In December 2019, Netflix revealed that the documentary was set to premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. In an interview with Chris Willman of "Variety", it was revealed that the opening act of the film deals with "juxtaposing the joys of creation with the aggravations of global stardom" while the second half is a "provocative turn focused on why Swift became a political animal". Willman wrote that the film further features clips capturing Swift's increasing LGBTQ allyship, Swift's reaction to her mother's cancer diagnosis, and Swift's response to her 2017 album "Reputation" not receiving any nominations in general categories at the 2019 Grammy Awards. Wilson stated that she views the movie as "looking at the flip side of being America's sweetheart", meant to shed light on the less-glamorous side of fame and stardom.