WHY YOU NEED TO GO TO A TAYLOR SWIFT DANCE PARTY ASAP
It's the most wholesome night out you can imagine, and you have to try it.
It's midnight, and DJ Rog, the viral TikTok creator who kicked off the Taylor Swift Dance Party craze with his Swift-themed club nights in Australia, stands in front of a screaming sold-out crowd at Toronto's Opera House, a red scarf at his neck. "All Too Well", Swift's ten-minute-long tear jerker, has the crowd in an emotional frenzy as they sing as one at the top of their lungs, stomping their feet to punctuate the angst, closing their eyes with arms stretched overhead, hugging their friends and crying. If you close your eyes, you can almost pretend it is Taylor Swift on the stage, not a part-time DJ from Australia. The energy is as electric as any concert, filled with die-hard 'Swifties' who know every word, girls in outfits representing various eras of Swift's career, and casual fans caught up in the promise of a fun night out.
Across North America and the world, there are Taylor Parties popping up all over, headed up by various DJs and event companies, some for charity, some not. It's a fantastic, relatively inexpensive evening out, and here are 5 reasons why you should go to the next Taylor Swift event in your area.
The Joy of Fandom
I would say I like Taylor Swift slightly more than the average person, but on the Swiftie scale, I hardly register. I don't own her iconic cardigan, or any merch of hers for that matter, I can't identify the deep cuts from her early albums, and I only just learned the names of her cats. But, like many, her songs speak to me. They have become a staple in the soundtrack of my life, and since Taylor is my age, with each of her album releases, the experiences and big feelings expressed in her lyrics have often lined up perfectly with mine. There is something totally freeing about being surrounded by a fandom. Whether you are part of it or not, the joy of likeminded people seeing their passions reflected in others is a powerful thing, and when hundreds of people share that experience simultaneous, the result is electric.
A Safe Space to Feel All the Feels
A side benefit of being surrounded by likeminded fans experiencing the same emotional reaction to the music as you are is a safe space to feel all your feels. In a world that too quickly deems emotional displays and (Taylor Swift herself!) 'cringe', a Taylor Swift club night embraces and celebrates the high highs and the low lows brought out by her storytelling. It was magical and cathartic to scream along to songs like "I Knew You Were Trouble" in a packed club of people who also related to them all too well, shaking off life's troubles with boundless enthusiasm and unapologetic excitement.
The Remix
One of the appeals of these club nights is the talented DJs putting their spin on Swift's material. DJ Rog is arguably the original, his mashups are "lit", in the words of Taylor Swift herself, and there is no question that they added to the hyped up vibes at the Toronto show, but there are now a plethora of other DJs doing similar remixing across the world. Unlike when you are dancing to Taylor in your kitchen with a glass of wine (just me?), these DJs give you her songs like you've never heard them before.
Dance Like No One is Watching
If you're like me, a lot of your clubbing experience usually involves warding off unwanted male attention. There is a reason cis straight women end up in gay bars so often for girls' nights: it's a place away from the cis straight male gaze. Taylor Swift Dance Parties have that same energy. Like a slumber party, bachelorette party, spa weekend, girls' night in... it's a space with decidedly feminine energy, no guys hitting on you, no dancing while trying to make eye contact with that cute guy at the bar, no sleazy guys trying to buy you drinks or dancing up on you. It removes the whole meat market element of clubbing, which makes for a great night out.
The Vibe
Every woman knows that the bathroom at a club is a magical place of drunken sisterhood. The tipsy girl bonding that happens in front of dirty mirrors and between stall doors that don't quite lock is unlike anything else in the world. I'm still mutuals on Instagram with a girl who lent me a safety pin on Halloween of 2014, among others. It's a place where girls stop each other from texting exes, hype up strangers with compliments, and take care of each other. THAT'S the vibe of a Taylor Swift event. There's the rare straight guy there, but mostly it's a club filled with shes, theys, and gays, and it is excellent.
No matter which city, which organizer or promoter, which DJ, there is a reason these events sell out so quickly so often. I strongly recommend the experience, and can't wait to go again!
Have you been to a Taylor Swift club night? Would you? Let me know in the comments!
