- The exhibit will be on display through February 2, 2025. Tickets are much more reasonable than Swift’s concert tour tickets.
True confession. I’m not a Swiftie. But I do find it fun to keep up with the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce romance. It has made watching football fun again.
Taylor Swift, in case you live under a rock, is a 34-year-old singer, songwriter, musician, producer, director, and a 14-time GRAMMY award winner. One could argue she is the most successful recording artist of the last two decades, breaking countless records on the Billboard charts, streaming charts, and recently in movie theaters with the release of her concert film, Taylor Swift/The Eras Tour. She has an estimated global sale of over 200 million records. She is the first billionaire musician, and the highest-grossing female touring act.
Her fans call themselves “Swifties,” and they will go to great lengths to see Taylor Swift in concert. Many Americans traveled to Europe over the summer to see her because they couldn’t get concert tickets for the sold-out shows in the United States. When three concerts in Vienna had to be canceled this summer after a foiled terror plot to kill thousands of concert goers, fans took the streets and joined in singing their favorite Taylor Swift songs.
I saw a Facebook post today offering two tickets to the Taylor Swift concert in New Orleans on October 25 for $2000 each. That’s $4000 to take your little Swiftie to see the music legend live, not to mention the gas there and back, lodging in New Orleans (if you can find a room – her two October 25 and 26 are complete sell-outs), plus meals.
My suggestion is to take a day trip to the Delta and see the Taylor Swift: Through the Eras exhibit at the GRAMMY Museum Mississippi in Cleveland. Sponsored by Visit Mississippi, the exhibit celebrates Swift’s 18-year career from her self-titled debut album through her most recent release, The Tortured Poet’s Department. (Fun fact: There are two GRAMMY Museums in the world – one in Los Angeles, CA, and one in Cleveland, MS.)
I was there the day the exhibit opened, and it was as much fun seeing the little Swifties dressed in pink and sequins as it was walking through the exhibit. The GRAMMY Museum itself is an impressive building, with state-of-the-art permanent exhibits. The Taylor Swift exhibit is seamlessly set in the main hall of the museum.
Upon entering the museum, visitors are encouraged to go into the auditorium where a short film is played on a loop throughout the day. After walking through the GRAMMY Hall of Fame room, you will enter the main hall flanked with giant photos of Taylor Swift. The exhibit showcases costumes and instruments representative of each of Swift’s eleven eras.
Some of the most notables are the Max Azria dress worn during tour performances from her first album in 2007 and a custom Marina Toybina ensemble and Laduca boots worn during Swift’s performance of “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” on the 55th annual GRAMMY Awards telecast in 2013. Also on display is the custom Jessica Jones bodysuit and jacket and Chrstian Louboutin boots worn by Swift during her 2018 Reputation stadium tour.
Visitors can also get an up-close look at the Stella McCartney coat featured on the album cover evermore, and the Free People coat featured on Swift’s music video for Midnights single, “Lavender Haze.”
If fashion isn’t your thing, you may prefer to focus on some of Swift’s instruments on display- including Swift’s custom Taylor GS6 “Sparkle Guitar” played throughout her Fearless Tour in 2009 – 2010, covered in thousands of sparkling crystals. Also on display is the red sparkle top Gibson Les Paul played by Swift during her Speak Now World Tour and the Gibson J180 guitar played during her City of Lover concert in Paris, France celebrating the release of her 2019 release, Lover.
The museum offers many interactive displays that keep younger children occupied. Be sure to spend some time on the GRAMMY stage and channel your inner Taylor Swift at the microphone.
The exhibit will be on display through February 2, 2025. The GRAMMY Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 3 p.m. The ticket price is much more reasonable than Swift’s concert tour tickets. Adult tickets are $16, and seniors 65 and older get a $4 discount. Tickets for kids five to seven are $8, and children four and under are admitted free.
The GRAMMY Museum is located at 800 West Sunflower Road in Cleveland, Mississippi.
Susan Marquez
