EW looks back on the singer's filmography, from her early concert films to her recent Hollywood features.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last year and a half, you know that Taylor Swift’s latest world tour is so massive that it literally shakes the earth. And you’re probably aware of The Eras Tour movie, which is now the highest-grossing concert film of all time. But the singer’s filmography isn’t limited to just concert docs; she’s also appeared in major Hollywood features, music documentaries, and even her own self-directed short film. Here is a complete guide to Taylor Swift’s movies in chronological order.
Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience (2009)
In simpler times, when 3-D movies were all the rage, the Jonas Brothers brought a teenaged Taylor Swift on stage to perform a duet of her single “Should’ve Said No” with then-boyfriend Joe Jonas. (Little did he know, she would soon write a frustrated country song about him.) Overall, the concert film is silly and forgettable, but this performance is classic Taylor, from the sparkly dress to the debut-era twang.
Where to watch Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience: Disney+
Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009)
Speaking of which, nothing says nostalgia like Hannah Montana. A lot more people are in Hannah Montana: The Movie than you remember, including Brooke Shields, Vanessa Williams, Tyra Banks, Margo Martindale, and Natalia Dyer in her first acting credit. Also making her feature debut was Taylor Swift with a cameo as a country singer, performing “Crazier” at a honky tonk while Miley Cyrus slow dances with love interest Lucas Till (who incidentally starred in the iconic music video for “You Belong With Me” and briefly dated Swift in real-life.) In addition to “Crazier,” the singer co-wrote the movie’s closing song “You’ll Always Find Your Way Back Home.”
Where to watch Hannah Montana: The Movie: Disney+
Journey to Fearless (2010)
Journey to Fearless is a far cry from the polished concert films of her later eras, but it’s still incredibly charming. A chronicle of Swift’s first world tour, the miniseries was released episodically on the now-defunct teen TV channel The Hub before arriving on DVD. And indeed, it has the intimacy of a home video (including adorable home footage of little Taylor with her guitar, of course). Since she was still just a teen in 2010, it’s full of appearances from her family — especially Mama Swift — and hometown friends like Abigail, who inspired her coming-of-age ballad “Fifteen.”
Where to watch Journey to Fearless: YouTube
Valentine's Day (2010)
Remember the years after Love Actually, when movie studios thought we wanted a ridiculously star-studded ensemble rom-com about every single holiday? Enter Valentine’s Day, a generic, cookie-cutter rip-off filled to the brim with A-list stars and Oscar winners. But among the hundreds of weak subplots is a cute little vignette featuring Taylor Swift and then-boyfriend Taylor Lautner (a.k.a. her “best ex”). The Taylors play beautiful ditzy teen couple Felicia and Willy, who have no arc except being super obsessed with each other (and making out… a lot). At the end of the film, they come home from a Valentine’s Day date with Swift’s “Today Was a Fairytale” playing in the background — and then they suck face again.
Where to watch Valentine's Day: Hulu
Speak Now World Tour – Live (2011)
Speak Now World Tour was Swift's first live album, for which she released a CD and a DVD with live performances of almost every song on Speak Now. These recordings are full of her trademark showmanship, especially when she sings “Enchanted” accompanied by ballet dancers, or when actual fireworks go off during that line in the bridge of “Dear John.” But the highlight of the concert film might be her covers and mash-ups; Speak Now was the first album where she really started experimenting with different genres, so it’s refreshing to see her pay homage to her influences. The lovely, folky cover of “Drops of Jupiter” is a notable stand-out, reframing the song so successfully that it sounds like it was written for her.
Where to watch Speak Now World Tour – Live: Not available to stream
The Lorax (2012)
This was Swift’s first and only voice role, which is a shame because her earnest, expressive delivery is perfect for children’s media. In The Lorax, she plays a girl named Audrey who lives in a walled city with artificial vegetation, while Zac Efron portrays the boy trying to impress her by finding a “real tree.” The movie isn’t always successful at translating the bleak, cautionary poetry of Dr. Seuss’ environmental fable (or its message, considering the studio sold the Lorax’s likeness to an SUV commercial). But for Swifties, it will be forever immortalized by Swift and Efron’s promotional appearance on Ellen, where they famously sang an eerily prophetic diss track about the host.
Where to watch The Lorax: Peaco*ck
The Giver (2014)
Based on Lois Lowry’s seminal young adult novel, The Giver crafts a world where emotion has been eliminated and all babies are genetically engineered. The teenage protagonist, Jonas (Brenton Thwaites), is selected to train with the Giver (Jeff Bridges) to hold all the memories of how the world used to be. Swift plays the small but pivotal role of Rosemary, the Giver’s daughter who once trained as a “Receiver” and met a tragic fate. She’s only on screen for a few minutes, but she aptly embodies Rosemary’s compassion and idealism — and she even gets to sing a little!
Where to watch The Giver: Netflix
The 1989 World Tour Live (2015)
1989 was the era when Swift shed her country roots and fully stepped into pop superstardom, so The 1989 World Tour Live is much glitzier than any of her previous concert films. Gone are the home videos and interviews with Mama Swift; instead we have a steady stream of appearances from former and current members of her celebrity “squad,” from Camila Cabello and Karlie Kloss to Serena Williams and Mariska Hargitay. Her vocals are the strongest they had ever been up to that point, especially during challenging songs like “I Know Places” or her truly inspired rock version of “We Are Never Getting Back Together.” (Can we have a whole rock album, please?)
Where to watch The 1989 World Tour Live: YouTube
Taylor Swift: Reputation Stadium Tour (2018)
This is an iconic concert film among Swifties, and for good reason. Love it or hate it, the gothic drama of the Reputation album makes it perfect for giant stadium performances. “Ready For It?” was made to be a show opener, and theatrical songs like “Don’t Blame Me” and “I Did Something Bad” become anthemic when sung by a crowd. The entire concert is a spectacle — all black and red, smoke and snakes. She’s in full sneering bad-girl mode, and it’s thrilling.
The most remarkable thing about this tour is how she makes time for moments of vulnerability, and how well she connects to her fans. "I can see absolutely every person in this stadium and I can see you dancing,” she says to the crowd. “I can see you throwing your hands in the air, and on top of that, I can hear [you].”
Where to watch Taylor Swift: Reputation Stadium Tour: Not available to stream
Bluebird (2019)
Here’s a sweet, heartfelt documentary where established and up-and-coming country singers pay homage to a Nashville institution: the Bluebird Cafe. Countless artists got their start at the venue, including Taylor Swift, who makes a surprise appearance at the Bluebird to the audience’s shock and delight. In addition to singing an acoustic version of Little Big Town’s “Better Man” (which she later released as part of her re-recording project), she recounts being discovered by Scott Borchetta at age 14 during a Bluebird writers’ night. Although that anecdote is now more bittersweet in light of the legal battle between Swift, Borchetta, and Scooter Braun, it’s still a testament to the power of an institution that uplifts aspiring artists.
Where to watch Bluebird: Amazon Prime Video (available to rent)
Cats (2019)
Oh, dear. Cats’ sins against humanity have been well-documented, from Rebel Wilson unzipping her fur to co*ckroaches with human faces. And although Taylor Swift was heavily featured in the film’s marketing, she only appears in one truly bonkers scene. First, Swift's Bombalurina is suspended on a crescent moon and shaking glittery catnip all over the other cats before performing a highly sexualized rendition of “Macavity.” As she’s dancing, all of the most disturbing, uncanny elements of the special effects are on full display. (Why do they have human hands?!) Swift commits to the bit with slinky, campy energy, but nothing could have saved this. When Swift wrote the lyric “motion capture put me in a bad light” a year later, no one was surprised.
On the positive side, she co-wrote the song “Beautiful Ghosts” with original Cats composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. In the film, it’s sung by lead actress Francesca Hayward, but Swift’s lovely, underrated version can be heard over the end credits.
Miss Americana (2020)
Although Taylor Swift famously bares her soul in her songwriting, she’s historically been guarded about her personal life. That all changed with Miss Americana, the revealing documentary directed by Lana Wilson that delves into difficult topics like her eating disorder, her sexual assault and subsequent trial, and her mother’s cancer diagnosis. But most of all, Miss Americana is about Swift taking control of her career and voice. The film sees the singer start to direct her own music videos and find the courage to publicly advocate for political causes, particularly those related to the LGBTQ+ community. It presaged the battle over her masters and the new phase of her career, where she is uncompromising about her artistic vision.
Where to watch Miss Americana: Netflix
Taylor Swift: City of Lover (2020)
Lover has only seen a handful of performances. Due to Andrea Swift’s health, Taylor decided not to go on a large tour for her seventh album, then the smaller Lover Fest was canceled in 2020 with the onset of the pandemic. Thus, the only live performance dedicated to Lover took place in September 2019, when Swift performed a one-off concert in Paris called City of Lover and released it as a concert film the following year. Her set was highly acclaimed, especially the “acoustic session” during which she played several songs with just a guitar or a piano. "With this album, everything on it is something that I wrote with one instrument..." she said on stage. "So I figured, like, why not try out singing some songs [the same way] for the very first time live?" The performance was also issued as the album Live from Paris, and the stripped-down versions of “Daylight” and “Cornelia Street” are particularly popular among fans.
Where to watch Taylor Swift: City of Lover: Not available to stream
Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions (2020)
Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, like the album itself, was a balm for the soul. Released in 2020 during the height of the pandemic, this documentary shows Swift singing every Folklore song live in a woodsy cabin in the Hudson Valley, building on the cozy cottagecore aesthetic that emulated our lives in isolation. The concert is stripped-down and simple, just as the melodic indie songs were meant to be experienced. But the film’s high points come via the casual, intimate chats between Swift and collaborators Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff. In these conversations, they describe how the album came together while they were quarantined in different places, and Swift gives rare insight into her songwriting process. As a bonus, she reveals the identity of William Bowery, the mystery co-writer on songs like “betty” and “exile”: her then-partner, Joe Alwyn.
Where to watch Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions: Disney+
All Too Well: The Short Film (2021)
Although Taylor Swift had already directed several music videos and Folklore: The Long Pond Sessions, All Too Well: The Short Film was her true arrival as a director. For the release of the highly anticipated 10-minute version of “All Too Well,” she made an accompanying short film starring Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien as a turbulent couple with a large age gap (and herself, in a cameo role as future Sink). The film dramatizes all of the fan-favorite details from the song, from “dancing 'round the kitchen in the refrigerator light” to the infamous scarf. But it also expands on the relationship, especially in a brilliantly acted extended fight scene where the couple seems to disintegrate before our eyes. The short screened at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival, and even scored Swift an interview with Martin McDonagh in Variety’s Directors on Directors series. She will soon make her feature directorial debut with Searchlight Pictures, and we can hardly wait.
Where to watch All Too Well: The Short Film: YouTube
Amsterdam (2022)
With the combination of David O. Russell, Margot Robbie, Christian Bale, and John David Washington, what could go wrong? A lot, apparently. Amsterdam is a hot mess, as EW’s critic writes, “It's impossible to say whether the movie… is meant to be a comedy, a murder mystery, or maybe even a thwarted musical.” Much of the star-studded supporting cast is wasted, including Taylor Swift, who has a small role as the daughter of a late senator, whom she suspects has been assassinated. But even though she’s not given much to do, she does well in her first dramatic film role, selling both the emotion and Russell’s trademark wackiness.
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (2023)
Taylor Swift hasn’t gone on tour since before the pandemic, and in the meantime, she’s released a whopping four new albums and four re-recordings of old albums. So there was a lot of pressure on The Eras Tour film, and it didn't disappoint. This nearly three-hour concert movie is a celebration of all the “eras” of her career, from a Fearless medley complete with a fringed gold dress to a visibly emotional performance of “champagne problems” and a racy chair dance for “Vigilante S—.” The film makes it feel like you’re right there with her, and although it can’t make up for the Ticketmaster debacle, it comes pretty close. And for those who didn’t catch the movie in theaters, it’s finally streaming on Disney+ with four surprise bonus songs!
Where to watch Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour: Disney+
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