Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor's Version)

Available on Disney+

Whether you like it or not, Taylor Swift is one of the most preeminent musicians alive today, an era-defining artist that has grown in stature over the duration of her circa 20-year career. Her record-breaking Eras Tour, which arrives in the UK in June, proves this in a number of ways.

Firstly, the origins of this concert film are befitting of a creative that is looking to leave a mark on their industry, with it coming courtesy of an unprecedented distribution agreement with AMC and Cinemark. This was followed by an unconventional release strategy that prompted a host of distributors to alter the opening date of several properties to avoid having to go toe-to-toe with T-Swizzle. Their apprehension proved to be well founded, with The Eras Tour racking up more than $100m in global pre-sales.

Although that figure is mightily impressive, it pales in comparison to a final take of $261.7m, which distinguishes this as the highest-grossing concert film of all-time. Though much of this success is due to Swift’s cross-generational appeal, it does reaffirm the potential of the medium in a time when the cost of gig tickets are soaring exponentially.

The length and structure of the show also demonstrates Swift’s propensity for doing things a little differently to her peers, with it running for almost three and a half hours and incorporating 10 distinct acts, each of which represent a different era of her career. While not all of these will appeal to more nonchalant viewers such as myself, they do effectively showcase a singer-songwriter that has fastidiously evolved their image and sound over time, with the Red, Folklore, and 1989 acts firmly underlining her credentials as a pop behemoth for the ages.

What is most refreshing about The Eras Tour, and indeed Swift as a performer, is that it is a consciously uncomplicated affair. In contrast to Beyoncé’s powerful and defining Renaissance, it features no soundbites from its star that explain the motivations behind her work, instead preferring to let the music do the talking. While this might expose Swift to characterisations of her and her team being overly cash-oriented, it’s hard not to be enamored by her pure and almost goofy stage presence, which speaks to someone who loves her craft and is undeniably a master of it.