“I’m here trying to control myself so I don’t cry”: the adventures of Taylor Swift and her ‘swifties’ in a “noisy country” where even a metalhead can fit

Lisbon, early morning of May 25th. It’s almost 1 am and the 726 bus to Sapadores is in chaos. After the show is over and defeated by exhaustion, dozens of Taylor Swift fans are jostling together on that tiny bus, after several frustrated attempts to call a TVDE. The luminous bracelets that were offered to them before the concert, to help set the scene in the audience and on the stands, continue to flash as if the dream had not yet ended, reflected in the sequins that some were wearing. The language heard is English, even charged by whoever is working on that bus, selling tickets while the driver counts the change.