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We had an enchanted opportunity to meet and greet Taylor Swift yesterday (yes, my attempt at a pun). She looked so pretty and au naturel in a pastel pink polka dot mini dress. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures as they had an official photographer who would be tasked with picture-taking, nor was autograph-taking allowed as we received pre-signed autographed pictures in lieu of this. We also met her in groups of 10, probably to save time as there were quite a number of other people in line. My reaction upon shaking her hand? AWESTRUCK.
Taylor Swift is every bit as nice and sweet as she seems. She made sure she was able to even just say hi to every person in our group which I found to be a sweet, personalized gesture. To me, she said, "you're so pretty!" It took a long time to register, I was so flabbergasted because obviously, I am just this humble human being beside THE Taylor Swift, Popstar Extraordinaire. Finally, I found time to respond (almost incredulously), "YOU'RE so pretty!" She even went and kissed the little girls on the forehead, finding them every bit as adorable as they really were.
I love stars who are very kind to their fans. I think all it takes is this thought: Once in their lives, they were ordinary people too, who would've cherished the opportunity for someone so famous to pay attention to them. To a starstruck fan, they can give a meaningful gift - a memory to cradle close to their heart for as long as they live. It's a pretty great opportunity to touch lives from all over.
The concert started with a bang, with a song from her new album, "Sparks Fly." Taylor Swift came out shimmering in a gold sequined flapper dress, shimmying her way through the crowd with expert head-banging of her glorious mane of blond curls. There was this giant LCD screen in the back that had glittering 3D images, changing backdrops with every song and setting the mood beautifully. To the song, Enchanted, the backdrop befit its name - a picturesque fairy tale forest scene glittering into the night. To the song, Speak Now, it was replete with a cute choreographed wedding scene bridesmaid type of number.
Taylor Swift also proved her versatility, playing three instruments - a sequined silver guitar, a laidback ukele (to which she interspersed chords from Hey Soul Sister by Train, I'm Yours by Jason Mraz and Apologize by One Republic with her own songs), and the piano for Dear John (John Mayer, you are one sorry jerk for breaking her heart! Haha!). At one point, one of her musicians played Enchanted purely on violin, which was beautiful. The crowd sang along, catching recognition of the tune, and the violinist smiled as we "got" it.
Taylor also interacted with the crowd, telling us phrases like "Mahal ko kayo" and "KamustaS kayo?" At one point, she even went down the stage and circled the front set, shaking hands with the excited fans awaiting with arms outstretched. There was even a mini-scuffle near us as she threw her gloves to the crowd and two teens dove for it. Haha!
She ended the 1 hour 25 minute show with a fake leave - the crowd shouted "We want more!" - and she came back out, singing "Love Story" and falling theatrically back-first away into the stage as the finale. Though it would have been nice if she'd sang her other songs like "Teardrops on my Guitar" and "Today was a Fairy Tale." Still, great, great concert. I've become a fan. I hope I get the opportunity to watch the other concerts lined up this year - Bruno Mars, rumored Lady Gaga, I'm watching you!
