Taylor Swift debuts ‘Tortured Poets’ section of her ‘Eras Tour’: ‘Female rage, the musical’

Taylor Swift performed her first show since the release of her 11th studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” May 9 in Paris, and audiences were met with a surprise: a revamped setlist.

Each concert in the record-breaking “Eras Tour,” which kicked off March 17, 2023, in Arizona, has typically run for three hours and 15 minutes. The standard setlist was made up of songs from each of Swift’s albums except her 2006 debut.

But at her first Paris show of the tour, Swift introduced a new “era” to represent her latest album.

The tour intro, featuring purple and pink waving pieces of fabric, notably features a medley of Swift singing the names of her albums, before kicking off her first song, “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince.”

On May 9, the concert opening featured a new black-and-white onscreen background, the addition of a choral “The Tortured Poets Department” and a new orange and red bodysuit, foreshadowing several notable costume changes to come.

During an edited “Red” era of the show, Swift teased that the crowd in Paris made her want to bring out “all kinds of fun surprises.”

Later in the show, Swift officially debuted her new era with a “Tortured Poets Department” section of her show. Influencer Chris Olsen live-streamed the Paris concert from TikTok, and when the “Tortured Poets” era began, more than 200,000 users watched along.

‘The Tortured Poets Department’ makes the ‘Eras Tour’ setlist
“The Tortured Poets Department” section began ominously, with echoes of her voice from “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys” and other songs.

Here are the songs Swift performed from her 11th album:

“But Daddy I Love Him”

Bridge of “So High School” (thought to be about boyfriend Travis Kelce)

“Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?”

“Down Bad”

“Fortnight”

“The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” (performed with a drum line)

“I Can Do It With a Broken Heart”