{"id":2446228,"date":"2019-07-11T10:27:03","date_gmt":"2019-07-11T16:27:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=857786"},"modified":"2019-07-11T10:27:03","modified_gmt":"2019-07-11T16:27:03","slug":"taylor-swift-brings-spectacle-avoids-controversy-at-amazon-music-concert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/music-news\/taylor-swift-brings-spectacle-avoids-controversy-at-amazon-music-concert\/","title":{"rendered":"Taylor Swift Brings Spectacle, Avoids Controversy at Amazon Music Concert"},"content":{"rendered":"
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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\u2019s work focused on the splits in the universe caused by measuring quantum objects.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday night, a packed Hammerstein Ballroom turned out to see Taylor Swift<\/a>, Dua Lipa<\/a>, SZA and Becky G<\/a> for Amazon<\/a> Music\u2019s annual Prime Day Concert. I don\u2019t know how many people in the audience have nerded out on Everett\u2019s theory, but a bastardized version played out as Swift brought her stadium show to a far more intimate gathering.<\/p>\n

In one universe, Taylor Swift the consummate businesswoman has been publicly airing out her grievances over music manager Scooter Braun\u2019s purchase of her former record label Big Machine<\/a> and, subsequently, the master recordings for her first six albums. \u201cThis is my worst case scenario,\u201d she wrote late last month<\/a> on Tumblr. \u201cAll I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I\u2019ve received at [Braun\u2019s] hands for years.\u201d For the music industry, it\u2019s the closest we have to a hot war, with pop stars taking sides in Braun v. Swift like it\u2019s the last two minutes of Michael Jackson\u2019s \u201cBeat It\u201d video. In one sense, it\u2019s very inside baseball, with \u201cindustry insiders,\u201d shadowy cabals of kingmakers and the rest of the music industry all watching a typically backroom deal play out in a public setting.<\/p>\n

In Wednesday night\u2019s alternate universe, though, royalty rates, deal points, masters ownership and the like did not exist, as Swift\u2019s 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<\/em> points out<\/a>, Swift did \u201clike\u201d a Tumblr comment noting her enunciated yelling of \u201cLiars and the dirty, dirty cheats of the world\u201d in set closer \u201cShake It Off.\u201d)<\/p>\n

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? | Taylor yelling the lyrics \u201cliars and dirty, dirty cheats of the world\u201d during Shake It Off #PrimeDay<\/a> (vid via @dontblaimee<\/a>) pic.twitter.com\/6uhzmJwKX3<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Taylor Swift News (@TSwiftNZ) July 11, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Heavy is the head that wears the gown<\/a>. But Swift knew why her fans were there. While Dua Lipa, SZA and Becky G all admirably welcomed the intimacy afforded the venue \u2014 a H-shaped stage that extended to the middle of the floor made a relatively small space look even smaller \u2014 Swift brought her massive stadium show to a diminished setting. Opener \u201cME!\u201d featured pyrotechnics that augmented her four back-up singers. Smoke billowed out of machines on \u201cI Knew You Were Trouble\u201d and \u201cShake It Off\u201d 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.)<\/p>\n

It was hardly all smoke and pyro, though. Swift utilized the rare small stage to perform \u201cWelcome to New York\u201d with only an acoustic guitar. It\u2019s not unprecedented for her, but seeing it in a venue 1\/10th the size of what she\u2019s used to is the closest most of us will get to a Taylor Swift: Unplugged<\/em> concert. (Amazon live-streamed the event and is replaying the show<\/a> for a limited time on Prime Video.)<\/p>\n