Bold docuseries or dull branding exercise? What The End of an Era really told us about Taylor Swift

In the behind-the-scenes documentary series Taylor Swift : The End of an Era, the singer Florence Welch ascends to the stage to perform their duet Florida!!! to a crowd of 90,000 people. Welch later reflects on their duet at Wembley Stadium with a mix of awe and bemusement. “Taylor is my friend,” she says. “I know her as this very cosy person, and I came out of that lift and I was like, ‘Oh my God, it’s fucking Taylor Swift.’” Military precision … Taylor Swift performing in Lyon in 2024.Photograph: John Shearer/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management Travis Kelce (right) onstage with Swift at Wembley, 22 June 2024.Photograph: Gareth Cattermole/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management If Swift is a cosy person, The End of an Era - now complete, with its concluding episodes dropping today - is certainly a cosy watch; the sort of lighthearted, low-demand viewing that feels especially welcome in the lazy days leading up to Christmas and stretching towards the new year. Viewers will be familiar with the story. The Eras Tour was great, it tells us. It broke records, burst hearts and boosted the economy. We know she pulled it off. This is only a problem insofar as it means there is almost zero jeopardy in the series, which feels repetitive and thinly stretched over its six hour-long episodes. Only the first episode offered true revelations, dwelling on a genuine moment of peril: the aftermath of a foiled Islamic State plot to target her three concerts in Vienna in August 2024, just over a week after three little girls were murdered at a Swift-themed dance class in Southport. Swift is clearly and understandably shaken, but wills herself not to break down in front of the grieving parents she has invited to the show: she is graceful enough to know it’s not a good look to make their loss about her. Much less significant, although still a good titbit, was the revelation that it was Swift’s mother, Andrea, who suggested she try dating a fun-loving athlete instead of another tortured poet, namely NFL star Travis Kelce after he said on his podcast that he was “butt-hurt” he hadn’t been able to meet her at an Eras show. The pair are now engaged. Otherwise, the choice to focus on the tour’s final months - essentially its victory lap - doesn’t particularly make for dramatic storytelling. In this chapter of the tour, Swift is in a happy and secure relationship, and it’s no wonder she had perfected the show with military precision after an entire year of performing it. There are blatant attempts to engineer tension where there is none. We see male dancer Whyley Yoshimura plucking up the courage to ask Swift if he can perform Ready for It?, which is usually an all-female routine (she barely bats an eyelid). There is a plotline concerning a new bodysuit for the Reputation section not being ready in time (it is). One day, Swift has a cough. There is too...

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