Taylor Swift brought a familiar piece of her record-breaking Eras Tour back to Los Angeles, performing a three-song piano mashup during the Grammy Museum’s “The Icon Sessions with Taylor Swift: A 20-Year Retrospective.” The Aug. 18 event, presented by the Recording Academy’s Songwriters & Composers Wing, featured Swift in conversation with Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. before she returned to the floral-decorated piano she used throughout her tour.
The Recording Academy released the previously private session online, giving fans their first full look at the performance. The appearance also marked Swift’s first public performance following her July wedding to Travis Kelce and her first performance since June, adding another milestone to an event centered on reflecting on her career and songwriting legacy.
Swift combined “I Knew It, I Knew You,” from the Toy Story 5 soundtrack, “August,” from her 2020 album Folklore, and the 10-minute version of “All Too Well,” originally released on Red (Taylor’s Version). The roughly six-minute performance echoed the surprise-song medleys that became a signature of the Eras Tour, which concluded in December 2024.
Before playing, Swift explained that she selected the songs because they share a connection to memory and the experience of revisiting important moments. “It’s songs that are connected to each other by the common theme of being about memory and reliving certain detailed memories of your life, and the significance of those memories,” she said. She also recalled how she would use the acoustic portion of the Eras Tour to experiment with songs that could be combined through similar emotions, rhythms or themes.
The performance was part of a broader conversation about Swift’s two decades as a songwriter, including her evolution from her country beginnings in Nashville and the creative decisions behind some of her best-known songs. Swift also discussed her enduring connection to her country roots, saying she has grown increasingly appreciative of the people and influences that shaped her as an artist.
See the “The Icon Sessions with Taylor Swift: A 20-Year Retrospective” – HERE.
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