Taylor Swift Presents ‘The Murder Mashup’ With ‘Carolina’ & ‘No Body, No Crime,’ Plus the Live Debut of ‘The Manuscript’
Taylor Swift was in storytelling mode with two surprise song mashups in Liverpool, England, Saturday night (June 15).
At the third of three shows at the city’s Anfield Stadium, Swift got creative with her acoustic set, weaving together crime mysteries for one mashup, and telling the story of an affair from the Red era with the other.
“This is what it all really comes down to, for me, in the show,” said Swift, strumming her guitar. “It’s just the most amount of, like, ‘Don’t mess this up. Don’t mess this up,’ ’cause it’s also my favorite part of the show.”
“This one, I’m gonna,” she started telling the crowd, but her voice trailed off. After pausing for a few seconds, Swift announced, “I’m gonna call this ‘The Murder Mashup.'”
She gave Liverpool the live debut of “Carolina,” the haunting song she wrote for the soundtrack of the 2022 film adaptation of Delia Owens’ murder mystery Where the Crawdads Sing — playing it alongside parts of Evermore‘s “No Body, No Crime.”
“Carolina creeks running through my veins/ Lost I was born, lonesome I came/ Lonesome I’ll always stay/ Carolina knows why for years I roam/ Free as these birds, light as whispers/ Carolina knows,” Swift sang, continuing with the film ballad up until “there are places I will never, ever go/ And things that only Carolina will ever know.”
And then, to shrieks from around the stadium, she switched over to “He did it,” bringing “No Body, No Crime” (originally recorded with Haim) into what is now officially known as “The Murder Mashup.”
Following that pairing, the songstress softly begin playing “The Manuscript,” the contemplative closer of her 31-song The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology album, at her piano.
“She thought about how he said since she was so wise beyond her years, everything had been above board,” sang Swift, recalling a “torrid affair” with an older man in her younger years, of which she quietly reflects on in the Tortured Poets track. “She wasn’t sure.”
Swift then connected 2024’s “The Manuscript” to the bridge from 2012’s “Red”: “Remembering him comes in flashbacks and echoes/ Tell myself it’s time now, gotta let go/ But moving on from him is impossible/ When I still see it all in my head/ In burning red … Loving him was red.”
“The story isn’t mine anymore,” the closing line of “The Manuscript,” ended the piano number.
Watch clips from both of Swift’s surprise song mashups below. Stay up-to-date with her entire list of Eras Tour surprise songs here. The tour resumes in Cardiff on Tuesday, June 18, and then arrives for in London for the weekend on Friday, June 21.
Ashley Iasimone
Billboard
