All the times Taylor Swift redefined the fan/celebrity relationship
You’d think an A-list pop star like Taylor Swift would be too busy to pluck adoring fans from Tumblr obscurity and make their wildest dreams come true, but you would be SO wrong. Taylor is pretty much in the business of making dreams come true. She’s basically the music industry’s unofficial fairy godmother.
Since her 1989 album dropped in October, she’s built quite the reputation for stalking her fans on the Internet — a trend she’s appropriately dubbed, “Taylurking”. With “Taylurking,” Swift is redefining what it means for celebrities to interact with their fans. Tay doesn’t need to live her life shrouded in mystery, she’s totally down to reciprocate the love of her adoring public.. From a generous school grant to a personalized playlist, there seems to be no bounds to what Swift will do to make her fans feel appreciated.
On Thursday, we told you all about how Swift assumed the role of Love Doctor to help a fan going through a breakup. Her treatment? A few nuggets of empowering advice and a playlist of breakup songs to help the girl move on. But after we shared that story, we realized how many other things she’s done to bridge the gap between star and supporter. Here are some other examples of how Swift is showing other celebrities how to love on their fans.
She’s got time to hang out at the Grammys
When a Swiftie named Jill took to Tumblr to talk about her upcoming visit to the Grammys, she wasn’t expecting much. “I didn’t want to get my hopes up because I didn’t want to be crushed and I know how much Taylor has going on at the Grammys,” she wrote on her Tumblr. Instead, Jill was met with a request to meet up at the award show by none other than Taylor Swift. During the ceremony, Taylor’s publicist escorted her backstage and, of course, selfies ensued.
She surprised a longtime fan with $1,989
In addition to a personalized painting and a Polaroid that showed Taylor actually working on the painting, Swift sent superfan Rebekah Bortniker a check for $1,989. A longtime follower, Bortniker normally creates posts dedicated to Swift, but had recently started posting about crushing student loan debt and the stress of being without job. Understandably, Swift’s sweet gesture moved her to tears. We got a little misty-eyed too!
She’s got your back
You mess with her fans, you mess with her. Much like Rebekah Bortniker, a Swifitie named Lucy Ashton wanted to film her reaction to opening her Taylor Swift care package. Although most of the comments on the video were positive, an anonymous user chose to comment (in all caps, of course), “UR UGLY TO BE COMPLETELY HONEST….”. Not wise, Anonymous…not wise at all. Taylor immediately fired back (in all caps, of course) writing “NO ANYONYMOUS, NO” and proceeded to tell Lucy that she might be the cutest person alive. BOOYA, Anonymous, BOOYA.
She even sends one of a kind guitars
A Swiftie named Destiny got the surprise of her life when a giant package from Swift showed up on her front doorstep. In addition to Polaroid pics (which included a snap of Taylor and her mom) a Polaroid camera and tons of merchandise, she also sent her a scribbled-on guitar. I, for one, would be afraid to even touch the guitar. You can’t get that writing back! Although, at this rate, I don’t think Taylor would hesitate to send another.
What other artist connects with their fans the way that she does? You Swifties are some lucky peeps! She seems to be on a Taylurking roll recently, so keeps your eyes and ears peeled for her next random act of kindness.
Images via Tumblr
