There’s no doubt that Taylor Swift’s fan base (Swifties) are nothing short of dedicated, consistently helping the singer to break records in the music industry for over a decade. However, the fan project turned trend that started at The Era’s Tour showed a new kind of dedication outside of streaming her music. Fans attending The Era’s Tour spent hours creating beaded bracelets to bring to the show, pouring time and energy into handcrafting something heartfelt and sentimental.

Taylor Swift’s 2022 album Midnights, features the track “You’re on Your Own Kid” in which she sings the lines, “Make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it. You’ve got no reason to be afraid”. Fans heard these lyrics and did exactly that, creating friendship bracelets to trade at tour shows. The song is a coming-of-age anthem, perfectly reflecting the nostalgia of making friendship bracelets. Besides the community aspect, creating friendship bracelets is a way for many fans to tap into their inner child, reminiscing over doing the activity as a young person. For so many fans, they have grown up alongside Taylor Swift, her music soundtracking their lives. Drawing upon the nostalgia of this activity allows them to reflect on all different eras of Swift’s music they listened to growing up and symbolises their journey as a fan.

Live music is known for creating community and bringing people together, being able to be in a room celebrating your mutual love for a singer or genre is a key aspect of fandom. For The Era’s Tour, this creation of community began before the music even started, sometimes before even entering the venue.

Fans traded bracelets as a way to connect and engage with other fans. You gain a piece of their fan story and have the opportunity to start a conversation that you may never have had otherwise. It doesn’t matter who you are, you are all there thanks to your love of one artist. The trading sparked intergenerational friendships. It was completely inclusive. The trading and opportunity for conversation went beyond fan to fan connections. Many fans were able to give bracelets to members of Swift’s team to be passed onto the singer as well as interact and trade bracelets with celebrities in the VIP section. The community extended beyond those at the show for leisure, with fans also trading with police and venue staff.

So now that The Era’s Tour is over, how does this legacy live on? Although this trend was created for The Era’s Tour, fans continue to make and trade bracelets at any Taylor Swift themed event they can – from cinema screenings of Taylor Swift: The Era’s Tour Concert Film, to Taylor Swift themed club nights. The friendship bracelet trend has even extended beyond Swifties, with other fans making friendship bracelets to take to concerts of their favourite artists. Transcending music, the trend has now been adopted by other fandoms, with many Formula 1 fans trading bracelets with each other and drivers at races.

Friendship bracelets are more than just a fan project. They represent community and sentimental value for fans.