Lady Gaga will literally tear a hole in the roof of NRG Stadium during the Super Bowl LI halftime show, but she’s not even the biggest pop star in Houston this weekend (and I don’t mean Migos). Taylor Swift is performing her first show of 2017 (and only her second in over a year) at something called DIRECTV Super Saturday Night the night before the Big Game — the concert won’t be streamed live (“it’s invitation only,” a spokesperson said), but Swifties got a taste of what they won’t see in a video on her YouTube channel.
In the brief clip, Swift breaks out the guitar for an acoustic version of “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever,” her pulsing collaboration with Zayn Malik from the Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack. The song itself isn’t particularly introspective — it’s for the failed R-rated Twilight, after all — but Swift’s rehearsal performance is reminiscent of her earlier albums. She’s not hiding behind a wall of production, like on 1989. It’s just a singer, her guitar, and her black turtleneck, because black is how she feels on the inside. Could it be a sign that Swift will return to confessional songwriting — like in “All Too Well,” her best song (do not @ me) — for her next album? If Ryan Adams can cover Taylor Swift, then Taylor Swift should be able to cover, or at least sound like, the Smiths.
