All About Kameron Saunders, Who’s Successful Hearts on The Eras Tour With Taylor Swift
While Taylor Swift has been setting and breaking records left, right and centre with her ongoing Eras Tour, one person in her team is garnering a much deserved positive attention — Kameron Saunders.
As the only dancer in Swift’s concerts who has a speaking line during The Eras Tour, Saunders has become a kind of celebrity in his own right among the hundreds of thousands of attendees.
His phrase, “like ever,” and its versions in multiple languages at the end of Swift’s bridge when she sings “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” are the words to pay attention to in the decibel-breaking cheers at the concerts.
It is done once on every night of the performance in all cities where The Eras Tour has paid a visit. In fact, fans have been noted to be particularly waiting for Saunders to deliver the words whether in English or the local languages as Swift holds the mike to him while performing.
Kameron Saunders and The Eras Tour of Taylor Swift
Kameron Saunders has been part of all the shows of The Eras Tour. In the first 53 shows, which were held in the US, he delivered his “like ever” phrase.
As Taylor Swift embarked on the international leg of the tour, Kameron Saunders began using local versions of the phrase, sometimes using multiple variations of the local languages based on the city.
According to USA Today, he said “Like Nunca” in Mexico City, “Ni en pedo” in Buenos Aires, and “Nem fudendo” in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. But when The Eras Tour arrived in Tokyo for four nights, he said “Arienai,” “Zettai nai,” and “Maji muri” on three of the concert nights.
Here is a video of him saying “Arienai” on the first night of the Tokyo leg of the tour.
Similarly, he said “Yeah nah,” “Like naur” and “Naur mate” on successive performances in Melbourne.
Fame grows in Singapore
Singapore, however, is where he has gained cult fame. Taylor Swift (with fan-favourite Kameron Saunders) is performing for six nights at the National Stadium from 2 March to 9 March in the city-state, the only Southeast Asian stop of the tour.
In the four nights so far, Saunders has used the Singlish accent so perfectly that the fans are jokingly saying he should get Singapore citizenship. Singlish is basically a localised English, which incorporates phrases from Chinese, Malay and other languages spoken in Singapore.
On the first three nights, he said “No lah,” “Siao ah,” and “Wa lao eh.” On the 7 March show, he used the phrase “Alamak” — an expression of shock or dismay, which was ranked the most popular term used in Singlish by an inaugural study of slang conducted by the US-based language-learning company Preply.
The Eras Tour will travel to Portugal, England, Poland and Austria after Singapore before returning to the US mainland. By then, Saunders would possibly have gained way more followers than the 400K he commands on Instagram.
Interesting facts about Kameron Saunders
His brother is a former teammate of Travis Kelce
Yes, Kameron Saunders’ brother is National Football League (NFL) player Khalen Saunders who was a teammate of Travis Kelce, the boyfriend of Taylor Swift.
Khalen was drafted into the NFL for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2019 and was with the team until 2023. He won the Super Bowl LIV in 2020 and Super Bowl LVII in 2023 for the Kansas City Chiefs, playing alongside Travis Kelce.
Khalen currently plays for the New Orleans Saints as a defensive tackle. When his brother was drafted to the NFL, Saunders moved to New York City and began teaching dance at prominent studios, including Gibney, Broadway Dance Center and Peridance.
Saunders wore his brother’s Kansas City Chiefs jersey for a post on Instagram when The Eras Tour arrived at the team’s home ground, Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, in 2023.
“I’ve been to games at this stadium way more times than I can count to support my brother, but never been on the field. Full circle,” he wrote.
He is like a bona fide star in Kansas City
Kameron Saunders was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri but calls Kansas City his second home.
In the same Instagram post in which he posed in his brother’s jersey, Saunders explained that he graduated from the University of Missouri – Kansas City (UMKC) and lived in the city on and off for the past four years leading up to 2023.
In a separate Instagram post released while the Eras Tour was in Kansas City, Saunders can be seen walking up to a corner of the stage to greet and thank hundreds of supporters cheering for him from the stands.
“Every DM, every post, every story, the signs I saw in the audience… you guys made me feel so incredibly celebrated and loved and supported this weekend. It was surreal and overwhelming in all the best ways. THANK YOU!” he wrote.
He has been honoured by Kansas City
On 25 January 2024, the Kansas City government officially honoured Kameron Saunders for his achievements in music and dance.
“As of today, January 25th will FOREVERMORE be known as the “Kameron Saunders Day of Dance” in Kansas City!!!!!!!!!!” Saunders wrote in a post on Instagram, sharing a carousel of photos and videos receiving the honour at the city council.
“A HUMONGOUS thank you to Mayor Q, Councilman Eric Bunch, and Executive Aide Marissa Iden who were the moving forces behind this very kind Special Action,” he added.
He has worked in Spirited and The Color Purple
Kameron Saunders worked six months as a principal dancer with actors Ryan Reynolds, Octavia Spencer, and Will Ferrell till October 2021 for the Christmas movie Spirited.
Saunders didn’t name the film in his January 2022 interview with VoyageKC, where he revealed that he worked with the actors, but said that it was “the first time I ever had a gig like that and it left me feeling seen and valued as a dancer and artist.”
A modern retelling of Charles Dickens’s 1843 novella A Christmas Carol, the film had a limited theatrical release on 11 November 2022 before its streaming release on Apple TV+.
He also worked as the principal dancer for the film The Color Purple (2023). The musical period drama, starring Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks and Colman Domingo in main roles, is based on the stage musical of the same name, which is based on Alice Walker’s acclaimed 1982 novel of the same name.
He was told to lose weight by his teachers
Kameron Saunders told VoyageKC that he faced a form of negativity from “countless teachers” who told him that he would have to lose weight to become a successful dancer and asked him to change his eating habits.
“That was the beginning of a LOT of self-doubt, but I loved to dance too much so it was never enough to break me, although it was very very hard watching my peers who I often felt like I was more eager than, be rewarded certain things over me for what was seeming because I was a bigger guy/dancer,” he said.
He loves West African dance form
Kameron Saunders has said that the West African dance form is his “first love.” One of the reasons behind it, as he said, is that it has “no size requirement.”
“It’s about the spirit/heart of the dance and dancer and the relationship of dance to drum/sound,” he told VoyageKC.
The choreographer and dancer added that the dance form allowed him to be free and is the reason he loves it more than any other style.
Interestingly, it was the West African dance style through which he discovered the world of dance as his mother took him to a class she took when he was a young boy.
He completed his BFA from UMKC in 2014
His mother wanted him to study hard at a high school where she enrolled him. But since he loved dance, Kameron Saunders was allowed to enrol at the Center of Creative Arts (COCA) where he took classes on a 100 per cent scholarship after the first year while studying at his high school.
He later studied in the dance department at Webster University for two years before transferring to complete his undergraduate BFA degree from UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance in 2014.
He has been honoured with the Princess Grace Award
The Princess Grace Award is an honour given by Princess Grace Foundation-USA, a charity organisation named after Princess Grace of Monaco. It recognises and supports emerging artists in theatre, dance and film through career-advancing grants.
Kameron Saunders received the 2022 Princess Grace Award in Choreography after being a finalist the year prior.
Among the other honours he has received is a Choreography Fellowship at Jacob’s Pillow in its inaugural year in 2018. At the time, he was one of only eight internationally selected choreographers for the fellowship.
The fellowship allowed him to select a choreographer as a mentor, and Saunders, thus, chose American dancer-choreographer Alonzo King in what he has described as “the most life-altering processes I’ve ever experienced” in a conversation with The Power of The Performing Arts (TPOTPA).
He was the movement director of a campaign by Burberry and Vogue
Kameron Saunders worked on the “If I Was An Animal” campaign jointly undertaken by British luxury fashion brand Burberry and fashion magazine Vogue. The campaign, launched in March 2020, was created in support of Burberry’s Spring 2020 collection by its then Chief Creative Officer Riccardo Tisci.
Ama Lou, Brent Faiyaz, Ladyfag, Sora Choi and Ugbad Abdi were part of the campaign video released by Burberry and Vogue.
(Main and Featured images: Kameron N. Saunders/@kamnsaunders/Instagram)
This article first appeared on Lifestyle Asia Singapore.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
– Who is Kameron Saunders’ brother?
Kameron Saunders’s brother is NFL star Khalen Saunders, a two-time Super Bowl champion with the Kansas City Chiefs. He currently plays for the New Orleans Saints.
Source: Prestige Online
