Continuing the trend established during The Red Tour, Taylor Swift brought many special guests out to surprise concert-goers during The 1989 Tour, which took place in 2015. This time around, she invited a variety of people from different fields, including models, actors, and public figures. Of course, she commonly invited musicians to perform on stage with her, too. During her performance in Miami, Florida, Taylor invited a musician onstage whose album she said she had bought at age ten.
Fan cheers swelled around the arena as Ricky Martin came out to join Taylor onstage, immediately launching into his classic 90s hit ‘Livin La Vida Loca’. In a smart black shirt, Ricky danced his way down to stand next to Taylor, who shimmied beside him in a sparkling silver dress. As if the vocalists’ performance wasn’t stunning enough on its own, they were joined by backup dancers and a brass band as pyrotechnics erupted on stage, sending sparks flying to the top of the arena.
Viewers of the video were stunned by the scale of the production, as well as the collaboration between the two iconic performers, with one online viewer commenting, “This is why Taylor is such a legendary superstar, she goes on stage and pulls out another legendary superstar!” Of course, this wasn’t the first or the last time she collaborated with a musical legend on the tour, as she continued to introduce more first-rate surprise guests as the dates rolled on.
Introducing a total of 57 special guests across the entire tour, Taylor showcased her ability to perform with many different kinds of musicians. Fans were particularly impressed when she invited Aerosmith singer and rock legend Steven Tyler to join her in Nashville, Tennessee. Proving her ability to work across genres, Taylor joined him in a performance of the classic Aerosmith hit ‘I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing,’ as fans went wild with appreciation.
Despite her own huge status as a pop star, Taylor’s willingness to collaborate with others just goes to show her generosity and willingness to shine the spotlight on others who have inspired her music. Even considering the enormous scale of production on her current tour, The Eras Tour, Taylor has still made the time to invite various guests to perform, such as Ice Spice and long-time collaborator Jack Antonoff. However, as her shows become more ambitious, it becomes harder to accommodate surprise guests, meaning that the attendees of The 1989 Tour who got to see Taylor collaborate with an enormous range of performers now know that they can consider it a truly special experience.