This is an interview done with Autumn of @ tstourtips, read her story below! If you, or anyone you know, would like to be highlighted in The Zillennial Zine, shoot us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com or DM us on Instagram!
Q: Tell us your story! Where did you begin and how did you reach the caliber you’re currently at?
A: My first ever tour account was called @loft89tips and I made it in 2015 for the 1989 World Tour. The main focus back then was to help fans increase their chances of being selected for the after show meet & greet or get seat upgrades. This was something I continued to do over the course of the following tour, the Reputation Stadium Tour. I’m very proud to say that I helped over 120 fans to get to meet Taylor for that tour! After that, I was kind of dormant for a few years and waiting for the next tour. So when Taylor announced Midnights, I started preparing for the next tour. I wanted to expand on what I was doing- help people with presales, costume ideas, preshow know before you go posts, tour updates, sharing livestreams and doing live updates during shows that featured as many songs as I could find content for. I really just wanted to be the ultimate resource for everything related to The Eras Tour, and set out to create the account that I would want to see if I wasn’t doing this myself. Things happened really quickly from there. It hit 50k followers before the tour started, and within less than three months that number doubled. Three months after that, it doubled again. I’m at almost 400k now and the tour isn’t even halfway through yet. It’s been so incredibly surreal to watch my hard work pay off like that in the way that it has.
Q: What makes you a Swiftie? When did you first start listening to her music?
A: Taylor and I go way back! I first discovered her in 2006 when I heard Our Song and was immediately hooked. She was the first person I ever really looked up to as a kid. Looking back at it now, I don’t feel like I could’ve chosen a better role model to have. She has impacted me in so many ways. Inspiring me to learn how to play guitar and the ukulele, to try songwriting, fashion and makeup, and even just how to handle the challenges that life throws at me.
Q: What are some accomplishments or milestones you’ve reached lately?
A: I’ve had quite a few milestones recently which I’m very grateful for! I hit 300k last month and I’m on the road to 400k. The Taylor Swift reporter for USA Today reached out to me to interview me about my account and other “swiftfluencers” and I made it onto The Tennessean newspaper front page and had a full page spread of me and Taylor. He mentioned that it was highly likely that Taylor’s team would see the article which was another treat in itself. I’ve started doing contracts for content creation and have been able to work with several businesses. Even the Eras Tour show I went to came about as a result of tstourtips and a partnership I did with Seat Geek. It’s been so amazing to get these opportunities from doing something that I would’ve been doing regardless! To know that my goal of being a helpful resource for swifties has been fulfilled as a result of what I’m doing is the biggest reward of it all!
Q: Tell us all about @tstourtips and the kind of content you post!!
A: I like to view my page as a tour guide, so my posts during tour are geared towards different elements of the tour. I do guides on seating views, getting tickets, resale tickets, costumes, tour tips, and accessibility information. For each tour stop I put together a “know before you go” post that outlines the event schedule, merch information, permitted/prohibited items, and fun facts about the stadium. I also will share a list of accounts that are live-streaming the show across different platforms! During shows, I do song by song updates to show swifties as many performances as possible. The idea is that if they cannot watch the stream then they can go to my page for a play by play of the show! Outside of tour content I’ll also post TS updates.
Q: What would you like our readers to know about you and your platform?
A: It’s a fun community centred around immersing yourself in all things Eras Tour. There are no stupid questions and this is an inclusive space. I make sure to create guides that are accessibility friendly, as I find there isn’t enough information on attending concerts when you’re chronically ill or disabled. I’m here to help you to not only get to go to the Eras Tour but to optimize your experience so that you can enjoy it to the fullest!
Q: You even met Taylor during the reputation era, what was that experience like?
A: Going on six years later, I still don’t feel like I’ve fully processed that night. Taylor found me on Tumblr after seeing the costume I made and requested to meet me. I had the fortune of knowing days in advance that I was going to meet her so I could prepare. She thanked me for helping fans get to meet her. She was so nice and I asked her if she could write out my favourite lyric from State Of Grace so I could get it tattooed. She wasn’t doing any personalized autographs for that tour so I was so grateful when she flipped the lithograph over and asked her team for a pen so she could write it out on the back. After I left, I got barricade by the B-stage. When she went to the other B-stage she grabbed my hand as she was passing by. Even after the show she kept surprising me! She liked the photo of us together and then the next night she played Come Back… Be Here for the first time live after myself and another fan asked her to play it. These are all things she didn’t have to do but she chose to because that’s the kind of person she is. Things like this are why I’m such a big fan of hers. There’s an attention to detail and careful consideration towards her fans that you don’t see with other artists. I’m forever grateful for that night.
Q: Anything else you would like to add?
A: I don’t take any of this for granted. I’m very lucky to get to do what I do and be presented with these opportunities for doing it. The Eras Tour is basically my second job at this point and I couldn’t be happier. It’s a lot of work to do this all on my own but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Check Out Autumn & TsTourTips Online!
Instagram: @tstourtips
TikTok: @tstourtips
Website: tstourtips.wixsite.com/tstourtips
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