The Language of Song

Eighteen thousand blinking lights illuminated a darkened Mercedes Benz Arena in Shanghai, China on November 14th. The stage was barely visible, but from the roar of the audience, it was clear everyone knew who was standing on stage. The first few notes of “Welcome to New York” blared out of the speakers, and the crowd’s reaction was deafening. This was the second time I was lucky enough to see Taylor Swift in concert in this venue, and I was surrounded by Chinese.

Taylor Swift’s Shanghai concert included the eye-capturing entertainment one would expect to see at one of her performances: Incredibly skilled background dancers and singers elevating the entertainment factor, fun video clips showing some of Swift’s good friends describing their relationship, and the best songs from the 1989 album. Her tracklist ranged from the more famous songs heard on the radio, such as “Style” or “Blank Space,” to some selections less familiar to mainstream listeners: “You Are In Love” or “I Know Places.” Swift also included the throwback songs “Love Story” and “We Are Never Getting Back Together.” In particular, the crowd (myself included) erupted to “Bad Blood.” This reaction may be due to the quality of the song and the now world-famous music video that held the record for most views in 24 hours at the time it was released.

Swift’s Shanghai concert probably resembles the concert many of you saw at Gillette; however, experiencing it in China was very different from experiencing it here in America. The first major difference was the lack of opening or supporting acts. While touring in America, it is far more manageable for Swift to invite other artists to accompany her and perform hit songs. With a world tour, however, Swift travels alone, which helps keep the time of the concert at a reasonable two and a half hours.

The most striking difference in attending a Taylor Swift concert in China is the audience may know Swift’s songs, but they do not know the English language. The majority of these Chinese followers simply memorize Swift’s songs. They have little to no knowledge of what the songs mean — unless they spend time translating the songs into Mandarin. Taylor made sure to thank her Chinese fans (in Mandarin, of course) for taking the time to memorize the songs and for making her the first international act to perform at the Mercedes Benz Arena three nights in a row.

Swift received the loudest applause as the concert drew to a close when she said, “I love you” (我爱你) and “thank you” (谢谢) in Chinese. The pure joy and elation demonstrated by the reaction from the Shanghai audience was clear evidence of the worldwide success of Taylor Swift and the true power of the language of song.