Swifties aren’t afraid to permanently seal their love for the star with a tattoo. (Buda Mendes/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management/
Katelin Humm)
The Eras Tour in Australia is almost underway, and it turns out that Taylor Swift fans are going beyond record downloads, merch, or concert tickets.
Her fans are instead getting tattooed to permanently pledge their loyalty to the singer ahead of her Australian tour dates, starting 16 February.
Self-described Swiftie Katelin Humm nabbed tickets for all three Eras Tour dates in Melbourne and Sydney. Naturally, she has a tattoo of the pop superstar’s face on her arm.
Humm, a Geelong-based business owner, had the Taylor-inspired tarot card inked onto her skin last year at House of Wolves Tattoo in the city of Victoria. “I’ve been a Swiftie since 2008 and I have a lot of tattoos already,” she told PinkNews. “So a Taylor tattoo was already on the cards.”
She found the design on Etsy, and purchased it “immediately”. Humm added: “I have another tarot card of characters from my favourite book series Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, so sticking to the tarot theme seemed really fun”.
While the reception to the tattoo of the four-time Album of the Year Grammy award-winner has mostly been positive, “some people have absolutely thought I was insane for going that full-on with her entire face”.
While some Swifties have opted for the singer’s face, others on social media have shared their lyric-inspired design ideas for permanent ink, or even depicted a symbol from one of her songs.
Even tattoo artists in the country are noticing a rise in Swift-related tattoos ahead of the star’s seven-show run in Australia.
Courtney Mather, 26, works at By Shaylin Studio in Hampton Park, Melbourne, and has been fully booked for the weekend of Swift’s Melbourne concerts since December 2023.
“As soon as Taylor announced the Australian tour, I noticed an uptick of Taylor Swift-related tattoos,” she told us. “Taylor tattoos are in high demand!”
Mather went viral on TikTok after posting one of her tattoo designs inspired by the singer. “I am definitely gaining more enquiries regarding Taylor tattoos every day, and I am very grateful to have a community of Swifties trusting me to tattoo their body!”
She believes the “depth” of Swift’s lyrics — which may have been a factor for her Best Pop Vocal Album win at the Grammys — is the reason why Swifties are getting tattooed. “I have found the majority of my clients can relate to the lyrics of the song of the tattoo they have chosen.
“My clients resonate with the [chosen] song, and a tattoo is a perfect way to express it as art on their body.”
Despite the UK run of Eras Tour dates not taking place for another four months for a 7 June start date, tattoo artists in the country are already inundated with Swift-inspired bookings.
Ellis Arch, a 32-year-old fellow Swiftie in the Midlands, UK, has been tattooing for 13 years. Arch has had “several” bookings from customers in the UK and overseas looking to combine a Taylor tattoo with their Eras Tour trip to commemorate the event.
The tattoo artist, who lives with her girlfriend Mollie told us: “I’m so busy in June and August because of this, I am very grateful!”
With this in mind, the Tudor Row Tattoo studio owner in Lichfield, Staffordshire, decided to launch a Get What You Get (Taylor’s Version) tattoo machine.
“The machine isn’t new to the industry, but usually it produces a specific design,” she explained. “I wanted [my customers] to still have control in deciding which tattoo they could pick.”
The machine, instead, depicts a specific era and subsequent album of the singer. “From here, the customer can choose a design based on that era,” she explained. “This has been really popular on social media.
“My TikTok specifically has gone from a cute little personal diary with a small local reach to a massive jump in views with Taylor content!”
She continued: “I think the combination of Taylor being such a relatable artist and the desire to have tattoos with such meaning results in people wanting a Taylor tattoo.
“In a way, it’s being part of a tribe and the Swiftie community is so welcoming and warm,” Arch concluded.