties.
And while the few hours (or next seven days, if you’re attending a Sydney show), are full of excitement and anticipation there’s one though that anxiously looms over every Swiftie’s head – what surprise songs are we going to get.
What are Taylor Swift’s surprise songs?
Now, if you’re not familiar with the concept of a surprise song, that’s okay, let me explain.
Basically, Swift’s concert is broken up into 10 sections, nine are dedicated to her currently released albums (all except her debut album, Taylor Swift), and the other is dedicating to causing a wave of simultaneous panic and excitement to rush over every person inside the stadium.
This section, is known as the surprise songs.
After Swift performs her first eight sections of the show, she comes to the end of the catwalk on the stage, where she performs two acoustic songs – but only she knows what they are going to be.
These songs can be anything from her entire discography, which is large, to say the least.
Swift only ever plays a surprise song once, and obviously any of the 45 songs on her setlist are automatically disqualified from selection.
Now, in terms of only playing each song once, there are two exceptions to that rule:
If she messes a song up, she can play it againIf it’s from the album Midnights, she can play it as many times as she wants
And the singer is also known to create her own rules as she goes, bringing out one of her opening acts in Cincinnati, Gracie Abrams, to perform Abrams’ song I Miss You, I’m Sorry together.
READ MORE: Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour: Everything to know before you go.
When it comes to the two surprise songs, one is always performed acoustically on guitar, and one is always performed acoustically on the piano – because Taylor Swift is an incredibly talented human who can play both instruments perfectly, but that’s a conversation for another time.
Another thing to note, is that when Swift re-releases an album, the vault tracks on that album become fair game as surprise songs.
Toward the end of 2023, things were looking grim for us Aussies.
Swift had been touring North and South America, performing two new surprise songs at every show.
And since Japan was still before us, our selection of what we might get to see live was getting quite small (enter nightmares of getting Christmas Tree Farm as a surprise song.)
But Taylor Allison Swift, the woman that she is, decided to save us from that fate, announcing that for her 2024 Eras Tour dates, all surprise songs were “fair game.”
While performing her last show for 2023 in São Paulo, Brazil, Swift said, “I decided that in 2024, when we go back on tour, I’m just gonna open back up all the songs for surprise songs.”
A huge sigh of relief for us Aussies.
”I feel like, for one year, we’ve really gotten through a lot of songs, so I’m just gonna make all the songs fair game when we go back on tour,” she continued. “There’s some songs that I still really, really wanna play, so I’m gonna try and get through all of them.”
If you’re an Aussie Swiftie, you felt one of two things upon hearing that announcement – an overwhelming sense of relief, or an overwhelming sense of anxiety.
For some, the reopening of surprise songs was exciting, we now had hundreds of songs we may potentially see live.
For others, like myself, who like the maximum amount of control in all situations, we were terrified – we now had hundreds of songs we may potentially see live.
Whichever way your emotional compass went, it is what is is, us Aussies need to be prepared for anything in the surprise song section.
However, we will have some songs ruled out, since Swift is currently completing her Tokyo leg of the tour.
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What songs are included on Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour setlist
Miss Americana & the Heartbreak PrinceCruel SummerThe ManYou Need to Calm DownLoverThe ArcherFearlessYou Belong With MeLove Story‘Tis the Damn SeasonWillowMarjorieChampagne ProblemsTolerate ItReady For It?DelicateDon’t Blame MeLook What You Made Me DoEnchanted22We Are Never Ever Getting Back TogetherI Knew You Were TroubleAll Too Well (10-Minute Version)The 1BettyThe Last Great American DynastyAugustIllicit AffairsMy Tears RicochetCardiganStyleBlank SpaceShake it OffWildest DreamsBad BloodSurprise SongSurprise SongLavender HazeAnti-HeroMidnight RainVigilante ShitBejeweledMastermindKarma
What Surprise Songs Has Taylor Swift Already Performed?
At the moment, the following surprise songs are off the cards for her seven Australian shows:
Tokyo Night 3, February 7
Guitar: Dear Reader (Midnights)Piano: Holy Ground (Red)
Tokyo Night 2, February 8
Guitar: Eyes Open (The Hunger Games Soundtrack)Piano: Electric Touch (Speak Now)
Tokyo Night 3, February 9
Guitar: Superman (Speak Now)Piano: The Outside (Debut)
Tokyo Night 4, February 10
Guitar: Come In With The Rain (Fearless)Piano: You’re On Your Own Kid (Midnights)
Now remember the rules, if it’s on Midnights, she can perform it again, meaning Dear Reader and You’re On Your Own Kid are still on the cards for her Aussie shows.
READ MORE: Meet the Taylor Swift superfans who nabbed stadium jobs to see the Eras Tour for free.
However, the chances of her playing either of them a second time so soon are low, not impossible, but low.
So, if you have a particular song you want to see live, pray to Taylor Swift (or whatever higher power above it is that you believe in) that she performs it as a surprise song at your Eras Tour show.
Just don’t pray for The Way I Loved You (unless you’re going on Monday in Sydney), that ones mine.