Taylor Swift performs in 'Swiftkirchen'

It was a totally spontaneous decision: Jasmin already sported some tattoos, so why not add the signature of her favorite singer to her collection of body art? The 29-year-old grins as the tattoo artist inks Taylor Swift's signature onto her arm for €100 ($109).

Jasmin has traveled from Oldenburg, in northwest Germany, to Gelsenkirchen in the Ruhr Valley to see the superstar perform live. The Germany leg of Swift's Eras Tour kicked off there on Wednesday, with some 180,000 fans estimated to be in attendance.

Two more shows are set to follow in Gelsenkirchen, after which Swift heads to Hamburg and Munich.

The tattoo artist's stand is part of the fan festival taking place on a plaza in the center of the city, a few kilometers away from the concert venue. "Taylor Town," it's called. Fans make and exchange bracelets, a common activity among "Swifties," take photos with the people running Swift-themed stands, and dance to a DJ's 10-hour-long playlist of music  — music that they'll be hearing live later tonight.

Taylor Swift: A pop phenomenon

At 34, Swift is arguably the biggest pop phenomenon of our time. She released her debut album, the eponymous "Taylor Swift," in 2006. It was pure country music, and it landed her in spot five on the US charts.

In 2012 she crossed over into pop music, a move that angered some conservative segments of the country scene, but proved that Swift had a good sense for business. 

Swift seems approachable; her show is as inoffensive as it gets. People are still shocked when she drops a curse word, which she does in her latest album. Her image is so clean that she's been used by right-wing circles in the US as a poster girl: blond, white, friendly. 

Her personal politics, however, trend in the opposite direction. She supported the Equality Act, the decision to make Juneteenth a federal holiday, and the removal of Confederate statues from her home state of Tennessee. She also backed Joe Biden in his successful presidential run in 2020. 

Culture scholar Jörn Glasenapp even believes Swift could help the Democrats hold the White House in the upcoming presidential election. In an interview with German radio broadcaster Deutschlandfunk, he explained that she could, for instance, motivate a few thousand of her fans in swing states to cast potentially decisive votes. Swift has yet to comment on the upcoming election. 

German interest in Swift has remained relatively minimal, possibly due to her country roots.

Singles like "Shake It Off" and "Blank Space" could be heard on German radio, but only seven singles from a total of 11 studio albums have ever made it into the German top 10 — a relatively small number in international comparison, but enough to sell out seven stadium concerts in just a few hours.

Superstar with political influence

The roots of Swift's incredible success go beyond her talent as a singer-songwriter: She writes and composes the majority of her songs herself. She exudes an aura of authenticity, which allows people to project their own ideas onto her. Her songs have to do with daily life; with broken, bleeding, bursting hearts. She often works through her relationships in her music; their short duration used to be a running gag in pop music, such as her well-known, brief romantic liaison with British singer Harry Styles.

But Swift controls the narrative here, turning jokes into feminist critique, like how men can sleep around but women had better control themselves. And suddenly, she has some new thematic material for her songs. At the same time, her fans excitedly try to figure out which lines refer to which ex.

Her music videos and publicity images include hidden clues about upcoming projects — "Easter eggs" for her fans, who feel validated if they guessed right. Customer loyalty is everything. It's no surprise that her fans see themselves as a particularly friendly and open community.

Few grumbles, lots of enthusiasm

Gelsenkirchen, the big unknown among the tour stops, also features a Swift merchandise stand with never-ending lines. But not everyone is so excited. One convenience store saleswoman thinks all the "fuss" is excessive. "They don't do this for Rammstein," she says. "What crappy music," an old man passing by exclaims. There has been some complaining, of course.

Gelsenkirchen has temporarily turned into "Swiftkirchen" — street signs bearing the name can be seen scattered across the city, thanks to the work of one fan. An ice cream shop sells the flavor "Swiftkirchen" ( strawberry cream) while an artist has painted a large picture on the pavement behind the nearby city hall. A branch of a global sandwich chain has placed a cardboard cutout of the singer in the window. And whoever steps out of the train station is greeted by streamers and the queen of pop's songs turned up to the max. From there, a tram covered in Swift photos takes concert attendees to the stadium.

The superstar herself arrived in the more upscale city of Dusseldorf. Gelsenkirchen, a city that has been hit hard by economic change, could really use the extra revenue that the Swift concerts bring in. The cheaper tickets even attracted fans from the US. "Gelsenkirchen has traveled around the world," a city spokesperson said. Jasmin, the young woman from Oldenburg, can also now say she has been to "Swiftkirchen."

This article was originally written in German.