Taylor Swift's Secret Concert Trick Shocks Fans

A video revealing the constant beat that Taylor Swift hears in her in-ear monitor to stay on time during concerts has gone viral on social media.

Back in March, the pop star embarked on her Eras Tour, which is set to conclude in December 2024 after a total of 151 shows worldwide. It's seen unprecedented demand and, according to Pollstar, has earned more than $1 billion to date, sealing the Guinness World Record for the highest-grossing tour of all time.

Throughout the several months that Swift, 34, has been on the road with the show, various moments from performances have gone viral as fan analyze every blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, including her interactions with one of her dancers.

Maintaining that precedent, one Swift fan took to X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday to repost a TikTok video edited by a fan to show what the star would be listening to via a metronome while singing her hits on stage.

The minute-long clip featured Swift performing her hit track Cruel Summer at one of her concerts, while a beat was heard being played to denote the pace at which she should be singing the lyrics.

"POV: You're listening to Taylor's in-ear monitor during Cruel Summer," read an onscreen caption, showing a part of what Swift—and other artists who perform live—would be hearing while entertaining large crowds.

Sharing the footage on X, the fan expressed their disbelief, writing: "WDYM [What do you mean] Taylor spends OVER 3 HOURS with a MONITOR producing a TICKING SOUND INSIDE her EAR?!??!?"

The fan added that if they were in the same position, they would likely "pull...a Van Gogh in the middle of the stage and cut my...ear off after 1 hour [of] show time."

The clip, which has been viewed more than 2.5 million times, sparked an avalanche of explanatory comments, prompting the original poster to follow up.

"I KNOW IT HELPS HER KEEP UP WITH THE BEAT THANK YOU, I KNOW WHAT IT IS," they said.

As fans admitted that they, too, would likely struggle with having to listen to a constant beat while performing dozens of tracks, singer Ela Ozturk spoke about the adjustment needed to get used to the monitors.

"I got my own custom in ear monitors early this year for my shows and nothing could have prepared me for how weird it is to sing while there is a metronome in my ears, background vocals, my band, and my sound engineer communicating with me while backstage," she wrote. "It's truly something you have to get used to."

Swift's in-ear monitor became a talking point on social media back in August, when the device failed her during her performance of "Love Story."

The star was seen performing the track before looking to the sound technicians and tapping on her ear to inform them of the issue during a break in singing.

As the song continued, Swift looked for her cue of when to resume as she followed the lead of her bassist, Amos Heller, on the stage while keeping an eye on his timing. Realizing the situation, Heller aided Swift by nodding his head to signal when she should jump back in. Without skipping a beat, she did just that on time.

Throughout its run, the Eras Tour is projected to generate close to $5 billion in consumer spending in the United States alone, bringing fans together from across the globe.

Swift broke a previous revenue record set by Sir Elton John's Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour, which brought in $939 million over five years and 328 shows. Swift's tour is also the first to cross the 10-digit threshold, per Pollstar.

Her sixth concert tour has been so successful that it has made more money than the combined earnings of the next two highest-grossing tours of this year—those of Beyoncé and Bruce Springsteen.