Tina Daybreak’s sitting in her Nashville residence introducing her chatty pink rescue parrot, Scarlet, to The Hollywood Reporter over Zoom — one in all a whole bunch of animal and avian buddies she has helped save. In the meantime, Shannon Beresford’s simply wrapped a nine-date New Zealand tour, Charity Eden’s been performing her catchy bop “Anxious Attachment” round America, and Sarah Jessica Rhodes helped save the Rusk, Texas, theater that sparked her love for performing.
The widespread thread? The musicians all credit score turning into Taylor Swift tribute artists for such achievements. And so they’re not alone. Daybreak, Beresford, Eden and Rhodes are amongst a rising variety of tribute acts using their resemblance, expertise or fandom to make a residing, advance their careers, give again and save lives.
And the performers all share one mutual motivating issue — making a model of Swift’s $2 billion Eras Tour accessible to the hordes of Swifties who couldn’t afford or rating tickets.
For Eden, it solely took one live performance to declare each fan should expertise the present. “The Eras Tour wrecked me,” the 34-year-old Texan tells THR. “It modified my life and blew my thoughts as a result of it’s a masterpiece that reveals how Taylor provides followers what they want. We wanted these songs to stroll by way of highschool, heartbreak and life. Afterwards, I believed everybody wanted to expertise the Eras Tour, however costs being loopy made that inconceivable, so I believed, ‘What can I do?’”
Pop music hadn’t been on Eden’s radar, having spent her youth singing in church, which she continued doing after learning music. It wasn’t till a pal despatched her “Tolerate It” in 2020 that she found the “remedy” of Swift, attended the tour and launched Lover: The Unofficial Eras Tour. Doing so entailed spending $150,000 in first-year start-up prices like costuming and sound gear, creating all the pieces from backing tracks to background visuals, reserving 100-plus gigs and swiftly quitting her wealth administration job.
Rhodes, too, grew up singing in Texas church buildings, however studied theater, which led to performing in Las Vegas reveals like Absinthe. Anybody who noticed her headshot remarked on her resemblance to Swift, so she started doing lookalike appearances. “Then individuals began asking, ‘Are you able to do some songs?” says Rhodes.
She appeared in Vegas present Nation Superstars as Swift, then performed her first tribute live performance on the 2013 Alabama State Honest, which spawned her present present, Twist on Taylor. Rhodes was even requested to learn the Cats trailer as Swift. “They wished to present Taylor an thought of what they wished, so she may determine if she’d do it. So, she could have heard my voice!”
Rhodes is the longest-running Swift tribute act THR spoke to, with Daybreak debuting 5 years later. Having spent her youth prancing round her New Hampshire residence singing “A part of My World” from The Little Mermaid, Daybreak received vocal classes from her father, Donald, who hadn’t been in a position to pursue his personal musical goals.
She starred in productions like Guys and Dolls, however at 15, a Matchbox Twenty live performance modified her life. Not solely would she find yourself relationship the band’s guitarist Kyle Cook dinner (the couple marking their eighth anniversary in August), however the rockers made her notice she wished to carry out within the pop/rock world. Incomes a songwriting diploma from Berklee School of Music, she pursued singing, however struggled with taking middle stage earlier than transferring to Vegas and discovering a love for background vocals.
Nonetheless, her pleasure at touchdown a dream background position in Legends in Live performance became panic when she was anticipated to bounce. “The one time I’d danced was two weeks of ballet after I was 6, and I used to be terrible,” says Daybreak, who took residence rehearsal tapes and spent eight additional hours working towards day by day.
The irony? “Dancing isn’t Taylor’s sturdy go well with, and I used to be awkward like her earlier than that gig. Years later, after I began performing as Taylor, the choreographer goes, ‘You look too good. Dumb it down!’”
Taylor Swift on The Eras Tour
Kate Inexperienced/Getty Pictures
Often instructed she seemed like Swift, Daybreak, 43, declined impersonating the singer a number of instances till a profitable provide landed after she’d purchased a home to start out a rabbit rescue and wanted funds for her 26 Vegas bunnies.
Cook dinner inspired Daybreak to take the job, which led to extra, and whereas she switched her focus to the flower farm she began through the COVID-19 pandemic, the Eras Tour ignited fixed tribute requests. So, regardless of preferring background singing, like on Matchbox Twenty’s 2023 document, The place the Mild Goes, Daybreak has carried out 200-plus tribute gigs, seeing them as “a software for saving animals, paying for animal meals and serving to fund the farm.”
Beresford, in the meantime, is likely one of the surprisingly few acts who was a diehard fan earlier than channeling Swift. She was closely influenced by Swift whereas songwriting by way of her youth, however entered the starkly totally different worlds of forensic psychology then palliative care. Beginning a band, The Beresfords, together with her brother Brendan, she was quickly requested to hitch a Swift tribute band.
She frightened the gig may negatively influence her musical aspirations, however couldn’t say no, having been dropped at tears throughout Swift’s Communicate Now tour. “To stand up there, sing and write songs about your life is so cool. Seeing her do it made me go, ‘I need that so unhealthy.’”
Beresford, 32, felt imposter syndrome throughout her first efficiency, however now thrives in her present, Taylor’s Story.
The hours, {dollars} and efforts the ladies put in behind-the-scenes are at-times mind-boggling.
“For a 20-minute present, I would like 60-80 hours of prep — rehearsing, getting my hair finished,” says Daybreak. “That’s like two weeks of a full-time job. And it’s costly. My haircuts price $150-$300 and if Taylor out of the blue goes blonder, there goes my pockets.”
“I’ve to look at what I eat as a result of if I’m congested, I can’t do the sound I would like. I run a mile, so my lungs are open and prepared for the cardio exercise. I heat up and stretch. I would like more money only for a chiropractor after I play Taylor. No joke!”
Daybreak additionally avoids weight fluctuations, recalling how she inadvertently gained a lot muscle traipsing round her Cottage Hill Flower Farm that her costume pants didn’t match.
Manchester, U.Ok., tribute act Xenna Kristian has in the meantime perfected 30-second costume adjustments. “And I’m continually watching her movies to maintain up together with her traits,” says Kristian, who stored getting instructed she seemed like Swift in faculty and finally created her Miss Americana and The Eras Expertise reveals. “I take snippets of her choreography, then have a choreographer add our personal inventive aptitude.”
In fact, it’s costuming which is vital. And genuine outfits aren’t low-cost. Daybreak has spent round $10,000 on wardrobe, together with a $1,300 hand-stitched Midnights bodysuit from Vietnam. The crystals on Rhodes’ Lover bodysuit are value $2,000. And when Swift added The Tortured Poets Division into her present, wardrobe and props set Eden again $6,000.
Then there’s the surplus baggage prices! Daybreak wants a complete suitcase for her puffy white Tortured Poets Division costume. “One time, I vacuum sealed it going to Canada, forgetting I wanted the vacuum for the way in which again. I sat there making an attempt to suck the air out to make it match!”
Swift’s reps have reached out to the musicians requesting they specify they’re not affiliated with Swift on promotional supplies. And whereas they’ve all encountered disagreeable jibes (“Often from grownup males,” says Daybreak), Swifties have been overwhelmingly supportive.
For a lot of, they’re merely grateful for an Eras expertise, having missed out as a result of price, ticket wars or being skipped on the tour route. In New Zealand, the place followers flocked to Australia for reveals, demand stays sturdy sufficient to warrant two tribute excursions this 12 months — Beresford with Taylor’s Story and Josette Klausen, who’s touring the nation in November. The Kiwi musician has additionally performed South Africa, one other place Swift skipped.
Over in England, Kristian’s regularly thanked by mother and father for bringing an inexpensive Eras–like expertise to their youngsters. Daybreak agrees younger Swifties are a spotlight — gifting friendship bracelets and waving “I really like you” indicators. “A variety of these youngsters can’t afford Taylor tickets, so that is the one Taylor they’re going to get,” says Daybreak.
Kids’s pleasure is what stood out to Swiftie Tiffany Marie Beatrice whereas attending tribute live performance Let’s Sing Taylor. “My favourite half was watching the younger women who weren’t in a position to go to the Eras Tour,” she says. “They have been screaming, singing, dancing, dressed up and so excited, as if it was Taylor. We felt the identical as a result of it introduced us again to after we have been lucky sufficient to expertise the tour.”
Being that Swift “placeholder” is an honor that makes Eden emotional as she recounts memorable stage moments, like the gang yelling, “The place you going, Taylor?” throughout “Bejeweled” — like followers do at Swift’s reveals.
However the biggest present has been skilled development and publicity. Due to concertgoers enquiring about her music, she added her personal songs to the setlist. Paradoxically, she launched a single titled “Be Your self” months earlier than channeling Swift.
“It’s symbolic of how earlier than I stepped into this loopy journey of pretending to be another person, I needed to be rooted in understanding I’m beloved for me,” says Eden. “I didn’t need a profession that might trigger an id disaster, however plenty of issues Taylor does come naturally to me. And this has helped me see issues in myself I didn’t know have been there. I didn’t know I used to be a dancer or that I beloved hanging with youngsters!”
Rhodes says studying to command crowds of 12,000 individuals has fed into different gigs, just like the Spice Women tribute she does, whereas Kristian and Beresford credit score elevated confidence to embodying Swift. “My band say it’s been enjoyable watching me develop as a performer and are available into my very own as an individual,” says Beresford.
However it’s not simply their very own lives which have been remarkably impacted. Whereas Daybreak continues her animal rescue efforts, Rhodes — who earns as much as hundreds per present, with 100-plus gigs booked in 2024 and the identical in 2025 — saved her hometown theater with a fundraising gig when it wanted a brand new roof.
Eden, who earns up for $20,000 per gig (with round 75 p.c going into bills like paying dancers or shopping for costumes) donates a portion of meet-and-greet charges to charity: water and intercourse trafficking group Rescue Her.
It’s reflective of Swift’s personal charitable nature and illustrates how acts like Daybreak and Eden in the end endeavor to amplify her highly effective legacy.
“I hope Taylor sees what I’m doing as a continuation of the enjoyment she places into the world,” says Eden. “There’s a lot kindness and generosity round Taylor Swift and Swiftie tradition. Attending to develop and proceed that motion is what I really like greater than something.”
