Taylor Swift Finally Played “Crazier” as a Surprise Song
Taylor Swift has once again delighted her fans with an unexpected performance. During her June 8 concert in Edinburgh, Scotland, she surprised everyone by playing “Crazier” from the soundtrack of The Hannah Montana Movie. This song, which recently marked its 15th anniversary, was performed on the piano and mashed up with “All of the Girls You Loved Before.” The performance was a nostalgic treat for many Swifties who weren’t even sure if Swift remembered the song.
Swift’s Eras Tour has been a rollercoaster of emotions for her fans. With a 44-song set list, there was always a risk that some fan favorites wouldn’t make the cut. To address this, Swift introduced the concept of ‘surprise songs,’ performing two different tracks each night. This idea isn’t new to Swift’s concerts; she has been doing surprise songs since her Red Tour, where she replaced “I Almost Do” with older songs. During her Speak Now Tour, she even performed surprise covers like Train’s “Drops of Jupiter.”
With multiple albums released since her last tour, including Lover, Folklore, Reputation, and Midnights, it made perfect sense to bring back the surprise songs. Not to mention the re-recorded Vault tracks and the announcement of her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department. Fans attending the first Glendale concert were briefed on the rules of the surprise songs for the Eras Tour. Swift mentioned that she intended to play each secret song only once, unless she made an error or it was from Midnights. This led to speculation among fans that Swift might intentionally start a song in the wrong key or mispronounce a lyric to have an excuse to play it again.
However, during her final night of the Latin American leg in São Paulo, Swift announced a refreshing change. She revealed that she would reset the list of songs she had played, making all of them available for surprise performances again. “In 2024, when we go back out on tour, I’m just going to open back up all of the songs for surprise songs,” she said. This announcement was met with enthusiasm from fans who had yet to see the tour, as they feared they might miss out on hearing their favorite songs if they had already been played.
Swift further elaborated on this decision while in Melbourne. “I want to be as creative as possible with the acoustic set moving forward and I don’t want to limit anything or say, ‘Oh, if I played this song, I can’t play it again,’” she explained. “So, from now on, I don’t want to take any paint colors out of the paintbox [or] tools out of the toolbox. I want to be able to play songs more than once if I feel like it and I want to be able to make changes to songs. Does that sound OK?” she asked her audience of 96,000 Australians.
Swift’s decision to perform a series of mash-ups has started a new trend that many Swifties hope will continue. The list of surprise songs she has already performed on the Eras Tour is extensive, including tracks like “mirrorball,” “Tim McGraw,” “this is me trying,” and “State of Grace.” Each performance has been a unique experience, with Swift sometimes bringing special guests on stage, like Marcus Mumford for “cowboy like me” and Aaron Dessner for “The Great War.”
The Eras Tour has seen Swift perform a total of 127 songs so far, with 101 songs during her 52 US tour dates and 26 songs during her Latin American leg. The albums she has favored the most include Red, Speak Now, 1989, Fearless, and her Debut album. With the announcement that she will refresh the slate of her surprise songs for 2024, fans worldwide are eagerly anticipating which songs will make a comeback.
Swift has also made a few mistakes across the surprise songs on her Eras Tour, which means she had to play them again according to her original rule. Songs like “Death By A Thousand Cuts,” “Gorgeous,” “Out Of The Woods,” and “Last Kiss” are among those that she has ‘messed up’ and will likely be played again. With her discography now even bigger, thanks to the addition of six vault tracks in Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and five more Vault tracks from 1989 (Taylor’s Version), the possibilities are endless.
For international fans, the news that Swift will be refreshing her surprise songs for 2024 is a dream come true. This means that even if their favorite song has already been played, it is now up for grabs again. With just a few international dates before she gets to Melbourne and Sydney, fans are eagerly counting down the days.
In conclusion, Taylor Swift’s decision to perform “Crazier” as a surprise song has added another layer of excitement to her already thrilling Eras Tour. With her ever-evolving set list and the promise of more surprise songs to come, Swift continues to keep her fans on their toes, eagerly anticipating what she will do next.
