Before Taylor Swift had lived enough eras to mount an ERAS tour, she was a baby-faced 19-year-old in Thredbo, electrifying audiences at the CMC Rocks the Snowys festival. She had already released two with-a-bullet albums – Taylor Swift and Fearless – and was riding high, telling an interviewer (who calls her ‘mate’) how she mined her emotions to write Fearless.

She had not yet moved beyond her country-music roots or reached the kind of fame that gives her engagement to Travis Kelce in 2025 the air of a royal wedding. But the elements were there: glitter, winged eyeliner, heartfelt romance and an intense connection with her fans. She stretches out her arms to embrace, beckon and single out faces. She leans in with a lover’s gaze as the crowd sings every word back to her. In those moments, her future is already visible.