If you’re struggling with a cruel summer without the Eras Tour and can’t wait for the release of Taylor Swift’s 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl, on October 3, a new two-part Channel 4 documentary might fill the blank space.
Five years after the release of Miss Americana, Taylor Swift’s Netflix film, Channel 4 is offering an intimate new look into the singer’s rise to global stardom. Directed by Guy King (Bombing Brighton: The Plot to Kill Thatcher, Our Falklands War: A Frontline Story), Taylor showcases rare archival footage of the star as well as revealing commentary from former bandmates, managers and superfans. Here are the major takeaways from the doc.
Her first manager is an antihero
Rick Barker is part mentor, part monster on the hill. He managed Swift during the Fearless era between 2007-8, and oddly described their relationship as ‘being more like two girlfriends’. When Kanye West stormed the VMAs stage in 2009 during Swift’s acceptance speech for the Best Female Video Award for You Belong With Me, Barker saw dollar signs. In the documentary, he recalls: ‘I said somebody give Kanye a hug. We cannot buy that kind of publicity.’
Later, in 2019 when investor Scooter Braun bought the masters to Swift’s first six albums, fuelling a public feud, Barker took Braun’s side. He says he was ‘disappointed’ by the way Swift weaponised her fanbase against the music manager: ‘“No one stole her music, no one made her sign a bad record deal… Scooter Braun made a very good business decision. End of story.’
Stevie Nicks inspired ‘Mean’ (sort of)
At the 2010 Grammys, Swift sang a medley of Rhiannon and You Belong With Me alongside one of her childhood heroes, Stevie Nicks. The performance was unanimously panned by critics. One, Bob Lefsetz, wrote: ‘Now everyone knows Taylor Swift can’t sing… Did Taylor Swift kill her career overnight? I’d argue she did.’ Two years later, Swift was back on the same stage performing Mean, her two-time Grammy-winning song that she penned in response to Lefsetz’s criticism. As Ellis Orrall notes: ‘You don’t pick fights with somebody who’s going to sell 10 million copies of the song that they end up writing about you.’
There’s more in the vault than you know
Diehard Swifties have been waiting for the release of I’d Lie for the best part of 20 years. But there are even more unreleased gems in the vault. Robert Ellis Orrall, who produced her debut album and co-wrote songs like Crazier and I’m Only Me When I’m With You, describes their prodigious early output. In the first two days together, the pair wrote three songs, two of which made it onto her first studio album. He shares Swift’s handwritten lyrics for The Outside, as well as dozens of CDs of unreleased songs that Swift wrote from the age of 11.
The original Swifty got to meet her idol
The first time superfan Holly Armstrong saw Taylor Swift perform it was on a makeshift stage on the boardwalk at Point Pleasant Beach in New Jersey in 2003. The crowd was made up of around 20 people, and Swift’s brother Austin handed out signed demos. Armstrong says she listened to the two tracks, Lucky You and Smokey Black Nights on repeat for years. Speaking of the role the CD played in her life, she says: ‘That CD was my friend… [It] was armour for me.’ Sixteen years on she posted an Instagram video of all the Taylor Swift memorabilia she’d collected. It went viral, catching the attention of Swift herself, who invited her to her house for a fan-only listening party for new album Lover.
Taylor’s mum is the mastermind behind the operation
Swift’s mother Andrea is as recognisable to Swifties as friendship bracelets and the red scarf hidden at the back of Maggie Gyllenhaal’s closet. She has been her daughter’s manager and mentor throughout her career, helping to shape her image not as a sexualised pop star but a serious singer-songwriter. She’s referenced in many of Swift’s songs and laid the foundations for her daughter’s meteoric rise. ‘I think that was always the plan for her, to be as famous as she is now,’ says Stumler. ‘What I watched was all the tools being put in the box to get her there.’
Swift’s first tour bus was once owned by a pop diva
If you thought Swift’s shift from country to pop was a gear change, there’s an even more extreme career pivot in this story. Emily Poe Stumler, once Swift’s fiddle player and backing vocalist, is now a prosecuting attorney in Indiana. She describes working with the teen star as ‘sort of like having a younger sister who was also your boss’. The pair played more than 300 shows in 2007 alone, including at the church of country music, the Grand Ole Opry. In the doc, she remembers touring with Swift in what was once Cher’s leopard print-adorned tour bus.
LeAnn Rimes helped Swift build her Great American Dynasty
Swift’s love of country music and approach to her fans were inspired by Can’t Fight the Moonlight hitmaker LeAnn Rimes. At her first concert, aged 8, she was moved by how Rimes remembered her name from fan mail, and vowed one day to pass on that same feeling to her fans. Fast forward a few years and Swift is seen taking the time to interact with her fans on Myspace and Tumblr. ‘I think it’s important to keep that personal contact,’ she tells an interviewer. She’s also seen hand delivering personalised Christmas gifts to people from her online community. A multi-platinum hit machine and Santa, too.
Taylor airs at 9.15pm Tuesday, September 30 on Channel 4.
