Sorry Melbourne, but Sydney is Taylor Swift’s official Australian home

“Is it too much to ask that I just want to stay in Melbourne forever?” Taylor Swift asked the crowd at her third and final show at the MCG last Sunday night.

And yet, by lunchtime the next day, her private jet was in the air and headed for Sydney, where the superstar singer-songwriter has stayed ever since.

Talk of the town: Taylor Swift takes in a Tuesday night in Surry Hills.Credit: Backgrid

Not that we want to dredge up the tired Sydney versus Melbourne battle. But Taylor has clearly chosen her side.

The 34-year-old has made the harbour city her home all week, enjoying dinner out on the town at Pellegrino 2000 in Surry Hills, where she sat alongside casual diners in the downstairs cellar, and visiting Sydney Zoo in the city’s west not once but twice.

She also apparently indulged in the time-honoured Sydney tradition of taking a boat out on the harbour, according to KIIS radio host Kyle Sandilands, who told listeners he saw her vessel pass by while he was on the water.

For her second zoo visit, Swift brought along her Super Bowl-winning boyfriend, Travis Kelce, who jetted into town on Thursday (with footballer buddy Ross Travis) ahead of Swift’s four sold-out shows. Pictures of them walking hand-in-hand were published around the world.

By contrast, it’s not clear what the superstar did while in Melbourne other than shuttle between her accommodation and the MCG.

Sydney is enjoying a global cultural moment. Not only are all eyes on Taylor as she swans about the city, but millions have clocked our landmarks in the Sydney Sweeney film Anyone But You, which was filmed here and released in the US just before Christmas.

Sorry, Melbourne! Of course, the Victorian capital did give Swift the three biggest shows of her career, with 288,000 people filling the MCG over three nights. “That was unforgettable,” she posted on Instagram after the run. “You were on another LEVEL.”

Sydney succumbs to Taylormania.Credit: John Shakespeare

So that’s not to be dismissed. Cumulatively, though, more than 300,000 are expected to attend Swift’s four Accor Stadium shows. Which really makes Sydney the official home of Swiftmania in Australia.

As any student of Swift’s lyrics knows, she has a thing about cities. In Anti-Hero, she likens her darker nature to a hulking monster that’s “slowly lurching toward your favourite city”. She wrote about her move to the Big Apple in Welcome to New York, noting how “everybody here wanted something more”. And in Cornelia Street – a short street in Greenwich Village where she once lived – Swift explores how memories with particular people are often intimately linked to places.

It is conceivable that Swift and Kelce could even extend their stay in Sydney and take advantage of the more favourable weather forecast for next week. After the Sydney leg finishes on Monday night, her next tour date is not until Saturday, March 2, in Singapore.

The American football season is over, and it’s Mardi Gras here. What more reason do they need to stay in town a little longer?