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18 things we learned from Taylor Swift's '1989 World Tour' documentary

Taylor Swift’s giddy cries of “Please welcome to the stage…” are still ringing in our ears, but the time has come: After 85 shows and seemingly endless special guests, the 1989 World Tour is finally over.

It won’t soon be forgotten, though, in part because The 1989 World Tour (Live) documentary is now available to stream on Apple Music, giving broke Swifties who didn’t attend the tour a chance to experience the magic. But even if you did catch the tail of this comet, you still might learn something new from the documentary, which intersperses full, sparkling, neon-tinged footage from Swift’s Sydney, Australia stop with commentary from the star, and clips from other cities’ shows.

For those who don’t have Apple Music (or the 2 hours and 11 minutes required to watch the full documentary), here are 18 things we learned from The 1989 World Tour (Live) , in no particular order:

1. “Blank Space” is Swift’s favorite moment of every show

She loves playing the seductive serial dater who becomes obsessed with her boyfriends and then goes crazy. “When I wrote ‘Blank Space,’ I just thought, all right, if [the media] want[s] me to play this character … this whole image of the jet-setting, tragic mess, cool,” Swift said. “I’ll write a song from that perspective and see how you like it.” As we’ve known since 1989 came out in 2014, the song hit its mark: “It ended up being the biggest song I’ve ever had,” she said.

2. She didn’t bring special guests on stage just to brag about her squad — it was essentially a tactic to combat spoilers and keep an element of surprise every night

“Every person in the audience probably knows what costumes I’m going to wear,” Swift explained. “They could know the set list if they really wanted to, so I decided to start inviting special guests out.”

3. The remixed version of “I Knew You Were Trouble” she played on tour was phenomenal.

Okay, this is a personal opinion, but watching this funky, piano-heavy version of “Trouble” really might make you wish you’d gotten tickets to this tour, if you missed it. At least we have it on video …

4. She has Mick Jagger’s cell phone number (and uses it)

When Swift was on a hike in Nashville before that city’s concert, her dad called her. “I pick up the phone and Dad’s like, ‘My friend swears he was sitting next to Mick Jagger at lunch yesterday,’ ” Swift said. “So I text Mick, and I said, ‘Hey, are you in town? I’m playing a show tomorrow. Do you want to come out and sing “Satisfaction?””‘ He just writes back, ‘What will I wear?’ “

(We’re going to start slipping that line into every story from now on. “So I text Mick …”)

5. Losing the 2014 Grammy for Album of the Year to Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories inspired her to write 1989

“I ended up going home thinking a lot about everything,” Swift said of that 2014 evening. “[I was] thinking about where I was going, what I’d been doing. … I needed to change something. I went to bed, and I woke up at 4 in the morning and I knew what the next album needed to be: ‘I need to completely switch gears, it needs to be called 1989 … everything has to be different.’ “

6. Swift is the one who suggested Alanis Morissette “slap” her in the face while the two performed the line, “It was a slap in the face / How quickly I was replaced”

Her rationale? “Bruises heal, but the moment lasts forever.”

7. She pulled out all the stops for her special guests — including changing the color of the audience.

“We can program the bracelets to be absolutely any color,” Swift said. “So the first thing I ask them is, ‘What color do you want the audience to be?’ ” She’d be a great concierge in Panem’s Capitol, right? “Pyro is another option we provided for many of the guests,” she said.

8. She loves huggging Wiz Khalifa

“At the end of our performance, there was a hug that lasted for like four years,” Swift said. “I remember thinking, ‘I just don’t want this hug to end!’ “

9. Swift used beach towels and nail polish to explain the tour’s runway to her model friends

And Karlie Kloss secretly filmed the whole thing — including the excitement backstage.

10. Swift calls professional athletes “sports players”

“If an actor or a sports player wanted to come to the show, I’d invite them up on stage, because why not?” she said.

11. Her band can learn a song in less than an hour

And, given the fact that most of Swift’s artist guests got to perform their own songs with her, that’s a lot of different genres Swift’s band had to perfect. Kudos to them.

12. Justin Timberlake was slightly worried about the pyrotechnics

“Don’t you burn me, Taylor,” he warned.

13. Also, Swift thinks Timberlake is “our generation’s Frank Sinatra”

Hey, he does have blue eyes!

14. John Legend’s appearance happened at the very last minute

“John Legend happened to be coming to the concert just to watch it,” Swift said, “but in my head I’m like, ‘I know this show starts in 40 minutes, but I want John Legend to sing.’ ” And he did.

15. It was Swift’s idea for Miranda Lambert to emerge atop “a throne made of men”

“I was half expecting her to be like, ‘I’m not doing that,’ ” Swift said, “but she was so down.” Uh, yeah.

16. Swift got to be the sixth member of Fifth Harmony — just for a night

She had the girls teach her the choreography to “Worth It” in their dressing room, then borrowed one of Camila Cabello’s extra costumes to perform the song with the group onstage. “Camila says, ‘I have an extra costume. Do you want to dress like one of us?’ ” Swift said. “And I said, ‘Obviously.’ “

17. Mary J. Blige’s song “Doubt” really speaks to Swift

“It really hit me because I’m so doubtful of myself constantly,” Swift confessed. “No matter what I achieve … That song really struck a chord with me, and I remember thinking it would be amazing if I could ever sing that with her.” Reader, she did.

18. The end of the 1989 World Tour was extra emotional for Swift and her team because they hadn’t gotten sick of it yet

“We didn’t drag it out,” she said. “We didn’t wait til we got sick of it. We’re still in love with it.” And so, it seems, are we.

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IMAGES

  1. The 1988 World Tour

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  2. Taylor Swift’s 12 Best Outfits from the 1989 World Tour Photos

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  3. Taylor Swift's Shake It Off + 1988 Crystal Light Aerobics Championship

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  4. Harkins Theatres

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  5. The 1988 World Tour

    1988 tour taylor swift

  6. Album Cover

    1988 tour taylor swift

COMMENTS

  1. 18 things we learned from Taylor Swift's '1989 World Tour

    Taylor Swift’s giddy cries of “Please welcome to the stage…” are still ringing in our ears, but the time has come: After 85 shows and seemingly endless special guests, the 1989 World Tour ...