“Taylor Swift Sunbaenim” — How The Singer Is Going K-Pop During Her “Eras” Tour

With K-Pop’s worldwide popularity, it has become more common to see unexpected crossovers between idols and western artists. From working with idols on tracks, like BTS J-Hope‘s “On The Street” with J.Cole…

…to Wednesday star Emma Myers proudly repping her status as a fan of SEVENTEEN, one cannot deny K-Pop’s influence.

emma myers is just doing anything what do u mean she got jennifer garner to do fighting 😭😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/zMj06Uoj3B

— g (@kidultryu) March 16, 2023

Taylor Swift is another artist who has shown love to a K-Pop group, showing off her BLINK status before and during the 2022 Video Music Awards.

@taylorswift

Team All Too Well bringing the emotional pain to the VMAs… 🧣

♬ Pink Venom – BLACKPINK

Taylor Swift singing along to #BLACKPINK’s Pink Venom at the #VMAs! pic.twitter.com/D7PRfy4YO3

— 🖤✨ (@jenniesrenes) August 29, 2022

Now, the singer has unexpectedly “gone K-Pop” during her new tour, surprising fans.

Taylor Swift recently kicked off the first dates of her long-awaited Eras tour. The world tour so far has only announced North American dates. Still, it has already made a massive impact as one of the primary reasons the United States Justice Department has launched an investigation into Ticketmaster.

Though the struggle to get tickets was very real, fans were able to enjoy the first night of the tour, where Taylor performed for more than three hours!

However, something stood out to fans online before the show even started. As standard with concerts, a merchandise stand was opened before the show where fans could buy all sorts of items, including a water bottle and a tapestry.

Included in the merch was something very familiar to K-Pop fans — a lightstick!

Labeled a light baton, Taylor Swift’s lightstick features colored photos of her from different “eras” throughout her career.

While she has sold simple “light sticks” before, Swifties and K-Pop fans couldn’t help but joke about how this light baton is a step toward K-Pop-styled lightsticks.

the kpopification of taylor swift she has a light stick 😭😭😭

— squid || fan account FOLLOW FOR ERAS TOUR UPDATES (@greedymotivez) March 17, 2023

TAYLOR SWIFT SUNBAENIM LIGHTSTICK https://t.co/p89ouUBXSK

— hugo is a mastermind (@brykarl_) March 18, 2023

taylor swift lightstick oh i will be getting this and putting it next to my loona keychain lightstick https://t.co/XIFldhvYCU pic.twitter.com/0GmH1sYvgl

— melly ??!?!!? 🌙 ERAS TOUR 6/2 (@madokasolosgoku) March 17, 2023