Watch Taylor Swift rock Shake It Off acoustically for intimate crowd

By Chris Leo Palermino December 11, 2015

Even pop star Taylor Swift, known for going big on stage with celebrity friends like Ed Sheeran, Beck, Mary J. Blige, and many others during her arena tours, occasionally likes to perform stripped-down acoustic sets.

In between Australian dates this week, Swift took some time from her busy touring schedule to showcase hits like Shake It Off, Wildest Dreams, Out of the Woods, and Blank Space with just her voice and a guitar for Nova 96.9, as reported by MTV News. And it looks like she was just as happy playing to an intimate crowd as to stadium audiences of 50,000-plus.

During the performance, she also described the inspiration for Wildest Dreams. “I was like, ’Love just ends, it’s not a question of will we break up, it’s when will we break up,’” said Swift via MTV News. “It was one of those days. But you know, I got a good song out of it.”

One of the biggest (and most opinionated) pop artists, Swift has made a point to stay in touch with fans. Before debuting her fifth studio record 1989 last year, she held “secret” record listening parties for select fans in New York, Nashville, Los Angeles, and Rhode Island. “You guys have been individually hand-picked — by mostly me,” said Swift at her listening party in Los Angeles (according to the LA Times). “I’m obsessed with Twitter and Instagram and Tumblr. Why I wanted to have you here at this secret session is to play the entire new album for you.”

Swift wraps up her 85-date tour supporting 1989, the best-selling record of 2014, tomorrow in Melbourne, Australia. As of September, The 1989 World Tour had grossed a cool $130 million. She may sometimes step off the podium to meet with fans, but she also knows how to run a business.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Chris Leo Palermino

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Chris Leo Palermino is a music, tech, business, and culture journalist based between New York and Boston. He also contributes…

Audio / Video

What is hi-res audio, and how can you experience it right now?

Dlyan Wireless Headphones

High-resolution audio, hi-res audio, or even HD audio -- whatever you decide to call it (for the record, the industry prefers "hi-res audio"), it's a catch-all term that describes digital audio that goes above and beyond the level of sound quality you can expect from a garden-variety MP3 file and even CDs. It was once strictly the domain of audiophiles, but now that major streaming music services like Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, Deezer, and Qobuz have embraced it, almost everyone can take advantage of what hi-res has to offer.

But what exactly is hi-res audio? What equipment do you need to listen to it? Where can you download or stream it? And does it actually sound better? We've got the answers.
What does the term 'hi-res audio' mean?

Music

How to download music from Spotify for offline listening

How to download music and podcasts from Spotify: The downloads folder.

If you're a Spotify Premium user paying that premium Spotify fee, chances are you've taken at least some time curating playlists, liking songs, and using the platform's easy-to-use (and recently revamped) user interface to discover new and old music.

But sometimes all that music or your favorite podcasts aren't available if you find yourself without an internet connection to stream them from — like on a long plane ride or weekend camping trip in the sticks. That's where Spotify's offline listening feature comes in handy, allowing you to download playlists, albums, and podcasts through its desktop and mobile apps so you can still rock out while you're off the grid.

Audio / Video

How to switch from Spotify to Apple Music

Spotify and Apple Music transfer on a smartphone.

Spotify is the world's most popular music streaming service for a reason. It has a massive catalog of music and podcasts, is full of cool music discovery and sharing features, and is really easy to use.
However, with its recent price increase and the fact that it still hasn't joined most of its peers in offering a hi-res audio quality option, you may be considering jumping ship for its closest competitor, Apple Music, which counts lossless hi-res tracks, mind-bending spatial audio, Dolby Atmos Music tracks, and a catalog that rivals Spotify's among the many attractive reasons to switch.

But there's one problem: you’ve spent a lot of time creating playlists and marking songs and albums as your favorites in Spotify. Is it worth the switch? Will all that hard work be lost in translation?