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Unimaginable scenes as Baltimore bridge collapses

The tranquil waters of Baltimore's Patapsco River turned tumultuous in the early hours of Tuesday following a catastrophic event that shook the city to its core. The aftermath of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse has left a community reeling, with one confirmed fatality and six individuals still missing as rescue efforts persist amid harrowing conditions. The calamity unfolded when a mammoth container ship lost power, careening into the Francis Scott Key Bridge on the US East Coast. The impact tore through the bridge's supports, sending vehicles and people plummeting into the frigid river below. In the chaos that ensued, heroes emerged as authorities swiftly responded, managing to halt traffic on the bridge, averting further catastrophe. However, the toll was already significant, with one individual confirmed dead and six others, believed to be part of a construction crew, still unaccounted for. As the day wore on, Baltimore City Fire Department Chief James Wallace provided updates on the situation, indicating that one survivor had been rescued and rushed to a local trauma centre in critical condition. Meanwhile, the US Coast Guard initiated a relentless search for the missing individuals, leveraging sonar technology to scour the depths of the river. The vessel responsible for the devastation, known as the Dali, was under the management of Synergy Marine Group, navigating under the Singapore flag. Although the crew and pilots were reported safe, the repercussions of the collision have reverberated far beyond the immediate vicinity. US President Joe Biden has pledged federal support for the reconstruction efforts: "This is going to take some time," he said. "The people of Baltimore can count on us, though, to stick with them at every step of the way until the port is reopened and the bridge is rebuilt." The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge not only claimed lives but also severed a vital link in the region's infrastructure. The Port of Baltimore, a bustling gateway for maritime commerce, now faces significant disruption, with vessel traffic suspended indefinitely. The reverberations of this tragedy extend beyond Baltimore, with logistical challenges expected to ripple along the entire East Coast. As the day progressed, stories of resilience and compassion emerged. Retired Chief Donald Heinbuch, startled from his sleep by the rumbling impact, bore witness to the unimaginable destruction. "Never would you think that you would see physically see the Key Bridge tumble down like that - it looked like something out of an action movie," he said. "And you just think about, most importantly, which is what we all should be thinking about right now, nothing but those families and people that are impacted and those people who are risking their lives right now, for not just Baltimore City and Baltimore County but all over the state, to try to save lives. That should be our focus - the preservation of life. Because no one wants to see that happen, let alone someone in their family someone that they know, be injured in an incident like this." Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott echoed the sentiments of a community in shock, emphasising the paramount importance of preserving life above all else. Images: Streamlive | 9News

Caring

Papa Swift vs Paparazzi: Taylor Swift's dad accused of assault

In the midst of celebrations marking the conclusion of Taylor Swift's Eras tour in Sydney, an unexpected and troubling incident has emerged involving her father – Scott Swift. The 71-year-old has been accused of assaulting an Australian photographer, Ben McDonald, in the early hours of Tuesday morning at a Sydney wharf in Neutral Bay. According to reports confirmed by NSW Police, the alleged altercation occurred around 2:30am, following Taylor Swift's final performance in the city. It's said that Taylor and her father had been enjoying post-show festivities when the incident took place, tarnishing what should have been a joyous occasion. McDonald, who serves as the chief executive of Matrix Media Group, recounted the events to <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-13128721/Taylor-Swift-father-Scott-assault-photographer-Sydney-wharf.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daily Mail Australia</a>, shedding light on the confrontation. He stated that Taylor and Scott arrived at the wharf after travelling from Homebush on a luxury superyacht named Quantum. McDonald claims that after they disembarked, Scott allegedly 'charged' at him. McDonald originally thought that it was a security guard, and was surprised when he realised it was Taylor's dad. "In 23 years of taking pictures, I have never seen anything like it," he told the Daily Mail. "He probably decided he needed to defend his daughter, for some reason... She got off the boat, she walked towards security guards who were shoving umbrellas in our faces, and then he charged." Footage capturing the moments leading up to and following the alleged assault has surfaced, providing some insight into the incident. <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-13128721/Taylor-Swift-father-Scott-assault-photographer-Sydney-wharf.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The video</a> shows Taylor and her father walking up from the wharf, shielded by large umbrellas held by security guards. Amid the commotion, McDonald attempted to capture the scene, and was obstructed by the guards protecting Taylor and her companions, including Mr Swift. In the aftermath, McDonald reported the incident to authorities. He did not sustain serious injuries, though he described experiencing discomfort and soreness on the left side of his face. Images: YouTube

Legal

Should Taylor Swift be taught alongside Shakespeare? A professor of literature says yes

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/liam-e-semler-1507004">Liam E Semler</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a> Does Taylor Swift’s music belong in the English classroom? No, obviously. We should teach the classics, like <a href="https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/shakespeares-sonnets/">Shakespeare’s Sonnets</a>. After all, they have stood the test of time. It’s 2024 and he was born in 1564, and she’s only 34. What’s more, she is a pop singer, not a poet. Sliding her into the classroom would be yet another example of a dumbed-down curriculum. It’s ridiculous. It makes everyone look bad. I’ve heard all that. And plenty more like it. But none of it is right. Well, the dates might be, but not the assumptions – about Shakespeare, about English, about teaching, and about Swift. Swift is, by the way, a poet. She sees herself this way and her songs bear her out. In Sweet Nothing, on the <a href="https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/taylor-swift-midnights/">Midnights</a> album, she sings: <blockquote> On the way home I wrote a poem You say “What a mind” This happens all the time. </blockquote> I’m sure it does. Swift is relentlessly productive as a songwriter. With Midnights, she picked up <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/04/entertainment/taylor-swift-album-of-the-year-grammys/index.html">her fourth Grammy for Album of the Year</a>. And here we are, on the brink of another studio album, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tortured_Poets_Department">The Tortured Poets Department</a>, somehow written and produced amid the gargantuan success of Midnights and the Eras World Tour. <h2>An ally of literature</h2> Regardless of what The Tortured Poets Department ends up being about, Swift is already a firm ally of literature and reading. She is <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/taylor-swift-donates-6000-books-to-library/">a donor of thousands of books</a> to public libraries in the United States, an advocate to schoolchildren of the importance of reading and songwriting, and a lover of the process of crafting lyrics. In a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnbCSboujF4">2016 Vogue interview</a>, Swift declared with glee that, if she were a teacher, she would teach English. The literary references in her songs are endlessly noted. “I love Shakespeare as much as the next girl,” she wrote in a <a href="https://www.elle.com/uk/life-and-culture/a26546099/taylor-swift-pop-music/">2019 article for Elle</a>. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mdgKhdcQrNw?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> Her interview Read Every Day gives a good sense of this. Swift speaks about her writing process in ways that make it accessible. She explains how songs come to her anywhere and everywhere, like an idea randomly appearing “on a cloud” that becomes the first piece in a “puzzle” that will be assembled into a song. She furtively whisper-sings song ideas into her phone when out with friends. In her <a href="https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/news/read-taylor-swifts-full-nsai-songwriter-artist-of-the-decade-award-speech">acceptance speech for the Nashville Songwriter-Artist of the Decade Award</a> in 2022, Swift explained how she writes in three broad styles, imagining she is holding either a “quill”, a “fountain pen”, or a “glitter gel pen”. Songcraft is a joyous challenge for her. If, as teachers of literature, we are too proud to credit Swift’s plainly expressed love of English (regardless of whether we like her songs or not), we are likely missing something. To bluntly rule her out of the English classroom feels more absurd than allowing her in. Clio Doyle, a lecturer in early modern literature, has <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-taylor-swift-belongs-on-english-literature-degree-courses-219660">summarised</a> Swift’s suitability for English in a recent article which concludes: <blockquote> The important thing isn’t whether or not Swift might be the new Shakespeare. It’s that the discipline of English literature is flexible, capacious and open-minded. A class on reading Swift’s work as literature is just another English class, because every English class requires grappling with the idea of reading anything as literature. Even Shakespeare. </blockquote> Doyle reminds us Swift’s work has been taught at universities for a while now and, inevitably, the singer’s name keeps cropping up in relation to Shakespeare. This isn’t just a case of fandom gone wild or Shakespeare professors, like <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/culture/music/why-taylor-swift-is-a-literary-giant-by-a-shakespeare-professor-20230518-p5d9cn.html">Jonathan Bate</a>, gone rogue. The global interest in the world-first academic <a href="https://swiftposium2024.com/">Swiftposium</a> is a good measure of how things are trending. Moreover, it is wrong to think Swift’s songs are included in units of study purely to be adored. Her wide appeal is part of her appeal to educators, but that doesn’t mean her art is uncritically included. The reverse is true. Claire Hansen <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/pop-star-philosopher-poet-taylor-swift-is-shaking-up-how-we-think-20240207-p5f342.html">taught Swift in one of her literature units at the Australian National University</a> last year precisely because this influential singer-songwriter prompts students to explore the boundaries of the canon. I will be teaching Midnights and Shakespeare’s Sonnets together in a literature unit at the University of Sydney this semester. Why? Not because I think Swift is as good as Shakespeare, or because I think she is not as good as Shakespeare. These statements are fine as personal opinions, but unhelpful as blanket declarations without context. The nature of English as a discipline is far more complex, interesting and valuable than a labelling and ranking exercise. <h2>Teaching Midnights and Shakespeare’s Sonnets</h2> I teach Shakespeare’s sonnets as exquisite poems, reflective of their time and culture. I also teach three modern artworks that shed contemporary light on the sonnets. The first is Jen Bervin’s 2004 book <a href="https://www.jenbervin.com/projects/nets">Nets</a>. Bervin prints a selection of the sonnets, one per page, in grey text. In each of these grey sonnets, some of Shakespeare’s words and phrases are printed in black and thus stand out boldly. The result is a <a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/palimpsest">palimpsest</a>. The Shakespearean sonnet appears lying, like fertile soil, beneath the briefer poem that emerges from it. Bervin describes this technique as a stripping down of the sonnets to “nets” in order “to make the space of the poems open, porous, possible – a divergent elsewhere”. The creative relationship between the Shakespearean base and Bervin’s proverb-like poems proves that, as Bervin says, “when we write poems, the history of poetry is with us”. The second text is Luke Kennard’s prizewinning 2021 collection <a href="https://www.pennedinthemargins.co.uk/index.php/2021/04/notes-on-the-sonnets/">Notes on the Sonnets</a>. Kennard recasts the sonnets as a series of entertaining prose poems. Each poem responds to a specific Shakespearean sonnet, recasting it as the freewheeling thought bubble of a fictional attendee at an unappealing house party. In an interview with C.D. Rose, Kennard <a href="https://thequietus.com/articles/30078-luke-kennard-interview-the-answer-to-everything-notes-on-the-sonnets">explains</a> how his house party design puts the reader <blockquote> in between a public and private space, you’re at home and you’re out, you’re free, you’re enclosed. And that’s similar in the sonnets. </blockquote> The third text is Swift’s Midnights. Unlike Bervin’s and Kennard’s collections, in which individual pieces relate to specific sonnets, there is no explicit adaptation. Instead, Midnights raises broader themes. <h2>Deep connection</h2> In her Elle article, Swift describes songwriting as akin to photography. She strives to capture moments of lived experience: <blockquote> The fun challenge of writing a pop song is squeezing those evocative details into the catchiest melody you can possibly think of. I thrive on the challenge of sprinkling personal mementos and shreds of reality into a genre of music that is universally known for being, well, universal. </blockquote> Her point is that the pop songs that “cut through the most are actually the most detailed” in their snippets of reality and biography. She says “people are reaching out for connection and comfort” and “music lovers want some biographical glimpse into the world of our narrator, a hole in the emotional walls people put up around themselves to survive”. Midnights exemplifies this. It is a concept album built on the idea that midnight is a time for pursuit of and confrontation with the self – or better, the selves. Swift says the songs form “the full picture of the intensities of that mystifying, mad hour”. The album, she says, is “a journey through terrors and sweet dreams” for those “who have tossed and turned and decided to keep the lanterns lit and go searching – hoping that just maybe, when the clock strikes twelve […] we’ll meet ourselves”. Swift claims that Midnights lets listeners in through her protective walls to enable deep connection: <blockquote> I really don’t think I’ve delved this far into my insecurities in this detail before. I struggle with the idea that my life has become unmanageably sized and […] I just struggle with the idea of not feeling like a person. </blockquote> Midnights is not a sonnet collection, but it has fascinating parallels. There is no firm narrative through-line. Nor is there a through-line in early modern sonnet collections such as Shakespeare’s. Instead, both gather songs and poems that let us see aspects of the singing or speaking persona’s thoughts, emotions and experiences. Shakespeare’s speaker is also troubled through the night in sonnets 27, 43 and 61. The sonnets come in thematic clusters, pairs and mini-sequences. It can be interesting to ask students if they can see something similar in the order of songs on the Midnights album – or the “3am” edition with its seven extra tracks, or the “Til Dawn” edition with another three songs. Paul Edmondson and Stanley Wells, in their edition of <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/all-the-sonnets-of-shakespeare/AE1912C43BE4F50391B25B83C0C03B1F">All the Sonnets of Shakespeare</a>, say Shakespeare’s collection is “the most idiosyncratic gathering of sonnets in the period” because he “uses the sonnet form to work out his intimate thoughts and feelings”. This connects very well with the agenda of Midnights. Both collections are piecemeal psychic landscapes. The singing or speaking voice sometimes feels autobiographical – compare, for example, sonnets 23, 129, 135-6 and 145 to Swift’s songs Anti-hero, You’re On Your Own, Kid, Sweet Nothing, and Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve. At other times the voices feel less autobiographical. Often there is no way to distinguish one from the other. Swift’s songs and Shakespeare’s Sonnets are meditations on deeply personal aspects of their narrators’ experiences. They present us with encounters, memories, relationships, values and claims. Swift’s persona is that of a self-reflective singer, just as Shakespeare’s is that of a self-reflective sonneteer. Both focus on love in all its shades. Both present themselves as vulnerable to industry rivals and pressures. Both dwell on issues of power. <h2>Close reading</h2> Shakespeare’s sonnets are rewarding texts for close reading because of their poetic intricacy. Students can look at end rhymes and internal rhymes, the way the argument progresses through <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/quatrain">quatrains</a>, the positioning of the “turn”, which is often in line 9 or 13, and the way the final couplet wraps things up (or doesn’t). The songs on Midnights are also rewarding because Swift has a great vocabulary, a love of metaphor, terrific turns of phrase, and a strong sense of symmetry and balance in wording. More complex songs like Maroon and Question…? are great for detailed analysis. Karma and Mastermind are simpler, yet contain plenty of metaphoric language to be unpacked for meaning and aesthetic effectiveness. Shakespeare’s controlled use of metaphor in Sonnet 73 makes for a telling contrast. The Great War, Glitch and Snow on the Beach are good for exploring how well a single extended metaphor can function to carry the meaning of a song. Sonnets 8, 18, 143 and 147 can be explored in similar terms. Just as students can analyse the “turn” or concluding couplet in a Shakespearean sonnet to see how it reshapes the poem, they can do the same with songs on Midnights. Swift is known for writing effective bridges that contribute fresh, important content towards the end of a song: Sweet Nothing, Mastermind and Dear Reader are excellent examples. Such unexpected pairings are valuable because they require close attention and careful articulation of what is similar and what is not. Shakespeare’s Sonnet 129, for example (the famous one on lust), and Swift’s Bigger than the Whole Sky (a powerful expression of loss) make for a gripping comparison of how intense feeling can be expressed poetically. Or consider Sonnet 29 (“When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes”) and Sweet Nothing: both celebrate intimacy as a defence against the pressures of the public world. How about High Infidelity and Sonnet 138 (where love and self-deception coexist), considered in terms of truth in relationships? There is nothing to lose and plenty to gain in teaching Swift’s Midnights and Shakespeare’s Sonnets together. There’s no dumbing-down involved. And there’s no need for reductive assertions about who is “better”.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223312/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/liam-e-semler-1507004">Liam E Semler</a>, Professor of Early Modern Literature, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-taylor-swift-be-taught-alongside-shakespeare-a-professor-of-literature-says-yes-223312">original article</a>.

Music

Shocking reason why woman was dumped as her best friend’s bridesmaid

A friendship has broken down live on radio, after a woman was dumped from being a bridesmaid after trying to attend a Taylor Swift concert the same night as her best friend’s wedding. Liv was one of thousands of Aussies who secured tickets to see Taylor Swift when her Eras Tour heads Down Under in February. Unfortunately for the young woman, the only night she could get tickets for was the same night as her best friend Jess’ wedding, where she was set to be a bridesmaid. Knowing about the concert while the wedding planning was taking place, Liv said she was nervous to tell Jess about the show, and decided to keep it secret while they were shopping for wedding outfits. Calling into the Fifi, Fev & Nick radio show, Liv wanted advice on how to tell her friend that she planned to attend Jess’ wedding ceremony, and then leave the reception to attend the concert. The radio hosts decided to let the two women hash it out live on air, with Liv saying to her friend at the start of the phone call, “Obviously the whole Taylor thing, we've been talking about it and you've been saying how annoying it is that people have been backing out.” <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2cLqsqvcIw/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2cLqsqvcIw/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Fifi, Fev & Nick (@fififevnick)</a> </div> </blockquote> “But I haven't told you I got tickets for the Saturday and this was done before Christmas. However, I was thinking of trying to compromise here and make it work.” Liv shared her plan to “scoot off” in the middle of the big day, to which Jess was convinced she was being “pranked”. “I feel really bad, I do but I have loved Taylor for so long, you are aware of this and you knew how hard it was to get tickets,” Liv replied. But Jess flew off the handle at her friend, slamming her for withholding the news and poking holes in her compromise. “You've known this before December and it's three weeks until my wedding and you're telling me now?” she said. “You want to miss a part of my wedding to go to a Taylor Swift concert? You know how much this has been annoying me that people have been dropping out to go to her and you've known all along that you're going to go to her concert.” Liv said she feels like a “bad friend” before breaking down in tears, although Jess wasn’t having it. “I don't even understand though you've gone and bought tickets on my wedding date. I'm not trying to be mean right now, I think I'm just angry before I'm even upset because I'm so stressed, it's three weeks out,” she said. Host Fifi Box suggested Liv skip the concert, but she was hesitant calling the show a “once in a lifetime” opportunity. The pair eventually hung up, with Jess ringing into the radio show in the weeks after to share an update. <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C29c8ERPrdT/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C29c8ERPrdT/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Fifi, Fev & Nick (@fififevnick)</a> </div> </blockquote> “I was caught off guard, pretty mortified that she chose to do it live on air, and also pretty angry,” Jess told the Melbourne radio show hosts. “Liv and I did speak after the show, and I told her she’s shown her true colours and if she wants to go to the concert, she can go to the concert.” “She was a really good friend, and if she saw that a Taylor Swift concert was more important (than my wedding), that’s her choice but I don’t want her to be a part of my day.” When Fifi asked exactly what happened after the first call on air, Jess admitted that “there was a bit of fighting.” “She still wanted to take the route that maybe she could come for some of the wedding and then leave,” Jess explained. “But realistically that wasn’t feasible and to choose someone to be your bridesmaid — in my eyes — is a pretty big deal.” Jess went on to say that Liv “reached out to some of the other bridesmaids and offered to help with the hen’s night, to which she “told them to block her because I don’t want her involved with it at all”. The bride-to-be admitted that it had been a “rough couple of weeks” and that some of her friends are “cult Taylor Swift fans and have taken Liv’s side.” “It definitely hasn’t been the lead up to the wedding that I wanted, I didn’t expect to lose friends over such an exciting part of my life. It’s really emotional, it’s meant to be an exciting time for me,” she explained. “It just really sucks that someone who I loved so much has done this.” Image credits: Instagram / Getty Images

Family & Pets

How did Taylor Swift get so popular? She never goes out of style

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kate-pattison-1407185">Kate Pattison</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/rmit-university-1063">RMIT University</a> Last week, USA Today/Gannett <a href="https://us231.dayforcehcm.com/CandidatePortal/en-US/gannett/Posting/View/63544">posted a job ad</a> for a Taylor Swift reporter, seeking an experienced journalist and content creator to “capture the music and cultural impact of Taylor Swift”. It’s not the first time Swift has been the focus of professional and academic work. In 2022, New York University’s Clive Davis Institute <a href="https://variety.com/2022/music/news/taylor-swift-course-nyu-clive-davis-institute-1235170200/">announced a course focused on Swift</a>, taught by Rolling Stone’s Brittany Spanos. They also gave Swift <a href="https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2022/march/Commencement_HDs_2020_2021_2022.html">an honorary doctorate in fine arts</a>, as “one of the most prolific and celebrated artists of her generation”. Other universities around the world followed with their own dedicated courses, including “<a href="https://www.nme.com/en_au/news/music/taylor-swift-is-the-subject-of-a-new-university-course-3483713">The Psychology of Taylor Swift</a>”, “<a href="https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/taylor-swift-songbook-class-offered-university-of-texas-1235130293/">The Taylor Swift Songbook</a>” and “<a href="https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/style/taylor-swift-lyrics-course-belgian-university/index.html">Literature: Taylor’s Version</a>”. While musicians and celebrities have been the subject of our fascinations for decades, it’s not often they receive such individualised attention. Swift’s impressive career can be studied from multiple perspectives, including marketing, fandom, business and songwriting, to name a few. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KudedLV0tP0?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> <h2>So why Taylor Swift?</h2> From a music perspective, Swift has broken a lot of records. Last month, she became the <a href="https://variety.com/2023/music/news/taylor-swift-spotify-record-monthly-listeners-1235707101/">first female artist in Spotify history</a> to reach 100 million monthly listeners. Swift has achieved 12 number one albums on Billboard, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/17/arts/music/taylor-swift-speak-now-billboard-chart-record.html">the most by a woman artist</a>, overtaking Barbra Streisand earlier this year. She’s the first and only woman solo artist to win the <a href="https://www.grammy.com/artists/taylor-swift/15450">Album Of The Year Grammy</a> three times, for Fearless (2009), 1989 (2015) and Folklore (2020) – each in a different musical genre. It’s a credit to Swift’s masterful songwriting, and demonstrates her ability to adapt her craft for different audiences. There is an expectation for female artists to constantly re-invent themselves, something <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/10/interesting-reinvention-taylor-swift-celebrities">Swift reflected on</a> in her Netflix documentary Miss Americana: <blockquote> The female artists I know of have to remake themselves like 20 times more than the male artists, or you’re out of a job. </blockquote> Over the course of her career, Swift has evolved from an award-winning country music singer to one of the biggest pop stars in the world. Each of her ten original studio albums <a href="https://www.thelist.com/463869/every-taylor-swift-era-explained/">has a distinct theme and aesthetic</a>, which have been celebrated on Swift’s juggernaut Eras Tour. The tour, which has just wrapped up its first US leg, is set to be the highest-grossing of all time, boosting local travel and tourism revenue along the way. A <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/taylor-swift-eras-tour-boosted-economy-tourism-federal-reserve-how-much-money-made/">recent report estimates</a> the tour could help add a monumental US$5 billion (A$7.8 billion) to the worldwide economy. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/b1kbLwvqugk?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> <h2>‘All I do is try, try, try’</h2> But to measure Swift’s impact by her music alone would be limiting. Swift has been instrumental in changing the business game for musicians. She’s taken on record labels and streaming services, advocating for better deals for artists. In 2015, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-33220189">Apple Music changed its payment policies</a> after Swift wrote an <a href="https://www.stereogum.com/1810310/read-taylor-swifts-open-letter-to-apple-music/news/">open letter</a> campaigning for better compensation. Most notably, she took a stand <a href="https://taylorswift.tumblr.com/post/185958366550/for-years-i-asked-pleaded-for-a-chance-to-own-my">against her former record label</a>, Big Machine Records, after it wouldn’t give her an opportunity to buy back her original master recordings. Her back catalogue was eventually sold to music executive Scooter Braun, kicking off a <a href="https://pitchfork.com/news/taylor-swifts-music-ownership-controversy-with-scooter-braun-what-it-means-and-why-it-matters/">very public feud</a>. While she’s not the first artist to go after her masters, she’s generated an enormous amount of attention to an issue that’s often overlooked. Of course, Swift is in a position of privilege – she can take risks many other artists can’t afford to. But with this power she’s driving conversations around contracts and the value of music, paving the way for emerging artists. In an effort to regain control of her earlier work, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/taylor-swift-on-lover-and-haters/">Swift announced</a> she would be re-recording her first six albums. Each re-recorded album has included additional <a href="https://www.insider.com/taylor-swift-fearless-rerecord-release-date-unreleased-songs-2021-2">vault tracks</a>, previously unreleased songs left off the original recordings. These releases have each been accompanied by a robust promotional campaign, including new merchandise and multiple, limited-edition versions of each record for fans to collect. The release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) marked the halfway point of this process, which has paid off big time. Fearless (Taylor’s Version), Red (Taylor’s Version) and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) <a href="https://www.billboard.com/lists/taylor-swift-taylors-version-stats-chart-numbers/the-equivalent-album-units-gap/">have all performed better</a> than the originals. This is largely due to the unwavering support from her fans, known as “Swifties”. They’ve embraced the new recordings, shaming anyone who plays the original “stolen” versions. <h2>The power of Swifties</h2> Swift’s loyal fandom are known for their high levels of participation and creativity. Fans have spent an extensive amount of time hand-making outfits for concerts, and discussing elaborate theories online. Swift has a reputation for leaving clues, known as <a href="https://junkee.com/taylor-swift-easter-eggs/219709">Easter eggs</a>, in her lyrics, music videos, social media posts and interviews. There are fan accounts dedicated to analysing these Easter eggs, studying specific number patterns and phrases to uncover hints for what Swift might do next. Swift and Taylor Nation, a branch of her management team, encourage these behaviours by rewarding fans for their participation. For the upcoming release of 1989 (Taylor’s Version), Swift has unveiled a series of puzzles on Google, which fans must solve together in order to reveal the names of the upcoming vault tracks. Swifties collectively <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/2023/09/20/taylor-swift-vault-puzzle-1989-tracks/">solved the 33 million</a> (yes, that’s million) puzzles in less than 24 hours. The games played a dual role - not only did <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CxbFSR1RAOv/?img_index=1">Swift announce the vault track titles</a>, but she’s <a href="https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSN1uHN9R/">reclaimed her Google searches</a> in the process. Swift’s fandom crosses generations. She’s a quintessential millennial, and many fans have grown up with Swift over the past two decades. Some have even started to bring their children along to the concerts, <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@folkloreswift_/video/7255857466213158149?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=6972316934294291973">posting videos</a> of them set to the bridge to Long Live. She’s also found a younger audience on TikTok, a platform <a href="https://sproutsocial.com/insights/tiktok-stats/">predominantly used by Gen Z</a>. Affectionately dubbed “<a href="https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/year-on-tiktok-music-report-2021">SwiftTok</a>” by fans (and now <a href="https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSLokp2rQ/">Swift herself</a>), users post videos to engage with other Swifties and participate in the community. Swift’s songs are often used in popular trends. The release of Midnights last year had many dancing to <a href="https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/a43488940/taylor-swift-surprised-fan-viral-tiktok-dance-bejeweled-eras-tour/">Bejeweled</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@tatycake/video/7216131364469427499?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=6972316934294291973">Karma</a>, but Swift’s older catalogue has also gotten a good run. A remix of Love Story <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/taylor-swift-tiktok-love-story-remix-disco-lines-1035691/">went viral in 2020</a>, which helped a new generation discover her older music. Most recently, her song August has been used for running on the beach and <a href="https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSLok2jRb/">spinning around</a> with your pets. <iframe id="tc-infographic-925" class="tc-infographic" style="border: none;" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/925/cad71d8026910236be1d5880a20a247cdee29c82/site/index.html" width="100%" height="400px" frameborder="0"></iframe> She’s also closely aligned with young adult shows like The Summer I Turned Pretty, which has <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2023/08/taylor-swift-summer-i-turned-pretty.html">featured 13 of her songs</a> throughout the show’s first two seasons. Swift’s music is so central to the story that <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2023-08-19/summer-i-turned-pretty-music-jenny-han-taylor-swift">author Jenny Han nearly dedicated</a> the second book to her. Swift continues to dominate the cultural conversation through her music, business decisions and legions of devoted fans. Right now, Swift’s popularity is at an all time high, and it could be easy to dismiss this hype as a passing trend. But if these first 17 years are anything to go by, Swift’s proven she’s in it for the long haul, and worthy of our time.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213871/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kate-pattison-1407185">Kate Pattison</a>, PhD Candidate, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/rmit-university-1063">RMIT University</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-did-taylor-swift-get-so-popular-she-never-goes-out-of-style-213871">original article</a>.

Music

How does a Taylor Swift fan prove their love? Money

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/georgia-carroll-1427562">Georgia Carroll</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a> In November 2022, Ticketmaster was forced to <a href="https://business.ticketmaster.com/business-solutions/taylor-swift-the-eras-tour-onsale-explained/">cancel</a> the general sale for Taylor Swift’s North American Eras tour after unprecedented demand. More than 3.5 million fans had registered to try to get a presale code – a number far exceeding the number of available tickets for the 52 shows. The story made international headlines and led to a <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/taylor-swift-fans-and-congress-take-on-ticketmaster/">congressional hearing</a> into Ticketmaster’s processes. Dates for the Australian leg of the Eras tour <a href="https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/1671186653195403268?s=20">were announced</a> recently. Swift will be performing three shows in Sydney and two in Melbourne. Fans from other cities – and New Zealand – will have to travel should they wish to see her perform locally for the first time in over five years. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> EXCUSE ME HI I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY 🙋‍♀️ I can’t wait to see so many of you on The Eras Tour next year at these new international dates! Visit <a href="https://t.co/EYBevxhQzH">https://t.co/EYBevxhQzH</a> for more information on your registrations, pre-sales and on-sales!! <a href="https://t.co/G8zx8QUUAV">pic.twitter.com/G8zx8QUUAV</a> — Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) <a href="https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/1671186653195403268?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 20, 2023</a></blockquote> Tickets for the five performances are on sale now, with less than 500,000 seats available. While this may seem like a lot, the disappointment seen in <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/taylor-swift-tickets-resale-sites-stubhub-concert-dates-11669173929">North</a> and <a href="https://uproxx.com/pop/taylor-swift-the-eras-tour-brazil-presale/">South America</a> is likely to also be seen here. Taylor Swift fans are known for spending significant amounts of money on <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/culture/music/breaking-the-record-the-australian-fans-helping-taylor-swift-dominate-the-charts-20221102-p5buzq.html">albums</a>, <a href="https://www.nj.com/entertainment/2023/05/how-far-does-150-get-you-at-the-taylor-swift-merch-store-heres-what-i-bought.html">merchandise</a> and <a href="https://www.news.com.au/world/dad-spends-21000-on-taylor-swift-tickets-for-his-daughter-and-three-friends/video/181135abe72628c078711f133f972b19">concert tickets</a>. While being a fan is an <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/5-000-bruce-springsteen-tickets-170057519.html">increasingly expensive experience</a>, there seems to be a particular connection between Taylor’s fandom and the <a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/01/14/taylor-swift-cat-capitalist-billionaire-success/">expectation of consumption</a>. <h2>Handpicked fans</h2> Swift shares a particularly intense connection with her fans. Fans frequently engage in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/feb/13/too-close-for-comfort-the-pitfalls-of-parasocial-relationships">parasocial relationships</a> with their celebrity objects of fandom, where they feel as if they honestly “know” the celebrity. These relationships are often portrayed as problematic in both <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2023/04/parasocial-relationships-imaginary-connections-fans-celebrities/673645/">academic and popular discourse</a>. However, the connections fans feel to their favourite celebrities can be a <a href="https://vogue.sg/parasocial-relationship-kpop-fans/">healthy expansion of their social world</a>. Swift is unique among celebrities in that she actively courts these connections. By handpicking fans for “secret sessions” before album releases (often held in her own home) and hosting post-show meet and greets, over the past 16 years she has carefully built the illusion of these relationships as reciprocated friendship. <a href="https://www.eonline.com/news/1062021/secrets-revealed-from-taylor-swift-s-first-lover-secret-session">For these events</a>, she memorises facts about each fan in attendance, surprising them with comments about new haircuts, academic achievements and relationship milestones. She also has a history of sending fans surprise gifts <a href="https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/taylor-swift-fan-gifts-history-9549740/">in the mail</a>, ranging from handwritten letters of support to gift boxes full of things she says “remind her” of the fan in question. <h2>Performing fandom</h2> Based on the North American performances, it appears Swift is not conducting meet and greets during The Eras tour. But fans believe there is always the chance they will be noticed and chosen to meet her. When Swift’s official social media team, <a href="https://twitter.com/taylornation13">Taylor Nation</a>, engage with fans – by liking, replying to, or retweeting their messages – individuals often put the date and type of interaction in their bio to broadcast the attention they received to others within the fandom community. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> So make the friendship bracelets and store them in your new <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TSTheErasTour?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TSTheErasTour</a> tote 🥹 <a href="https://t.co/Cw97l7Y6Sv">https://t.co/Cw97l7Y6Sv</a> — Taylor Nation (@taylornation13) <a href="https://twitter.com/taylornation13/status/1671218154658226177?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 20, 2023</a></blockquote> The belief among fans (which has never been confirmed) is that being noticed on social media puts you a step closer to meeting Swift in person – something many of the participants in my research into her fandom described as the ultimate motivation behind their engagement. To be noticed, however, fans must participate in particular, approved ways. The Taylor Nation twitter account retweets and engages with fans who have shared screenshots of merchandise receipts (from increasingly frequent, <a href="https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/taylor-swift-2022-holiday-merch-drop-1235170056/">themed</a> <a href="https://www.nme.com/news/music/taylor-swift-drops-new-merchandise-ahead-of-eras-tour-2023-3390428">merchandise releases</a>), pictures of themselves with multiple copies of albums, or particularly over-the-top displays of emotion and creativity. This sets a baseline of what it takes to get their – and Swift’s – attention. <h2>The hierarchy of fandom</h2> Fandom communities are <a href="https://annehelen.substack.com/p/what-fandoms-found-families-tell">often discussed</a> as spaces of friendship and community. More realistically, they are hierarchical structures in which fans have their status elevated by participating in certain ways. For Swift fans, these hierarchies are heavily tied to practices of consumption, including the purchasing of concert tickets. The most expensive package for the Australian tour dates <a href="https://www.frontiertouring.com/current-tours/taylorswift/sydney">will set fans back A$1,249</a>. For that price, fans will get an “unforgettable A Reserve floor ticket” and “exclusive VIP merchandise”. If fans are just after a seat, A Reserve is listed at $379.90, dropping down to $79.90 for G Reserve. Within the fandom, fans who travel to shows, attend multiple nights, or have seats near the stage are labelled “dedicated” and “committed”. Those who miss out on tickets often express their frustration at missing out to others who they don’t <a href="https://twitter.com/AdoreBangtrash/status/1671181373594550272?s=20">deem to be “real” fans</a>. North American fans have gone to <a href="https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/taylor-swift-mania-begins-fans-line-up-for-hours-in-hopes-of-snagging-early-merch/3152932/">great lengths</a> to secure tour merchandise, even after they have secured tickets to the concerts. Fans have reportedly been <a href="https://www.wtae.com/article/taylor-swift-fans-pack-north-shore-to-buy-merchandise-ahead-of-singers-eras-tour-stop/44211846">queueing before sunrise</a>, spending <a href="https://www.news.com.au/world/taylor-swift-fan-buys-11k-worth-of-merchandise/video/4367433017c654a3ce53ad1d367d6e94">thousands of dollars</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/19/style/taylor-swift-mania.html">waiting in the rain</a> to get their hands on limited-edition items. The higher the levels of sacrifice reported, the more someone can project to other members of the fandom just how big a fan they are. This can result in increased attention and a reputation as <a href="https://twitter.com/KatieFigura/status/1632912261776830464?s=20">someone who “deserves” to meet Swift</a>. In her song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzOvgu3GPwY">Karma</a>, Swift sings “my pennies made your crown”. When tens of thousands of fans scream this back at her every night, they are reflecting the reality of Swift’s celebrity. Swift’s business model is largely built on fan desire to meet her. How do you meet her? You prove you are the biggest fan – and you’ve made the sacrifices (and spent the money) to show it.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208177/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/georgia-carroll-1427562">Georgia Carroll</a>, PhD Candidate in Sociology, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-does-a-taylor-swift-fan-prove-their-love-money-208177">original article</a>.

Music

Taylor Swift kicks off the Eras tour in sensational style

Excitement was high for music icon Taylor Swift’s Eras tour since the very first announcement. And while controversy may have reared its head early on - Ticketmaster ran into a great deal of trouble trying to handle the masses of fans and alleged bots trying to secure tickets to the show, and that wasn’t even to mention the “dynamic pricing” debacle. The tour marked Taylor’s first since 2018, and features some of her biggest - and favourite - tracks from over the course of her illustrious music career … so far. In fact, for the first show of the tour, the 12-time Grammy award winner (and 46-time nominated artist) performed an astounding 44 tracks, for a total of over three hours. A typical stadium show will run for just under two, and average at around 20 songs. While some were surprised by the runtime, others barely batted an eyelid after months of speculation over what “a journey through the musical eras of [Taylor Swift’s] career” could entail. And from the moment people knew it was coming, the tour was set to break records. Taylor wasted no time with opening night, which became “the most attended female concert in US history”. The record was previously held by Madonna, who had held onto that bragging right for 36 years from her 1987 Anaheim Stadium show. And Taylor’s fans - affectionately known as Swifties - are well aware, their idol does nothing without careful planning and care. Album releases are often scattered with Easter Eggs for her most devoted followers to pick apart, and everything means something. So it came as no surprise when Taylor split her show into 10 distinct sections, each inspired by one of her albums. However, none of these were chronological, leaving even the most devoted fans to guess which they were going to hear next. The entire stage transformed with each new era - from the lighting to the props, videos playing behind Taylor and her dancers, and a mesmerising swim along the catwalk, everything was planned out well in advance to wow her audience. And in true Taylor fashion, her style on the night reflected this effort too, with the star embarking on no less than 16 spectacular outfit changes to honour each of her beloved albums. Images: Getty, @taylorswift @kevinmazur @kevincwinter / Instagram

Beauty & Style

Great Scott! Michael J. Fox poses with new pup

Michael J. Fox has a new furry friend, and fans are saying the pup resembles the dog from the Back to the Future movies. The 61-year-old icon shared a post on Instagram featuring himself snuggled up with his adorable new dog, whom he named Blue. The star captioned his post, “Hey Blue, welcome to your new home!” Fans of Fox flocked to the comments to share their thoughts on the new pup as well as comparing the dog’s looks to Dr Emmet Brown’s dog in the Back to the Future trilogy. The dog featured in the trilogy, the infamous Einstein, was a similar breed to Fox’s new furry friend. <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CpePqBRr3A5/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CpePqBRr3A5/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Michael J Fox (@realmikejfox)</a> </div> </blockquote> People wrote comments such as, “Einstein came back using the time machine,” and “Aww he looks like a baby Einstein!” The dog in the films was a fully grown sheepdog that went on some serious adventures with Fox’s character, Marty McFly and Doc Brown, played by Christopher Lloyd. Several A-list stars also took to the comments on Fox’s post. “Oh my gosh!! So cute 🥰,” wrote Julianne Moore. Jennifer Grey from Dirty Dancing expressed her thoughts through a series of emojis, commenting, “💞🐶👅🐶👅💞," Fox is known to be a dog lover, having mourned the loss of his previous dog, Gus, in April of 2021. When he announced the loss of Gus on Instagram, he captioned his post, “Gus - great dog and loyal friend, we'll miss you.” The actor has mentioned several times how much of a “wonder dog” Gus had been over the years. Image credit: Instagram/Reddit

Family & Pets

Neighbours star facing sexual assault charge

Content warning: This article includes discussion of sexual assault. Former Neighbours star Scott McGregor has been charged with one count of sexual assault after a night out at a popular Melbourne pub. McGregor, who played police detective Mark Brennan on the soap from 2013 to 2020, was charged in relation to an incident at St Kilda’s Hotel Esplanade, or ‘Espy’, on Sunday, February 20. The <a href="https://www.heraldsun.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts-victoria/scott-mcgregor-charged-over-incident-at-a-st-kilda-bar/news-story/df4b8b360ec09602c462f9a5f5101b2d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Herald Sun</a> reported that McGregor was charged by detectives from the Bayside Sexual Offences and Child Investigation Team last week. The 41-year-old actor and model will appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court in January in relation to the charge. Despite his lengthy stint on Neighbours and appearance in 940 episodes, fans were disappointed when he didn’t appear on the show’s final episode in July, which saw the return of many of the show’s alumni. The star, who has also appeared in Underbelly, Offspring, and Winners & Losers, lives in Melbourne with his wife Bianka and two children. Image: @scottymcgregor (Instagram)

Legal

"I’m the problem, it’s me": Why do musicians revisit their pain and doubt in their art?

Taylor Swift’s latest album Midnights launched with the single <a href="https://youtu.be/b1kbLwvqugk">Anti-Hero</a>. Anti-heroes in fiction are dark, complex characters who may question their moral compass but are ultimately trying to be led by their good intentions. Perhaps most humans feel like we are all anti-heroes lacking the right amount of courage, idealism, and morality – wanting to be heroic but struggling through familiar dark places. In Anti-Hero, Taylor shares emotional rawness and sings “It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me … everybody agrees.” “I don’t think I’ve delved this far into my insecurities in this detail before,” Swift said about the song in a video <a href="https://ew.com/music/taylor-swift-midnights-anti-hero-meaning/">on Instagram</a>. “I struggle a lot with the idea that my life has become unmanageably sized and, not to sound too dark, I struggle with the idea of not feeling like a person.” Taylor’s album reveals her struggle with her own insecurities and maybe common universal human emotions that everyone struggles to face. In Labyrinth, for example, she sings about heartbreak, and more specifically, the fear of falling in love again: "It only feels this raw right now Lost in the labyrinth of my mind Break up, break free, break through, break down." Much of the new album, and Swift’s discography in general, often revisits past heartbreaks, disappointments, and insecurities. Swift has talked about how Midnights is an album devoted to the kinds of soul-searching thoughts we have in the middle of the night. “This is a collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams,” Swift wrote. “The floors we pace and the demons we face. For all of us who have tossed and turned and decided to keep the lanterns lit and go searching — hoping that just maybe, when the clock strikes twelve… we’ll meet ourselves.” <h2>Music and pain</h2> Music has the potential to change our experience of intrusive thoughts and how we deal with pain. At an extreme level, when we revisit past traumatic experiences, we are often in danger of triggering a <a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/the-four-fear-responses-fight-flight-freeze-and-fawn-5205083">feared response</a>, that manifests as either fight/flight/freeeze or fawn, that can often re-traumatise individuals. When we identify with a song that expresses similar struggles to what we are experiencing we feel understood and not judged. Clinical psychologist <a href="https://janinafisher.com/pdfs/trauma.pdf">Dr Janina Fisher</a> has proposed that distancing ourselves from pain helps humans survive, yet an ongoing “self-alientation” of parts of ourselves that carries fear or shame lead to a disowning of self – the bad parts that Taylor relates to as being the things she hates about herself which causes a further suppression of feelings that can create further psychological distress. Expression is central to releasing emotion and connecting to music may be the key that allows the disowned parts of self to be re-integrated by expressing them in a new way. Music provides a creative outlet to re-script a new story of survival of the fear of the past with a renewed ability to see to the good things again in life. Musicians often imbue grief and trauma in their lyrics and melodies as autobiographical reflections into their art as a way of working through complex emotions and feelings - and by doing so, enlighten the listener to work through their own pain. <h2>Music and connection</h2> Music seems to be a way for music lovers to connect with artists stories of tragedy, which allows their own traumatic or painful memories to become more comfortably <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4899-1280-0_2">integrated</a> and accepted. Durham University studied 2,436 people within the United Kingdom and Finland to explore the reasons why we listen to sad music. Research suggested that music is a way that people regulate their mood, pleasure and pain. Professor Tuomas Eerola, Professor of Music Cognition in the Department of Music said “<a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160614155914.htm">previous research</a> in music psychology and film studies has emphasised the puzzling pleasure that people experience when engaging with tragic art.” The depth of loathing that Taylor taps into in Anti-Hero also affirms our own experience. It’s self confirming. Engaging with trauma in art allows us to rewrite the outcome from being victims of our circumstances to victors. We are either consumers or creators. <h2>Mental health and music</h2> As the <a href="https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/major-themes/health-and-well-being">World Health Organisation</a> states “there is no health without mental health”. A musician’s writing about trauma is a way of increasing mental health - of searching for understanding of themselves through self-reflection, it changes old thinking patterns and provides a new perspective and ways of thinking about themselves and others that can often <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2804629/">heal emotional wounds</a>. Like telling your story through a <a href="https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/treatments/narrative-exposure-therapy">trauma narrative</a>, music can help reduce its emotional impact. Music is a universal language that gives you the chance to be a protagonist in your life story, to see yourself as living through it heroically. Psychologists understand that the quickest way to understanding someone is through their wounds, and musicians too understand this power of music to comfort, console, encourage and exhort themselves and other broken hearts. Humans need to feel safe and in connection with others for survival, and music is the language that activates <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.191355898">pleasure centres in the brain</a> and communicates <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2003-99991-007">powerful emotions</a>. If trauma causes distress to the brain and body and <a href="https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/treatments/narrative-exposure-therapy">music enhances</a> psychological wellbeing, improves mood, emotions, reduces pain, anxiety, depression, and chronic stress, music has the potential to alleviate chronic disease and pain. Music is a vehicle that gathers strength from distress, and helps you grow brave by reflections and maybe the anti-hero’s and insecurities recreated through music may be the treasures found in darkness that we may not have seen in the light. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/im-the-problem-its-me-why-do-musicians-revisit-their-pain-and-doubt-in-their-art-193528" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Music

“A tragedy for our nation”: Reason for Scott Morrison’s firing 16 years ago revealed

The woman who sacked former Prime Minister Scott Morrison from Tourism Australia has finally opened up about the mysterious end to his time there and shared how she was “gobsmacked” that he went on to become PM. Mr Morrison’s firing from Tourism Australia in 2006 has long been shrouded in mystery, but Fran Bailey - who was Tourism Minister at the time and ordered the Chair of Tourism Australia to fire Mr Morrison - has now spoken about the decision in a brutal interview with the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/i-was-gobsmacked-when-he-became-prime-minister-20220826-p5bd19.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sunday Age</a>. Ms Bailey reportedly chose to finally speak on the record after she was left incensed by the revelations that Mr Morrison <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/news/news/andrew-bolt-leads-the-charge-on-scott-morrison-tirade" target="_blank" rel="noopener">secretly swore himself into five additional ministerial positions</a> while he was Prime Minister. "What has changed my mind is that all of those characteristics that make up Scott Morrison – the secrecy... the supreme belief that only he can do a job, the lack of consultation with those closest to him – those characteristics were evident 16 years ago, and perhaps we’re seeing the end result of those now," she told the paper’s longtime columnist, Jon Faine. Echoing a common criticism of Mr Morrison, Ms Bailey said he took a bullying approach to his work, which eventually led to those in senior positions having less trust that he could do his job. "It came down to a complete lack of trust. It’s not something that I have stewed over for all those 16 years, but I certainly have become very concerned as he worked his way through the ministry, and I was gobsmacked when he became prime minister," she said. "Because I knew what he was really like to work with, and I think that’s been a tragedy for the Liberal Party and it has been a tragedy for our nation." Ms Bailey is one of many critics calling on Mr Morrison to leave Parliament following the revelations, as former High Court judge Virginia Bell is expected to head an inquiry into his actions and hand down a report on November 25. The inquiry will examine Mr Morrison’s ministerial appointments and the functioning of departments, government business enterprises and statutory bodies. It comes after advice released last week from Australia’s solicitor-general found that Mr Morrison didn’t break any laws, but that his actions undermined the principles of “responsible government”. Image: Getty Images

Legal

"Deeply saddened" Prince William demands "swift justice" for tragic death

Prince William has sent out a heartfelt message following the tragic death of a senior wildlife ranger in Africa that he met recently – while also pleading for “swift justice” in retaliation for the murder. "I'm deeply saddened to learn of the killing of Anton Mzimba who I spoke to in November," the Duke of Cambridge wrote in a tweet. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> I’m deeply saddened to learn of the killing of Anton Mzimba who I spoke to in November. Committed and brave, rangers like Anton are central to the conservation of Africa’s fantastic wildlife. Those responsible must swiftly be brought to justice. My thoughts are with his family. W — The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) <a href="https://twitter.com/KensingtonRoyal/status/1552313081367257089?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 27, 2022</a></blockquote> The head ranger at Timbavati had been the subject of ongoing death threats for quite a while, the non-profit organisation “Helping Rhinos” revealed when confirming news of his passing. "Anton Mzimba, was shot and killed outside of his home last night," the organisation tweeted on Wednesday July 26. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Head of Ranger at Timbavati, Anton Mzimba, was shot and killed outside of his home last night. This follows recent death threats and highlights the daily threat facing Rangers. Our deepest condolences to Anton’s loved ones and co-workers at this difficult time <a href="https://t.co/fRayloiFjB">pic.twitter.com/fRayloiFjB</a> — Helping Rhinos 🦏 (@HelpingRhinos) <a href="https://twitter.com/HelpingRhinos/status/1552240245088964608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 27, 2022</a></blockquote> "This follows recent death threats and highlights the daily threat facing rangers. Our deepest condolences to Anton's loved ones and co-workers at this difficult time." Prince William spoke with Mzimba in a conference call in November 2021 during a visit to Microsoft headquarters, to learn more about how technology was being used to disrupt the illegal wildlife trade. The Duke of Cambridge, through the Royal Foundation, founded United for Wildlife in 2014 and is passionate about stopping the trade. "Like so many others, I am deeply saddened by the numbers of elephant, rhino and pangolin who have been illegally slaughtered for their tusks, horns and scales," the Duke, who is also patron of the Royal African Society, said ahead of a visit to Africa, a few years ago in 2018. "But the illegal wildlife trade also has a devastating human impact. Too many brave rangers are tragically killed each year by poachers. Communities see their tourist livelihoods threatened. This is why I am committed to doing what I can to help end this terrible, global crime." Image: Getty

News

Taylor Swift receives honorary doctorate

Grammy-award winner Taylor Swift has another achievement to her name, as she has received an honorary doctorate from the New York University. The pop music icon was honoured in the sector of fine arts in a ceremony at Yankee Stadium, as she addressed the graduating class of 2022. Sporting her signature red lipstick and newly awarded honorary robe, Swift joked to the thousands of graduates assembled, "I'm 90 percent sure the main reason I'm here is because I have a song called 22." "I never got to have a normal college experience per se. I went to public high school until 10th grade and then finished my education doing home school work on the floor of airport terminals," Swift said in her commencement speech. Swift went on to share worldly advice with the new graduates as they prepare for life outside of university. "You've worked and struggled and sacrificed and studied and dreamed your way here today. I won't tell you what to do because nobody likes that, but I will however give you life hacks for when I was starting out my dreams as a career," she said. "Never be ashamed of trying. Effortlessness is a myth." Swift concluded her speech by telling graduates that making mistakes is inevitable but "when hard things happen to us, we will recover, we will learn from it, we will grow more resilient because of it." "As long as we are fortunate enough to be breathing, we will breathe in, breathe through, breathe deep and breathe out. I am a doctor now so I know how breathing works," she said. "I hope you know how proud I am to share this day with you. "We're doing this together so let's just keep on dancing like we're the class of 22." Image credits: Getty Images

Music

Surprise surprise: ScoMo crash-tackling a child has gone viral

Prime Minister Scott Morrison accidentally shoulder-charged a small child while playing soccer in Tasmania - and the internet has had plenty to say about it. Mr Morrison was playing a training game with the kids while campaigning in the seat of Braddon when he made a run towards the ball, not seeing the small child in his path, before colliding with them and becoming entangled on the ground. “I’m surprised he hasn’t been taken to hospital,” he joked. Luca Fauvette, the child in question, was fine. Both Mr Morrison and the soccer club made statements about the collision on Facebook, with the PM praising the boy for being “such a good sport”. “You may have seen we had a bit of a collision at club training tonight at the Devonport Strikers Football Club in Tasmania,” Mr Morrison wrote. “I spoke to Luca and his mum Ali tonight to check in on him and he was in good form. “Great to be able to have a good chat to him about his love of football and to hear he’s had three hat-tricks in his budding career already.” "Our club values are determination, effort and respect," the Strikers said on Facebook. "We think Luca showed plenty of determination and effort to stop the PM scoring at all costs! "The latest star of the election is ok and looking forward to being the star of the show at school tomorrow!" After footage of the incident emerged on social media, it quickly went viral and prompted jokes from all corners. “In ScoMo’s defence, the kid is a United fan. Play on,” tweeted Tim Barrow. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> The chaser sums it up … <a href="https://t.co/dODQ5HfgXF">pic.twitter.com/dODQ5HfgXF</a> — Justin Brash 🏳️‍🌈🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇦🇺🍸📷🐱 (@just_brash) <a href="https://twitter.com/just_brash/status/1526846679366127622?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2022</a></blockquote> “I trip over small children, dogs, hoses and my own feet on the odd occasion. Happy to make my clumsiness a headline if required,” Catherine Wilcox added. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Won’t tackle the cost of living. Will tackle an actual child. — Australian Unions (@unionsaustralia) <a href="https://twitter.com/unionsaustralia/status/1526836955602104320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2022</a></blockquote> Even 14-year-old journalist Leonardo Puglisi - who made headlines for interviewing Mr Morrison - got in on the fun, joking that one of their “reporters” was injured in “retaliation” for their tough questions. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> BREAKING: <a href="https://twitter.com/6NewsAU?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@6NewsAU</a> is prepared to launch legal action against the PM after one of our reporters was injured tonight We understand it was retaliation from the PM for our tough questions during our interview with him <a href="https://t.co/hRb3JUPw3o">https://t.co/hRb3JUPw3o</a> — Leonardo Puglisi (@Leo_Puglisi6) <a href="https://twitter.com/Leo_Puglisi6/status/1526898992025460737?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2022</a></blockquote> Others used it to make political points about the Liberal Party’s policies heading into this weekend’s federal election while others suggested that Mr Morrison wouldn’t fare well in the election as a result. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> I mean if ever there was a visual representation for the LNP’s climate policy… <a href="https://t.co/syEzi4hOQo">pic.twitter.com/syEzi4hOQo</a> — Tosh Greenslade (@ToshGreenslade) <a href="https://twitter.com/ToshGreenslade/status/1526835259618529280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2022</a></blockquote> “Surely this bloke can’t survive after Saturday. He’s a national and international embarrassment,” Cody Murray wrote on Facebook. “Just got so sad thinking about how that kid that ScoMo hit will never grow up and use their super to pay for 6% of a house deposit,” journalist Cameron Wilson tweeted. To see footage of the incident, head <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDDLSAvOzIU&ab_channel=TheAge%26SydneyMorningHerald" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>. Image: Getty Images

News

Bon Scott’s brother discusses AC/DC frontman’s death for the first time

For the first time since the rockstar’s untimely death in 1980, Bon Scott’s closest friends and family have spoken out about his success and reliance on vices. Bon’s brother Derek said while Bon’s devil-may-care attitude was a key part of his public persona as a rockstar, it would eventually lead to his downfall as his penchant for risk-taking would backfire. Bon Scott, lead singer of AC/DC, was found dead in a car in London in 1980 after a night of heavy drinking, drug use and partying at just 33 years old. Bruce Howe, a close friend of the rockstar, said he would rely on dangerous vices while on the road, specifically when boredom would set in. “That‘s when he would start taking risks, doing wild things,” Howe said on the ABC’s Australian Story. “On days when he was bored, there was no future, there was only now.” “He didn‘t give a bugger about whether he lived or died the next day. He’d try anything — magic mushrooms, marijuana, alcohol — and he would take risks on his motorbike.” “I said, ‘You are going to f***ing kill yourself. Do something about it!’” Speaking for the first time on the death of his brother, Derek Scott said Bon’s alcoholism had always worried those closest to him. “He did get bored very quickly,” he said. “That was the biggest problem. When he got bored, he drank.” “He never worried about tomorrow. Tomorrow is another day.” When Bon Scott joined AC/DC and rose to international fame, his stardom became another vehicle of self-destruction. “Within the next 12 months, they were expected to be one of the biggest acts on the planet,” Murray Engleheart, author of the book AC/DC Maximum Rock and Roll, said. “The next album was going to be the one that was really going to kick them over the goalposts.” But after barely five years of AC/DC becoming a global act, the Bon Scott era was over. “Bon’s passing as he did, on his own in a car in the freezing cold, after all his hard work and all his heartbreak getting there, was just an incredibly sad, lonely and unglamorous way to go out,” Mr Engleheart said. Mr Howe said he was gutted by the news of his death, but knew deep down that an early death was always a possibility for his friend. “He drank far too much,” Mr Howe said. ”I did wonder if he would push it too far one day. And sadly, he obviously did.” Image credits: Getty Images

Music

Musical home of Taylor Swift up for grabs

The stunning home where artist Taylor Swift learnt how to play guitar has sold for $US 999,900 ($1.34 million). Before shooting up the charts, Taylor spent most of her junior high years taking two weekly lessons from guitarist Ronnie Cremer. The family spent three years in the beautiful one-of-a-kind Georgian Colonial home before moving out to support Taylor’s career. The luxurious three storey estate boasts five bedrooms and five bathrooms, perfect for a growing family. Walking into the home, you are greeted with perfect hardwood flooring before walking through the double glass doors. There you will find a lavish formal dining room with decorations to suit the style and incredible backyard views where there is also a heated swimming pool. For those cooler winter nights there is a den where you can sit and relax by the brick fireplace which has a statement making mantel. The massive kitchen and breakfast room is perfect for a gourmet chef to cook on the gorgeous marble top island. There is a large sink, wooden cutting board, commercial grade Viking range with double oven, floor-to-ceiling cabinets and built-in refrigerator with matching panels, built-in dishwasher and microwave. Upstairs in the master bedroom is a private deck, and a luxury bath with double vanity, tile floors, and travertine, tile shower and tub. In the basement is a powder room and wine cellar. The home sold for $US 999,900 ($1.34 million) after a $US 100,000 price cut. Images: Bright MLS

Real Estate

Lismore flood victims dump ruined belongings outside PM’s house

Lismore residents have taken their flood-affected belongings to Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s Sydney residence, calling on him to act on climate change. Nine residents of the area, which has been devastated by recent flooding, brought a truck to Kirribilli House and dumped a number of items, including flood-ruined carpet, toys and furniture, outside the front gate earlier this week. Kate Stroud, who lost her home in the floods, said the group felt compelled to demonstrate after Mr Morrison visited the town earlier in the month but failed to speak to some residents. Ms Stroud lost her home in the floods, having been rescued by another resident on a jet ski after sheltering on her roof for six hours, and has said she wasn’t the only one looking to speak to the PM. “Everybody that I know has lost their homes, they’ve lost their businesses. We have basically lost our entire town,” she said on Monday morning. “We tried to have this conversation with him face to face in Lismore, but he slipped through the back door of our council chambers. If our leaders can’t come at least sit at a table with us and chat to us at times of devastation, what are they doing?” <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> At the Prime Minister’s residence, Kirribilli House, standing in solidarity with Lismore flood survivors. Calling on <a href="https://twitter.com/ScottyFromMktg?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ScottyFromMktg</a> to stop funding the climate crisis. <a href="https://t.co/lHYSwZLZ7i">pic.twitter.com/lHYSwZLZ7i</a> — Naomi Hodgson (@CrystalNomes) <a href="https://twitter.com/CrystalNomes/status/1505653019718737921?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 20, 2022</a></blockquote> Several residents held a ruined, mud-covered door with a message spray-painted on it in red. “Morrison, your climate megaflood destroyed our homes,” it read. Other signs read, ‘Lismore now, where next?’ and ‘Your climate inaction killed my neighbour’. Ms Stroud said residents were calling on the government to take action against climate change. “We are so sick of the bottomless promises when there is a bigger picture to look at,” she said. “We need to fund the climate crisis [response], this is climate change and this will happen to somebody you love, someone you know, or it could happen to you personally.” Although 9News reported that his car was seen leaving shortly before protestors arrived, Mr Morrison was in Queensland during Monday’s protest, according to <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/flood-hit-lismore-residents-dump-debris-outside-kirribilli-house-20220321-p5a6dy.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Sydney Morning Herald</a>. He responded to questions about the demonstration by referring to the $1.7 billion already committed to flood response and recovery, and that the bulk of the funds were already “out the door supporting people”. “These floods [across NSW and south-east Queensland] are the worst we’ve ever seen,” Mr Morrison said. “I can understand the frustration. But what I can assure you is the commitments [we’ve made] .. means we’ll be there with them to build back. “I think the politicisation of natural disasters is very unfortunate. Everyone’s just doing the best they can.” <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Lismore residents protest at Kirribilli House <a href="https://t.co/d5ciaZPaBd">pic.twitter.com/d5ciaZPaBd</a> — Carol Connolly (@carolcarcos) <a href="https://twitter.com/carolcarcos/status/1505682999505219586?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 20, 2022</a></blockquote> Despite his absence, Lismore resident Kudra Ricketts told <a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/lismore-flood-survivors-dump-debris-outside-pms-house/58b54741-e566-4bec-a667-7433b0753c18" target="_blank" rel="noopener">9News</a> she hoped the message she and the other demonstrators were sending would still reach Mr Morrison. “I hope that he’s able to listen to the media,” she said. “He’s done the same thing as he did when he was in Lismore. He didn’t want to talk to us. He doesn’t want to speak to us again. I can see that. It’s time he starts to listen to us. “I don’t want this to happen to anyone else. It’s been so traumatic for me and everyone that I love. Climate change is here now.” Image: Twitter

Domestic Travel

“How dare you”: PM’s ‘apology’ to Stolen Generations slammed

Indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe is among many Indigenous leaders who have <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10509713/Aboriginal-senator-Lidia-Thorpe-blasts-Scott-Morrison-Stolen-Generations-speech.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">criticised</a> Prime Minister Scott Morrison for asking for forgiveness on the anniversary of Kevin Rudd’s apology to the Stolen Generations.Mr Morrison spoke about the anniversary in a speech to Parliament on Monday, marking 14 years since former Prime Minister Rudd made the historic apology.The Rudd government issued the Apology to Australia’s Indigenous Peoples in 2008, acknowledging the historic laws and policies that led to the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families and communities.Mr Morrison said an apology involves “standing in the middle ground exposed, vulnerable and seeking forgiveness”.“And as I said when I spoke in support of the original motion here in this place on the other side of the Chamber 14 years ago, sorry can never be given without any expectation of forgiveness. But there can be hope,” Mr Morrison said.“Forgiveness is never earned or deserved. It’s an act of courage. And it is a gift that only those who have been wounded, damaged and destroyed can offer.“Forgiveness transcends all of that. It’s an act of grace. It’s an act of courage. And it is a gift that only those who have been wounded, damaged and destroyed can offer.“I also said 14 years ago, ‘sorry is not the hardest word to say, the hardest is I forgive you’.”<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">This is outright disrespect to all those effected by Stolen Generations in this country. How dare you ask for forgiveness when you still perpetrate racist policies and systems that continue to steal our babies. That is not an apology. <a href="https://t.co/3VG6OcVGuN">pic.twitter.com/3VG6OcVGuN</a>— Senator Lidia Thorpe (@SenatorThorpe) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenatorThorpe/status/1493049463166083072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2022</a></blockquote>Following Mr Morrison’s speech, Senator Thorpe shared her criticism of the Prime Minister on Twitter, saying he had shown “outright disrespect” to members of the Stolen Generations.“This is outright disrespect to all those affected by Stolen Generations in this country,” the Greens member wrote.“How dare you ask for forgiveness when you still perpetrate racist policies and systems that continue to steal our babies. That is not an apology.”<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Our official* response to what Scott Morrison said today: *polite <a href="https://t.co/DRsrdGvcV1">pic.twitter.com/DRsrdGvcV1</a>— First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria (@firstpeoplesvic) <a href="https://twitter.com/firstpeoplesvic/status/1493069336940285953?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2022</a></blockquote>The <a href="https://www.firstpeoplesvic.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria</a>, the organisation responsible for developing a treaty with the state government, also released a statement on Twitter, simply stating: “Get in the bin.”Marcus Stewart, a co-chair of the First Peoples’ Assembly, later shared a translation of the statement in Taungurung - the language spoken by the Taungurung people whose country encompasses much of central Victoria.“Some people have said our media release was rude,” he captioned the photo of the translated statement.“For the haters, is it more poetic in language?”<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Some people have said our media release was rude. For the haters, is it more poetic in language? <a href="https://t.co/rDa4zz7b0p">pic.twitter.com/rDa4zz7b0p</a>— Marcus Stewart (@marcusbstewart) <a href="https://twitter.com/marcusbstewart/status/1493128028305903619?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2022</a></blockquote>Indigenous Affairs Minister Ken Wyatt also made a statement marking the anniversary in Parliament, where he said that although acknowledging “the wrongdoing can ease some suffering, it will never remove it”.Image: House of Representatives

News

Legendary band hits back after PM’s ukulele session

New Zealand band Dragon have hit back at Prime Minister Scott Morrison after his "cynical" cover of their cult classic song on a special interview with 60 Minutes. In the sit-down interview with Karl Stefanovic, the PM is filmed with his family, strumming a ukulele while singing the band's smash hit April Sun in Cuba. In a response to the serenade, Dragon has accused Scott Morrison of using their song to "humanise" himself in the face of the Australian public ahead of the upcoming federal election.In a statement released by the band, they accused the PM of dragging the band into the headline for "all the wrong reasons" in what they believe was a "cynical" act of electioneering in order to strike a cord with Australians. The band also used their statement to resurface damning criticism of the PM for taking a family holiday to Hawaii during the 2019-2020 bushfire crisis, which saw 34 people lose their lives and nearly 3,000 homes destroyed. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Statement from the band Dragon after the Prime Minister of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Australia?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Australia</a> appeared on television singing one of their songs. They said it was “a cynical move by a politician to co-opt music in an attempt to humanise themselves come election time”. <a href="https://t.co/85RVXFtF2S">pic.twitter.com/85RVXFtF2S</a>— Stephen McDonell (@StephenMcDonell) <a href="https://twitter.com/StephenMcDonell/status/1493057963753418754?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2022</a></blockquote>"It is a cynical move for a politician to co-opt music in an attempt to humanise themselves come election time," the band's statement said."Maybe if his trip to Hawaii had not been cut short, he could have learnt the lyrics to the rest of the chorus."In the now-viral video of Scott Morrison performing the tracks he repeats one line twice ("Take me to the April sun in Cuba, oh oh oh"), rather than progress the song along with the original lyrics.The song was originally penned in 1977 by two New Zealanders who were living in Australia, and became a smash hit in Australia and New Zealand after placing in the top 10 in both country's music charts. When the video of Scott Morrison playing the ukulele first surfaced in a preview for the 60 Minutes interview, it was instantly branded as "extremely cringe" by viewers. Sally McManus, Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, suggested the performance was a cynical ploy to improve Mr Morrison’s image ahead of the federal election.“We need to brace ourselves for how far he will go the more desperate they get,” she wrote on Twitter.Image credits: Nine - 60 Minutes / Twitter

News

"Extremely cringe": Scott Morrison blasted for musical clip

In what has been quite a tough week for the Prime Minister, he has become the centre of attention once again - this time for <a href="https://au.news.yahoo.com/make-it-stop-social-media-loses-it-over-desperate-scott-morrison-034918812.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an awkward clip</a> of him armed with a ukulele.The video was first shared by Channel Nine in a tweet on Friday before it quickly circulated online, showing Karl Stefanovic joining in on a family singalong with Scott Morrison and his family, led by Mr Morrison on the ukulele.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">This Sunday on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/60Mins?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#60Mins</a>, meet the Morrisons. 8:40PM on <a href="https://twitter.com/Channel9?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Channel9</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/9Now?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@9Now</a>. <a href="https://t.co/1rQwT8TsPV">pic.twitter.com/1rQwT8TsPV</a>— 60 Minutes Australia (@60Mins) <a href="https://twitter.com/60Mins/status/1491964286545297408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2022</a></blockquote>The clip was a preview of an upcoming episode of 60 Minutes with Mr Morrison and his wife, Jenny, as well as their two daughters, Lily and Abbey.Users on social media were quick to share their thoughts on the PM’s rendition of Dragon’s popular song April Sun in Cuba, with many connecting his performance to his widely-criticised trip to Hawaii.“Extremely cringe,” one person wrote. “Scott Morrison is LITERALLY reminding everyone about that infamous Hawaii trip during the bushfires. All he’s missing is a Hawaiian shirt etc.”Even Today host Ally Langdon got in on the joke, introducing the clip saying: “I think he learned that in Hawaii, didn’t he?”<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">When I was a teenager, we used to call people ‘try hards’ all the time. It was definitely a ‘thing’ in the 90s. I think it’s time to bring back the phrase specifically to describe Scott Morrison playing a ukulele.— Queen Victoria (@Vic_Rollison) <a href="https://twitter.com/Vic_Rollison/status/1491994187776290819?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2022</a></blockquote>Sally McManus, Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, suggested the performance was a cynical ploy to improve Mr Morrison’s image ahead of the federal election.“We need to brace ourselves for how far he will go the more desperate they get,” she wrote on Twitter.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Everbody: "This can't get worse"... Scott Morrison: "Hold my beer"...*takes out a ukelele*....<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ScottyTheCompletePsycho?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ScottyTheCompletePsycho</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/auspol?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#auspol</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/60Mins?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@60Mins</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AlboForPM?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AlboForPM</a> <a href="https://t.co/ZJ22iMpctV">https://t.co/ZJ22iMpctV</a>— John Coates (@JohnCoatess) <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnCoatess/status/1491913001917579265?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 10, 2022</a></blockquote>The 60 Minutes clip comes within a week of the Prime Minister sparking discussion online with his appearance at a hair salon where he washed a woman’s hair.Donning an apron and mask and washing a woman’s hair at Coco’s Salon in Mount Eliza, Victoria, the Prime Minister was labelled as “creepy” and “terrible”, prompting the hashtag #ScottyTheHairdresser to emerge online.Labor MP Kristina Keneally took to the social media platform to poke fun at Mr Morrison and promote Labor’s election promise regarding TAFE.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Labor’s plans for good, secure jobs includes Fee Free TAFE, helping workers of all ages reskill into any profession that’s in demand. <a href="https://t.co/pAsTQr4RmX">pic.twitter.com/pAsTQr4RmX</a>— Kristina Keneally (@KKeneally) <a href="https://twitter.com/KKeneally/status/1489692665624989697?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 4, 2022</a></blockquote>“Under Labor’s Fee Free Tage program, you’ll be able to reskill into any profession that’s in demand,” a graphic she shared read, appearing next to a photo of Mr Morrison with the caption, “Scotty, 53” underneath it.Image: Channel 9

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"I’m the problem, it’s me": Why do musicians revisit their pain and doubt in their art?

“A tragedy for our nation”: Reason for Scott Morrison’s firing 16 years ago revealed

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Taylor Swift receives honorary doctorate

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Bon Scott’s brother discusses AC/DC frontman’s death for the first time

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Lismore flood victims dump ruined belongings outside PM’s house

“How dare you”: PM’s ‘apology’ to Stolen Generations slammed

Legendary band hits back after PM’s ukulele session

"Extremely cringe": Scott Morrison blasted for musical clip

News

Shop

Catalogues

Travel

Health

Lifestyle

Finance

Entertainment

Property

Information

Keep up to date

Search

Unimaginable scenes as Baltimore bridge collapses

Papa Swift vs Paparazzi: Taylor Swift's dad accused of assault

Should Taylor Swift be taught alongside Shakespeare? A professor of literature says yes

Shocking reason why woman was dumped as her best friend’s bridesmaid

How did Taylor Swift get so popular? She never goes out of style

How does a Taylor Swift fan prove their love? Money

Taylor Swift kicks off the Eras tour in sensational style

Great Scott! Michael J. Fox poses with new pup

Neighbours star facing sexual assault charge

"I’m the problem, it’s me": Why do musicians revisit their pain and doubt in their art?

“A tragedy for our nation”: Reason for Scott Morrison’s firing 16 years ago revealed

"Deeply saddened" Prince William demands "swift justice" for tragic death

Taylor Swift receives honorary doctorate

Surprise surprise: ScoMo crash-tackling a child has gone viral

Bon Scott’s brother discusses AC/DC frontman’s death for the first time

Musical home of Taylor Swift up for grabs

Lismore flood victims dump ruined belongings outside PM’s house

“How dare you”: PM’s ‘apology’ to Stolen Generations slammed

Legendary band hits back after PM’s ukulele session

"Extremely cringe": Scott Morrison blasted for musical clip

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