Why Taylor Swift Popped Out of a Janitor Cart During the Eras Tour
Kai Montgomery here, and yes, I will grumble while I explain why Taylor Swift decided to hide in a cleaning cart during her record-shattering Eras Tour. Pull up a chair; this is the sort of theatrical trick that makes stadiums scream and the internet lose its mind.
Look, I don’t want to be the one to spell out stagecraft for you, but Taylor Swift’s cart stunt was calculated showmanship, not a closet full of leftover props. On the Aug. 13 episode of the New Heights podcast hosted by Jason Kelce and Travis Kelce, Swift, 35, walked listeners through a handful of visual choices from her long-running tour and explained why she used cleaning carts between set transitions. She said, and I quote with resigned admiration, “That’s my type of weird idea.” Those are her words, and yes, the artist known for obsessive detail actually planned to ride in a janitor cart to control what the internet saw first.
Here’s the practical, cynical truth: when you launch a global arena show in 2023 and 2024, you’re performing for both the fans in the stands and the billions of scrolling eyes online. Swift admitted that walking up the backstage ramp would have revealed the set order to fans sitting at certain angles, who could then film and leak it. Her solution? Sneak out in a cleaning cart so the first Instagram clips and TikToks wouldn’t spoil the era sequence she curated across ten albums.
Yes, it sounds small, but it was all part of a bigger, methodical plan. The Eras Tour wasn’t merely a playlist stretched across a stadium; it was a visual narrative built out of outfits, lighting, and micro-moments designed to flood social feeds. Think red diamond-covered bodysuit for Reputation, pastel gowns for earlier eras, and a dizzying pace of new visuals every 15 to 30 seconds. Swift told the Kelces she consciously wanted the show to feel like “scrolling in an algorithm”—rapid-fire and hyper-stimulating—so concertgoers would leave feeling overwhelmed in the best way possible.
She even mentioned reports that some attendees experienced temporary memory loss after the nearly four-hour performance. Swift took that as a compliment: mission accomplished. The janitor cart was a tiny Cinderella trick that helped preserve the surprise and amplified the show’s carefully staged reveal structure. She joked that she thought she might only use the cart on night one, but “got attached” to sneaking around. Of course she did. It’s delightfully petty, precise, and a little theatrical—just how she likes it.
So no, it wasn’t a fluke wardrobe malfunction or a desperate attempt to dodge fans. It was a deliberate move to curate first impressions for a culture obsessed with the first clip to hit TikTok. The cart moment became a shareable, repeatable image that fueled the show’s virality while keeping the setlist order intact. Smart, sneaky, and slightly smug: exactly the kind of move you’d expect from someone who treats pop music like an immersive museum exhibit.
Final bit of sour satisfaction: Swift recently announced a new album, Life of a Showgirl, and if she hid in a mop bucket for dramatic effect before, do you really think she’ll stop now? Keep watching; she’ll find another tiny, theatrical loophole to exploit, and we’ll all pretend it’s spontaneous magic.
Well, everyone got their viral clip and she kept her surprises. Did anyone expect anything else? No? Thought so.
Sources: Celebrity Storm and E! Online, New Heights podcast (Jason Kelce & Travis Kelce)
Attribution: Creative Commons Licensed
