Taylor Swift Calls 2023 Grammy Nominations ‘Surreal,’ but Fails to Acknowledge Ticketmaster Scandal
Taylor Swift has a lot to celebrate these days. But her fans aren’t quite so pleased. Swift received four Grammy nominations on November 15, 2022. The same day, large numbers of her fans tried to purchase tickets to her upcoming tour — and came away empty-handed.
Taylor Swift landed 4 2023 Grammy nominations
Swift scored nominations for Country Song of the Year for “I Bet You Think About Me (feat. Chris Stapleton),” Best Song Written for Visual Media for “Carolina,” and Best Music Video and Song of the Year for “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version).”
The pop star celebrated her nominations with an Instagram story; specifically, her nomination for Song of the Year. She called the track “the song I’m the most proud of,” and said the nomination is “momentous and surreal.” Swift also pointed out she’s never won this particular award.
Swift might have been happy on November 15, but most of her fans were anything but. Tickets for her highly-anticipated The Eras Tour went on sale the same day. And it quickly turned into a disaster for fans and Ticketmaster.
Ticketmaster crashes as Taylor Swift fans attempt to buy tickets to her upcoming tour
The tickets sold on the 15th were part of a presale. Fans who had signed up to receive a presale code could join in. The goal was to limit the number of people participating in the presale. These fans were also told they would be prioritized during the sale if they had previously held tickets to Swift’s canceled Lover Fest dates.
Almost as soon as tickets went on sale, Ticketmaster’s site crashed. They even had to push back presale times to accommodate the millions of people attempting to purchase tickets. Many people complained about how unprepared Ticketmaster was for this ticket sale.
From waiting upwards of 4 hours in a virtual queue to faulty codes limiting fans’ access to the presale, Swift’s fans were outraged at how poorly the sale was organized.
Fans call for an end to Ticketmaster after a lot of
People were also angry that Swift used Ticketmaster’s “dynamic pricing” option. This means that even if tickets originally cost $50, if there’s high demand, Ticketmaster will bump them up to $100 — or higher.
Others pointed out that, once they got through to buy tickets, the only ones left were pricey VIP packages, nosebleeds, or seats behind the stage. And many experienced issues with the site, resulting in repeated attempts to get tickets.
“I legit cried and spent all day trying to get tickets and even processed payment at the end with selected stage tickets to only be kicked out with error messages and faithfully tried again 4 times,” one fan tweeted. “It’s time @taylorswift13 take down Ticketmaster.”
Taylor Swift’s veiled comment about the Ticketmaster situation
Even Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gave her two cents on the situation. She tweeted that Ticketmaster and LiveNation’s merger “should never have been approved” and called for it to be broken up.
Swift has yet to comment on the debacle. But in her Instagram story celebrating her Grammy nominations, she wrote, “So many reasons to lose my damn mind today,” which some are taking as a nod to the Ticketmaster situation.
There are other opportunities to buy Swift’s tickets coming up. A presale for Capital One credit card holders is taking place on the 16th, while the general sale opens on the 18th. It’s unknown if Ticketmaster has any plans to make the process run more smoothly.
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