Taylor Swift has been accused of lip-syncing during a live stage performance, sparking a strong reaction online from the pop star’s fans.
Singer-songwriter Swift, 34, is currently on the European leg of her highly lucrative Eras Tour, which last year became the first tour to break the $1 billion barrier.
Following a break after dates in Asia and Australia, Swift last week restarted the tour in Paris, where she introduced a new set list to include songs from her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD), which was released in April.
The star’s concerts run for more than three hours and comprise 44 songs, divided into 10 acts representing different periods of her career.
As with Swift’s tour dates across North America and beyond, a plethora of clips have been shared by fans on social media of her fresh batch of performances.
On Monday, a social media user took to X, formerly Twitter, to share a screen recording of Swift performing in the French capital as they questioned her vocals.
The footage showed Swift putting on an energetic performance, complete with a dance routine, of “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,” a track from TTPD.
As of press time, the video had garnered more than 2.5 million views. Newsweek has contacted a representative of Swift via email for comment.
The post was met with a wave of comments from Swift’s fans, one of whom stated: “As someone who’s seen her in concert I can guarantee she doesn’t lip sync [because] her voice sounds very different live than it does on record.”
“[I don’t know] how to explain but her voice is higher pitched and deeper and you can hear the additional efforts she puts in cause she’s performing for a stadium full of people,” they added. “The first thought I had when I first heard her was that she sounds way different than she does on her albums.”
“Most artists use a backing track,” said another in Swift’s defense, pointing out that the star is “doing a 3+ hour long show with heavy choreography 3-5 nights in a row. It would be physically impossible and unhealthy for her to sing the entire show.”
“I love how Taylor is so good at serving live vocals to the point she’s always getting accused of lip syncing,” another fan of the singer chimed in.
One fan opined that Swift’s detractors “can’t make up their mind. They say she can’t sing and then accuse her of lip syncing to a song they say she can’t sing.”
Swift faced similar lip-syncing accusations after video footage was shared online of her performing in Tokyo back in February.
While one critic at the time called Swift the “world’s highest paid karaoke singer,” M. Brandon Lee, host of YouTube show This Is Tech Today, countered an assertion that all performers lip-sync during their performances.
“Only some [performances] are lip synced (the Super Bowl is a good example),” he wrote. “It is not uncommon to have supplemental tracks, but the main singing is real. The Grammys, all on stage performances, singer and band, are all real performances, live.”
Swift’s partner, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, has been seen in attendance at her Paris shows in recent days. “So High School,” a song from TTPD, is believed to be about Kelce, as well as “The Alchemy,” which includes football-themed references to touchdowns, trophies and winning streaks.
The international leg of the record-breaking Eras Tour will see Swift in countries including Sweden, the U.K., Portugal, Spain and Italy, before she concludes north of the border in Vancouver on December 8.
