When her best friend asked Charity Eden ('13) if she wanted to catch Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour, she said yes -- even though she had only heard a few of Swift's albums.

But Eden, who grew up on Christian and choral music, doesn't regret splurging $1,500 for floor seats at AT&T Stadium in Arlington in 2023.

"Everything about that show drew you in and took you on this adventure. And I left thinking, 'Everyone needs to experience The Eras Tour.'

"And that's what turned me to thinking, 'Maybe I can help them do that. Maybe I can try to replicate the show as close as I possibly can.' So, the first thing I did was start buying costumes and making backing tracks and building out a show."

Now Lover: The Unofficial Eras Tour is one of the most popular Taylor Swift tributes in the world, sending Eden to numerous countries and garnering attention from USA Today and The Hollywood Reporter. She built a 10-piece band and crew, quit her job in wealth management and now works full-time on the project -- and just released her own music.

Evermore Era

Eden grew up surrounded by music. Raised in Wylie, she sang with her pastor father's church every Sunday, as well as talent shows, her high school show choir and the Wylie Opry.

At UNT, she studied vocal performance at the College of Music and performed with the Jazz Singers. After a teacher discovered a breathy tone in her voice, Eden learned she sustained vocal damage -- from years of singing without rest -- at an appointment at the Speech and Hearing Center, and visited there regularly for therapy.

After graduating, Eden served as a worship pastor for nine years, working on music and other ministerial duties. Eventually, she pivoted to wealth management while singing at church on Sundays.

Around that same time, she was in the midst of divorcing from a 10-year marriage and a friend sent her Swift's song, "Tolerate It," from evermore.

"That song literally helped me" -- she pauses -- "it helped me feel like I wasn't alone.

"As cliched as that sounds, I felt like, 'How does Taylor Swift help me understand my own feelings and emotions?' And then the album Midnights came out. I felt like that was a play-by-play of my life at the moment."

Then she attended The Eras Tour concert, and her life changed.

Fearless Era 

As Eden began to put together the tour, she thought back to some of her classes at UNT. She used theory lessons to change keys in the songs and recorded and built tracks like she learned to do in her Pro Tools class.

To garner publicity, she put all of her energy and efforts into releasing a promo video for the tribute band in August 2023. She soon went from playing local venues to gaining positive attention through social media to performing in Bermuda, Canada, Japan and a military base in Kuwait, with upcoming shows in Brazil, Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, Austria and Luxembourg.

But Eden was devoting all her free time to the tribute act.

"I really fought the idea of doing music full-time. If music was my full-time job, then it wouldn't be fun. I was not only working Monday through Friday, but every single moment outside of my 9-to-5 was pursuing this band and this music career. I had no space to rest and recover, and no time to just be myself, and felt like something had to give."

She had to make a decision. She quit her job.

Showgirl Era

Now, keeping up with Swift is a 24/7 job, especially when the star is known for her numerous Easter eggs and surprise drops. In the second year of The Eras Tour, Swift incorporated her newest album, The Tortured Poets Department, into the show. Eden spent $4,000 on costumes, props and producing tracks for her show. She recently added Swift's latest release, The Life of a Showgirl, to the act.

Eden performs some of her own songs in the Swift tribute show, as part of the surprise song set. She released her single, "be yourself," in 2023, and it will appear on her first full-length independent album, Silent Conversation, which comes out Jan. 16.

"It's been the most rewarding thing -- that people come to our shows because of Taylor, but then they leave wanting to know who Charity Eden is."

But she doesn't mind portraying someone else.

"When I'm on stage, it's not about me. This is about Taylor's music, and this is because the audience loves Taylor, and I'm here to help create this environment for us to have the best night of our lives, sing our little hearts out, and forget about everything going on in the world."