Taylor Swift's new docuseries got off to an emotional start. The first episode of The End of an Era, which began streaming Friday, December 12, on Disney+, opened with Swift, 35, getting choked up backstage in a huddle with her backup dancers during the final show of her blockbuster Eras Tour in December 2024. Swift reminded her crew that they "performed for over 10 million people in person" throughout the 149-date tour, calling it "the biggest challenge" any of them had "ever" undertaken. The episode also documented the aftermath of two harrowing incidents that occurred during The Eras Tour's nearly two-year run: a fatal knife attack on a Swift-themed dance class in Southport, England, in July 2024 and a thwarted terrorist attack at the pop star's Vienna concerts, which she ultimately canceled, less than two weeks later. Taylor Swift Makes Surprise Appearance at Screening of Emotional Docuseries Cameras captured Swift breaking down in tears over the violence and vulnerably expressing her fears to get back on stage for her subsequent shows in London. At one point, she compared herself to a pilot who has to remain "cool, calm, collected" despite "turbulence" ahead. The second episode of the docuseries is much lighter, primarily chronicling Swift's rehearsals for the revamped version of The Eras Tour, which she debuted in Paris in May 2024 following the release of her album The Tortured Poets Department. "It was such an exciting challenge to try to improve upon a show I already loved," she previously wrote in her official Eras Tour Book. Taylor Swift Disney+ In addition to The End of an Era, Swift dropped a three-plus-hour concert movie titled The Eras Tour: The Final Show on Friday, which she filmed in Vancouver, Canada, as she wrapped up the record-breaking trek. Taylor Swift Through the Years: From Nashville Upstart to Music Superstar Scroll down to read the biggest revelations from the first two episodes of The End of an Era, which are now streaming on Disney+. Two more installments will debut on December 19 followed by the two-part finale on December 26. Her Inspiring Speeches Fans get a rare glimpse of Swift speaking to her dancers and band backstage at the beginning of the docuseries. "I think about every single one of you as little kids," she told the group. "I think about the moment that you decided that dancing was your calling and the moment that you first saw a band and thought, 'Man, I want to save up for an instrument.' Every single one of us has picked professions that categorically people, for the majority of the time, they tell you you shouldn't do it. ... You have to love the thing so much that you override 85 to 95 percent of the advice you are given along the way by oftentimes people that you respect, people you trust, people in the field. Everyone in dance, everyone in music will tell everyone younger, 'If there's anything else you can do, do that!'" Swift teared up as she went on to say that she also envisions her crew growing old and fondly looking back on their memories from The Eras Tour. "I'll think about what you're gonna tell your family or the people that you mentor because every single person in here has the spirit to mentor others and to tell them, 'Yes, do it. Try it. Go for it,'" she said. "Everyone likes to talk about phenomenons like The Eras Tour almost as if it was pieces falling into place in some sort of accidental confluence of events that just happened, right? ... It is our job to make this look accidental, and it is our job to make this look effortless, but I just want every single one of you to know that I in no way, shape or form look at this as the pieces just falling into place. You put the pieces where they are." Where It All Started Swift shared that she "came up with the idea for The Eras Tour about two years" before it launched in March 2023 thanks in large part to two "unpleasant" moments: the sale of her masters and the COVID-19 pandemic. "I just thought to myself, 'What if I did a tour that celebrated all of these different moments in my life and career where you have chapters divided up by albums and everything changes when the chapter changes?'" she recalled, later explaining, "I wanted to overserve the fans. That was my main goal. I wanted to overserve them in terms of the amount of songs they were going to hear, the length of the show, what kinds of production they were going to see, different styles of dance, different worlds of dance, wardrobe, how far I was going to push myself." Taylor Swift Claps Back at Critics Who Want Her to 'Go Away' on 'Late Show' Her Support System The first episode showed Swift on the phone with her now-fiancé, Travis Kelce, ahead of her London shows in August 2024, taking viewers behind the scenes of the couple's high-profile relationship. After Kelce, 36, asked Swift how she and her special guest that evening, Ed Sheeran, were "so good" at their jobs, she replied, "I love you. I don't know, how do you remember 36,000 plays tha