Taking it in one's stride, the Taylor Swift way

From break-ups to heartbreak, American pop icon Taylor Swift has endured it all. What could a bug possibly do? Audiences at the US leg of her ongoing ‘Eras Tour’ concert found out on June 4.

The ‘Shake It Off’ and ‘Love Story’ hit maker was in the middle of her concert, with her audience at Chicago enraptured, when Swift began to cough vigorously all of a sudden. She had swallowed a bug that was flying around her stage.

Audiences may have been visibly surprised, but the singer put them at ease immediately, even as she was coughing and choking. “I swallowed a bug, I’m so sorry,” she said in a video shared on social media.

Anyone may have turned pink with embarrassment at such an incident, but Swift’s sense of humour came to the fore. “Is there any chance that none of you saw that?” she said to laughs from the audience.

“It’s totally fine, it’s just stupid,” the singer — who’s rumoured to be dating ‘1975’ frontman Matt Healey — said, adding that the bug was “delicious”.

“Okay, so I’m just going to try not to do as many of those,” the singer said, referring to the winged creatures present around the venue. “This is going to happen again tonight.”

The audience could count itself lucky. They had a rare peek at Swift’s extemporaneous reaction, even as millions of ‘Swifties’ — or fans of the entertainer are called — are moving pillar to post to get tickets to her concerts, however expensive they may be. According to US media reports, secondary sales of tickets start at $1,000 (Dh3,670) and can go as high as $8,000 (Dh29,384), excluding other fees. Investigations were also launched after ticketing websites crashed following unprecedented demand.

A museum in New York, the Associated Press reported, features dozens of costumes and objects spanning her music videos, tours and awards show performances — such as the lace gown she wore when performing ‘All Too Well’ on the Red Tour to the “key to the castle” featured in the video for ‘Bejewelled’. And this museum is drawing ‘Swifties’ who are seeking solace by the dozen.

Swift kicked off the first concert of the 52-date Eras Tour with a six-song set from her album ‘Lover’ in March at Glendale, Arizona. The town renamed itself ‘Swift City’ for two days in honour of the singer, whose repertoire rules playlists and streaming hours on websites like Spotify. She was also invited to be the mayor of Tampa in Florida for a day.