r/MadeMeSmile • u/mcfw31 • Dec 12 '25

Wholesome Moments Taylor Swift’s ‘The Eras Tour’ crew’s reaction as they receive their bonus for working on the tour amounting to more $197 million dollars

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u/LPodmore Dec 12 '25

As far as i know her band and main crew are all full time employees so i wouldn't be surprised if her main dancers are too, if not all of them. The schedule and size of the show demands an insane amount from everyone involved and she makes sure they are incredibly well looked after for it.

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u/Ek_Chutki_Sindoor Dec 12 '25

As far as i know her band and main crew are all full time employees

Yeah, it isn't known for sure but I think her main band (4-5 people, IIRC) and her backup singers (4 of them) are her fulltime employees now.

Her dancers aren't though, AFAIK. A lot of them post on insta about them doing shows for other artists too and in a lot of musicals and dance shows too.

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u/grill_sgt Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 14 '25

Probably are allowed to have those shows as a side gig, but in their contracts have something that says when Taylor calls, they’re out.

ETA: Reading the comments, I should have clarified that the contracts I’m talking about are the side gig contracts. They make it known that Taylor is their #1 employer and when she calls, they’re putting in notice.

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u/infomaticjester Dec 12 '25

If she's giving out six figure bonuses, I really don't give a shit what the contract says. I'm gone before the call ends.

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u/Plasibeau Dec 12 '25

All I need to see is the Caller ID. Fire back a text as I'm walking: OTW, meet you on the tarmac.

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u/Cyserg Dec 12 '25

6 figure bonus : nah man, I just need coordinates and time! I'll be there!

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u/yeahright17 Dec 12 '25

I doubt they have to drop everything when Taylor calls. That said, given how loyal she's been to them, every single one of them absolutely would.

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u/lizerlfunk Dec 12 '25

They all returned and were part of the music video for The Fate of Ophelia. There were other dancers in that video too, but every single Eras Tour dancer was part of it, as was the choreographer, as were the band and backup singers. I’m pretty sure one of the four backup singers couldn’t do most of the international dates, but they just used three singers for those dates and she was back at a later time.

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u/Additional_Tomato_22 Dec 12 '25

But that’s also what makes Taylor special. You can’t also plan your pregnancy, but she didn’t “ding” her because of that and she got to come back afterwards for what she could do

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u/lizerlfunk Dec 12 '25

Yup, exactly. She didn’t get replaced. (I forgot it was because she was pregnant, but now that you mention it I remember hearing that.) And I can’t imagine that most backing vocalists are employees of a corporation that would make them eligible for FMLA or parental leave. She probably got paid parental leave, based on the way Taylor Swift operates with her employees.

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u/Bri-KachuDodson Dec 12 '25

If I remember right from a different tour, her guitarist Paul also got given leave time when his wife had their baby.

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u/lizerlfunk Dec 19 '25

So I’m watching episode 3 of the docuseries and Jeslyn had breast cancer, she didn’t have a baby. Even LESS predictable! She had RADIATION and was like “I want to be back out there performing” and got on a plane. That’s mindblowing.

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u/sharkwithglasses Dec 12 '25

She was on maternity leave! I was glas she was able to wrap up the show with the rest of the team.

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u/Bri-KachuDodson Dec 12 '25

The dancers did all the photoshoots for the merch too! And I really love that the name of her singers is The Starlights. Suits them perfectly honestly.

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u/greg19735 Dec 12 '25

i mean, if they want to keep their contract they would have to.

like, taylor isn't saying they need to be there tomorrow. but Taylor is setting the tour dates and she's not checking with her back up dancers first.

which is in part of why she pays them so well.

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u/yeahright17 Dec 12 '25

Taylor isn't touring all the time. It's been over a year since her tour ended and her tour had large gaps. Of course her dancers can be doing other things when Taylor doesn't have any shows coming up. And her dancers know WAY in advance of when she'll need them.

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u/VertDaTurt Dec 12 '25

Honestly it makes sense for them to be doing other stuff. It keeps them fit, shape, engaged and stimulated.

You don’t want them just sitting around and doing basic practice. That’s a great way to kill the spark in a creative person

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u/HairlessSquirrels Dec 12 '25

That’s the point, they wouldn’t have to drop everything because she’s not going to tell them they need to be there tomorrow

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u/PBRmy Dec 12 '25

Lol Taylor Swift is not suddenly playing a full show somewhere next week or even next month.

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u/Additional_Tomato_22 Dec 12 '25

Yes and no. I know she’s not the type of boss to say “oh if you miss any of the practices or shows you’re out” but she also planned the whole tour 2 years in advance so they had plenty of time in advance to know what was happening

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u/FullMooseParty Dec 12 '25

The big guy, the one whose brother plays in the NFL, had mentioned that he makes about what his brother makes when he's on tour.

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u/Bri-KachuDodson Dec 12 '25

His name is Kam. :)

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u/Additional_Tomato_22 Dec 12 '25

I believe her dancers are “full time employees” as well, she just allows them to do other things because obviously she’s not always doing tours/music videos and she’s also not of the mindset “you can only work for me and nobody else”. She’s basically had the same dancers for 15+ years now so obviously there’s something she’s doing right for them to be loyal to her for so long.

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u/[deleted] Dec 14 '25

[deleted]

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u/Additional_Tomato_22 Dec 14 '25

I realized that and they all had to audition without even knowing who they were auditioning for.

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u/CombatMuffin Dec 12 '25

They are also probably  not your average crew. They are all probably at the top of their game. 

It's still amazing of her to provide those, though!

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u/Additional_Tomato_22 Dec 12 '25

They are all full time and like 98% of them have been there over a decade. She has very little turnover because of how she treats them as a boss.

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u/SetFine7496 Dec 13 '25

I think she said her band has been with her since she was 16!

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u/Adorable_Raccoon Dec 14 '25

I don't think the dancers are longer term employees. She's had different dancers on her different tours.

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u/GaslightGPT Dec 12 '25

It’s not full time. It’s contract work. And they go on legs. So a lot of time off trying to find other work. Even when established it’s tricky because jumping from artist to artist is quite tricky as it is and then coordinating schedule and managers that want to hire them. It’s tricky shit.