Whether you’re a tortured poet or not, you’ve probably heard Taylor Swift dropped a new album recently. The team over at the Springfield Museums Seymour Planetarium definitely have and created a light show to songs from each of Swift’s albums, including her latest - "The Tortured Poet’s Department."
It only took Swifties in Springfield a mere three weeks to memorize the lyrics to the song “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” off of Taylor Swift’s newest album anthology, "The Tortured Poet’s Department."
Around 70 Swifties, the self-described name her fans have given themselves, were seated in the planetarium. They were looking up at the dome projecting a complex series of lights and colors to her songs.
Everyone in the planetarium was beaming while sporting their friendship bracelets and Swift inspired shirts. Including 15-year-old Aubrielle Hevey.
“I'm a really big fan of Taylor Swift and it's really cool that it's on the big dome and it's all around you,” Hevey said.
The light show also attracted not the most die-hard Swiftie, but lover of her music, 32-year-old Katie Barsevich.
“I'm really here for the music,” Barsevich said. “But I did get to go to the Eras tour and it was amazing. I'm not gonna lie.”
Barsevich said she’s been enjoying the diversity of events from the Springfield Museums.
“I've lived in Springfield for almost a decade now, so when the programming came out, especially in the last year for the planetarium, I was really excited to see some events that I was interested in. When this one popped up, I was excited,” Barsevich said.
This special two-day event featured one song from each of Swift's albums spanning a two-hour show with intermission. It’s like a mini-Eras tour for residents in the region.
Guests heared classic chants from the concert like the iconic double-clap during the song, “You Belong with Me” off her second album, "Fearless," and, of course, got to scream out their favorite lyrics.
At around the show’s halfway point, Kevin Kopchynski, STEM curator at the Springfield Museums, came out and showed the audience a view of the night’s sky on Swift’s birthday, December 13th 1989.
“There probably weren't too many nights on a December 13th when both a full moon and Jupiter were showing up low in the northeast sky,” Kopchynski said.
The event has become so popular the museum has extended dates through June 30th for a light show featuring all the songs from Swift’s album, "1989."
Jonah Powers, 21, and devoted Swiftie, said he enjoys the educational approach in this light show.
“I like the crossover moment,” Powers said. “I do love a good educational and then also Swiftie thing…it's unique, like no one else is doing this. So it's like a special, exclusive thing.”
His mom, also the director of Science at the Springfield Museums, Jenny Powers, said she loves Taylor Swift and hopes these visitors will come back for other programs at the museum.
“I want happy museum visitors,” Powers said. “And the real predictor for me is will they come back and see some science afterward? What we hope is that Taylor Swift is a gateway to planetariums in general.”
Powers said they’re in the early stages of planning a mixed-artists jazz event for this summer. She said she’s open to trying other artists, but knew she’d have a big draw featuring Taylor Swift as an artist. Checkmate, she couldn’t lose.
