Taylor Swift has just three shows left on her record-shattering Eras Tour — and when she says goodbye it’ll mark the end of what the superstar has called “the most exhausting, all-encompassing, but most joyful, most rewarding, most wonderful thing that has ever happened” in her life.

Swift, 34, will play the last of her 152 tour dates in Vancouver on Dec. 8, and the impact of her tour has been nothing short of global phenomenon. From reintroducing the world to the joys of friendship bracelets to inspiring the highest-grossing concert film of all time, the Eras Tour certainly made its mark.

It also evolved with its star; since kicking things off in March 2023, Swift healed from heartbreak and settled into a new love with NFL star Travis Kelce, and even became a billionaire in August, the first musician ever to do so based solely on performing and songwriting, according to Forbes.

Journalist Rob Sheffield, whose book Heartbreak Is the National Anthem explores her massive influence, tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story that the “Fortnight” singer’s magic lies in the fact that her songs are “so personal” to her, yet relatable to those consuming her art.

“The Beatles are the closest thing to a Taylor Swift that we have in history,” says Sheffield. “She’s so completely transformed pop music.”

Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto has seen some of that magic up close, working with Swift on four of her music videos, including the recent “Fortnight.”

He tells PEOPLE that upon meeting Swift for the first time while working on her music video for “The Man,” which came out in 2020, he was struck by her work ethic.

“I remember very well all the visual references she had put together for that meeting. You might think that someone with that level of success might be jaded or may just rely on others to feed her ideas, but she puts in the work,” recalls Prieto. “She does her research and thinks deeply about the concepts and ideas she comes up with. She seemed to be a much more experienced director, the way she spoke about the cinematic language of her ideas. It did not seem to be a musician pretending to be a director. It felt like I was talking to someone who had deep experience in that role.

Swift revealed at the MTV VMAs that boyfriend Kelce was on set cheering her on while working on “Fortnight,” and Prieto adds, “I think she felt very supported by his presence, and probably also proud to show him what she does and the kind of leader she is. She makes her own kind of touchdowns.”

Though Swift has certainly earned all of her accolades — which included a record-setting fourth album of the year win at the Grammy Awards in February, for Midnights — she hasn’t done it alone. The star’s family and A-list friends have been fixtures at her Eras Tour shows since the beginning, with mom Andrea, dad Scott and brother Austin mingling with fans and holding down the fort in the VIP tent. Kansas City Chiefs star Kelce also attended 14 shows, and his family members have shown up to cheer on Swift, too.

One Tree Hill star Tyler Hilton, who starred in Swift’s “Teardrops on My Guitar” music video in 2007, is a longtime family friend of the Swifts, and joined the star’s parents in 2018 to catch a show from the VIP tent. He says the family’s tireless support of the Grammy winner is the real deal.

“They still treat her like she’s just killing it at a talent show,” he says. “They’re so excited for her still. Their earnestness as a family is so real.”

Always one to leave her fans guessing through various Easter eggs, Swift dropped one clue that she still has plenty to come. In the Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour Book, a commemorative tome she released on Nov. 29, the star said goodbye with a tease: “See you next era…”

“She has so much energy and love for creativity, I am certain there is much more where that came from,” says Prieto. “She is unstoppable, and her enthusiasm for her craft is contagious. I know she will keep giving us wonderful music, but surely she will continue branching out into other areas of creative output.”