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Lover (Live From Paris)
Live Album | May 18, 2020
This article is about the live album. For the concert film, see City of Lover Concert (2020).
Lover (Live From Paris) is Taylor’s second live album. It was released on May 18, 2020, by Republic Records. The album consists of songs Taylor performed at her one-day concert City of Lover, which was held at the Olympia theater in Paris, France, on September 9, 2019, slightly over two weeks after the release of her seventh studio album, Lover (2019).
The set list for the concert consisted of sixteen songs, with eight from Lover and eight from Taylor’s back catalog. Compared to the original concert, the official music releases for Lover (Live From Paris) only include the eight songs from Lover.
Table of Contents
Background and Release
Taylor released her seventh studio album, Lover, on August 23, 2019, through Republic Records. Described by Taylor as a “love letter to love itself”, the album explores the “full spectrum of love”, inspired by her close connections with fans during her “reputation Stadium Tour” (2018).
To celebrate the album’s release, Taylor held the City of Lover concert, a one-off concert at the Olympia music hall in Paris, France, on September 9, 2019. Prior to the event, tickets were not available for the public, but were reserved to fans who had bought the album to enter online contests from a select 37 countries around the world. Due to the event’s secrecy among selected fans, there were no widespread promotional campaigns for it.
On May 17, 2020, the concert was aired as a one-hour special, titled Taylor Swift: City of Lover, on ABC. The following day, it was made available for on-demand streaming on Hulu and Disney+. Media publications opined that the release was due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to Taylor’s planned “Lover Fest” world tour to support Lover being postponed, and ultimately cancelled. When she announced the release of the concert footage, Taylor said:
To celebrate the album’s release, Taylor held the City of Lover concert, a one-off concert at the Olympia music hall in Paris, France, on September 9, 2019. Prior to the event, tickets were not available for the public, but were reserved to fans who had bought the album to enter online contests from a select 37 countries around the world. Due to the event’s secrecy among selected fans, there were no widespread promotional campaigns for it.
On May 17, 2020, the concert was aired as a one-hour special, titled Taylor Swift: City of Lover, on ABC. The following day, it was made available for on-demand streaming on Hulu and Disney+. Media publications opined that the release was due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to Taylor’s planned “Lover Fest” world tour to support Lover being postponed, and ultimately cancelled. When she announced the release of the concert footage, Taylor said:
«So I played this concert in September, called the 'City of Lover' show and it was in Paris. It was so much fun! It was actually a show that we put together just to celebrate the Lover album coming out. And we filmed it and I'm really excited about it!»
Following the ABC premiere, the live versions of the Lover songs were released to digital music and streaming platforms, except the live version of “The Man”, which had been released to the platforms on February 18, 2020. In February 2023, a limited edition of Lover (Live From Paris) heart shaped vinyls were released on Taylor’s store.
Concert
The City of Lover concert marked Taylor’s first concert at a music hall in France since her 2011 “Speak Now World Tour.” The title is based on the nickname of Paris as the “City of Love.” The set list was primarily made up of songs from Lover, including the singles “ME!“, “You Need to Calm Down“, “Lover“, “The Man“, and the album tracks “The Archer“, “Death By A Thousand Cuts“, “Cornelia Street“, and “Daylight.”
Critical Reception
Upon completion, the City of Lover concert received positive feedback from the European media. Most critics were particularly fond of the acoustic session, which showcased Taylor’s songwriting crafts and intimate connections with the audience. Hannah Mylrea from the British magazine NME gave the concert a five-star rating. Also awarding the concert a five-star rating, Sarah Carson from the British newspaper i lauded Taylor as a “confident and commanding performer” with a more laid-back and self-asserted attitude. Carson was impressed by her performance at the 2,000-seat Olympia: “It’s one of the inevitable tragedies of fame that when a singer-songwriter transcends to ‘superstar’, world tours and stadiums and spectacles shove special little gigs like this to distant memory – to see Swift so close, in a historic room, all gilt and deep red velvet, was a privilege.”
Commercial Performance
The 13,000 available copies of the heartshaped vinyl resulted in Lover (Live From Paris) debuting at No. 58 on the US Billboard 200 chart. Taylor simultaneously charted 10 albums on the Billboard 200 that week, a first in her career. She is only the fifth artist in history to achieve this milestone. Lover (Live From Paris) also debuted at No. 1 on the Vinyl Albums chart. This made it Taylor’s ninth career No. 1 on the chart, extending her record for the most among all acts.
General Information
| Artist | Taylor Swift |
|---|---|
| Released | May 17, 2020 |
| Recorded | September 9, 2019 |
| Venue | Olympia (Paris, France) |
| Genre | Pop |
| Length | 30:54 |
| Label | Republic Records |
| Producers |
Album Artwork
Tracklist
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