LOS ANGELES-Today is the 10th annniversary of the release of Taylor Swift's self-titled first album, and this weekend she celebrated that incredible milestone in front of a crowd of 80,000 with her first and only show of the year in Austin, Texas.
The 'Bad Blood' singer took to the Circuit of The Americas race track in Austin on Saturday night to perform an amalgamation of both new and old hits. Of course, as the end of October draws near, fans are hoping that she will drop a surprise album very soon to continue her biennial October tradition, with her last record - '1989' - having come out on October 27th 2014.
Alas, a one-off show might be the best we get from Swift this year, anniversary or no anniversary. However, it was an epic concert for those who were lucky enough to attend so perhaps it's a decent compromise. As well as performing recent pop hits the likes of 'Blank Space' and 'I Knew You Were Trouble', she re-visited her country-pop days with renditions of early material like 'You Belong With Me' and 'Fifteen', ending her 80 minute set with the uplifting 2014 single 'Shake It Off'. She also completed a piano version of her ex-boyfriend Calvin Harris' single 'This Is What You Came For'; the song that she co-wrote with Harris, originally under the pseudonym Nils Sjöberg, and which also featured Rihanna.
'As a songwriter, the most rewarding feeling in the world is writing something and having a crowd sing it back to you because you know the words', she told her audience.
'I never played this song live before, but you know it. Maybe you can sing along.'
There have been reports all year speculating about what she's planning for her next album. Her love life, for example, was the source of much scepticism; many wondered if her very public break-up with Calvin Harris then sudden romance with 'The Night Manager' star Tom Hiddleston was some kind of publicity stunt, especially given the shameless cheesiness of their PDAs and their unusual disregard for the paparazzi watching.
But by the time that summer fling fizzled out, we were back to square one and now it looks like we'll have to wait a little longer for album number six.