Indianapolis, IN
Everything Taylor Swift said about Indy in the Eras Tour docuseries
Taylor Swift excitement takes over Indianapolis
The city of Indianapolis prepared for Taylor Swift’s stop on The Eras Tour, the airport was decorated to welcome all Swifties.
Stop the presses: Taylor Swift talked about Indianapolis.
Yes, little old us! From the biggest artist in the world’s lips to millions of TV screens across the world, a major Indianapolis moment. We’re even on a nickname basis: She said “Indy.” She likes us, she really likes us!
The Circle City gets a shoutout from Swift and some serious screen time in the fourth episode of “The End of an Era,” the new Disney+ documentary series chronicling Swift’s record-smashing Eras Tour. The six-episode series features behind-the-scenes footage of Swift, her family and friends and the Eras Tour crew throughout her two-year globetrot that clocked 149 shows in 51 cities, including three shows in Indianapolis in November 2024.
Several notable names pop up in the series — Kansas City Chiefs tight end and Swift’s fiancé Travis Kelce, for one, along with her pop protégés Sabrina Carpenter and Gracie Abrams. But the real star of the show in episode four, “Thank You for the Lovely Bouquet”? The downtown Indianapolis JW Marriott, of course.
The hotel is known for plastering graphics of the people, teams and events du jour on the side of its 376-foot building, and Swift got more than a casual nod when Indianapolis relished in the Taylor Treatment. In case you missed it, a so-much-larger-than-life image of Swift — classic red lips, body suit and boots, pink acoustic guitar in hand — graced the building.
Abrams, who opened for Swift in Indianapolis during her Nov. 1, 2 and 3, 2024 shows, spotted the graphic first and texted Swift about it while she was in transit.
“Gracie texted me and she was like, ‘I knew you were tall, but check this out,’” Swift, who stands 5-foot-10, said in the documentary. “I’m on the side of the hotel, like a million feet tall.”
The tribute struck a chord with Swift. Remember that unfortunate “sexy baby” line from “Anti-Hero,” the lead single off her 2022 album “Midnights”? The one where she envisions herself as this colossal omen “slowly lurching toward your favorite city”?
Turns out, being emblazoned on one of Indianapolis’ most notable structures isn’t all that dissimilar.
“I used to have this joke, and that’s part of why I wrote ‘Anti-Hero.’ It’s like, ‘I’m a 5-foot-10 woman followed around by 500-foot-tall monster shadow, and this monster just knocks over buildings and wreaks all this havoc,” Swift continued. “Me being that size tall and I’m a hotel, it’s like, ‘Eh, that’s kind of how it feels sometimes.’”
Local efforts to transform downtown into Swift City paid off in documentary screen time. Cameras captured the friendship bracelet décor strung across The District Tap, renamed street signs like Ready For It Road and Long Live Lane and groups of fans dancing and singing at the corner of Meridian Street and Georgia Street. (And if you crane your neck and really squint, you’ll catch the IndyStar sign outside our former home at the Circle Center Mall.)
Indianapolis had the rare distinction of closing out the Eras Tour’s U.S. dates with Swift’s Nov. 1-3 run of shows. That run also came days before the 2024 presidential election, and the significance of the timing wasn’t lost on Swift.
“The one thing I can provide for people is an escape, like nothing could ever or should ever bother any of us. And nothing will for three-and-a-half hours,” Swift said in the documentary. “I’m glad that I will have given just 100% girlhood and hope and belief and sweat and effort, because that’s the job.”
Contact IndyStar Pop Culture Reporter Heather Bushman at hbushman@usatodayco.com. Follow her on X @hmb_1013.