The show starts at London's Wembley Stadium

Taylor Swift fans love to see the song lyrics by singer-songwriters for references to her romantic life and insights into her state of mind.

But the pop superstar's fans in Britain didn't have to listen to her latest album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” to get the sense that Swift soured on the nation's capital after long making it a regular meeting place and then her second home. The fifth song on the album is called “Goodbye, London.”

As Swift brings her blockbuster Eras Tour This weekend at London's Wembley Stadium, some Swifties are therefore wondering whether they are witnessing the start of an extensive farewell.

London isn't ready to see her leave. The area around Wembley was transformed for the shows, with fans posing in front of a giant mural of the singer and a traveling staircase called “Swiftie Steps” and other tributes.

Swift announced that 88,446 people attended Friday's show in what she called “the most exciting city in the world.” Among the famous attendees: Prince William celebrates his 42nd birthday during the show and posing for a photo with Swift along with two of his children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte.

Swift gave fans a wink and a nod to her life in London during one of her two surprise solo acoustic numbers: a piano medley that opened with the London set “The Black Dog” and segued into “Come Back, Be Here” and then “Maroon .”

In addition to this weekend's shows, Swift will return to Wembley a further five times in August to close the show European leg of the tour.

London is the only city on the tour where Swift stops twice. Some fear the arrangement represents a swan song of sorts, while others think it merely reflects a new era in Swift's relationship with the Big Smoke. Whether “So Long, London” proves to be a final chapter or a bookend to her city valentine song “London Boy,” Eras arrives as an emotional milestone.

“Her relationship now is kind of assuming that London isn't going to be where she's going to be. It's not like an American football player lives here,” said Maggie Fekete, 22, a Canadian graduate student who made the London references in Swift's music orients. her when she moved to town three years ago. “I think there will be a lot less London in her music, which is sad.”

Stella Elgood, 25, of London, said Friday that she assumed Swift would sing “So Long, London” at some point during her eight nights in the city, but that Swift “will always be welcome.”

“Especially since she started dating Harry Styles, she's been in the zeitgeist,” Elgood said.

For those who haven't been paying attention, Swift had a string of romances with famous British nationals (including Styles in 2012) that ended last year when she started dating Kansas City Chiefs. Travis Kelce. The speculation surrounding “So Long, London” and a sad accompanying song that mentions a London pub'The Black Dog' follows the 2023 split between Swift and English actor Joe Alwyn, who were together for more than six years.

Alwyn is believed to be the inspiration for “London Boy,” a song from her 2019 album “Lover.” A special edition “Lover” CD included what appeared to be a January 2017 diary entry in which Swift shared that he was “basically was based in London” but tried to keep a low profile. British tabloids later reported that Swift spent much of the Covid-19 pandemic sheltering in place with Alwyn in north London.

The Sun newspaper reported in December that the multiple Grammy winner had bought a large property in the area and was converting it into her base in Europe. However, after Swift released “The Tortured Poets Department” last month, a writer for the British edition of ELLE magazine noted that Londoners had an opening “for an all-American A-lister to take her place in our collective consciousness.”

“We had Swift before we lost her to her record-breaking, box office-breaking Eras Tour and now it appears her vacant position has been filled by Zendayawriter Naomi May playfully posited before listing the various locations where the American actor had been spotted with her longtime boyfriend, British actor Tom Holland.

Either way, the capital puts on a show all its own to make sure Swift and her fans feel appreciated. Guides offer walking, bus and taxi tours following in her footsteps, including a kebab shop whose owner says his establishment will deliver sandwiches to the singer and her crew on Friday.

Before the end of August, Swifties can partake in a full diet of Swift-themed brunches and dance parties, or take a ride on the London Eye Ferris wheel, accompanied by a string quartet playing her music. Souvenir stalls at Camden Market, one of the places mentioned in “London Boy”, had stocked up on Swift-specific caps, T-shirts, bags and stickers in preparation.

Amy Unsworth, 34, who hails from a small town near Manchester, England, and was born a month before Swift, said Friday that the singer's ties to Britain and vice versa extend beyond the capital.

“I feel like as a Northerner I have an affinity for her,” Unsworth said, noting that Swift wrote many of the songs on her “Evermore” album while in England's Lake District with Alwyn.

“It's hard to know how she feels now that she's back, given her history.”

Unsworth isn't worried that Swift will turn her back on the UK. Swift said from the stage that her British fans have been “one of the most supportive people in my corner since I started making music.” Swift first performed in London at the age of 17, when she performed at the student association of Kings College London.

“I think she will come back” after Eras, Unsworth said. “She has too many devoted fans not to come back. She's built too much momentum here to just forget about us.”

Zachary Hourihane, who co-hosts a Swift podcast called “Evolution of a Snake” and posts YouTube and TikTok videos under the name Swiftologist, said Thursday that it's too early to know whether the singer will keep her honorary citizenship or retire will take from London. As her fans know all too well, only time will tell with Taylor.

“Taylor is someone who often retraces her steps. It's never really over with her. She likes to look back on things that have ended,” he said. 'Let's be realistic about it. Her relationship, even if it is 'so long, goodbye', she has a good reason to be in London and good money can be made.”