Disguised Taylor Swift fan is the meme of the weekend

As you may have heard, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is an event. Swifties, those most dedicated of fans, attend the tour in elaborate costumes, trade friendship bracelets, make up dances, and even camp out in the merch line hours in advance just for a chance to get some exclusive gear. The Eras Tour is obviously the safest space possible to let one’s Swiftie flag fly. Unless of course you called out from work to attend and are now being interviewed on the local news.

That’s what happened to one anonymous Swiftie who went viral this weekend for protecting her identity while posting up in the merch line. While being interviewed for WKRC Local 12, this Swiftie (and a friend) kept her face hidden by wearing a blanket with sunglasses. This isn’t just a handy way to keep cover: it’s a verified Swiftie costume, originating from the “Anti-Hero” music video. (We call that a two-birds, one-stone situation.) The anonymous fan didn’t give away much, but did reveal exactly how devoted she is to the pop star: “I almost named my daughter’s middle name Taylor.”

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But that doesn’t even cover the extent of this fan’s devotion. Our anonymous ghost traveled more than an hour from Louisville to be at the Cincinnati show, and at the time of the interview had been waiting in the merch line since 2:45 in the morning. Further, she didn’t even have tickets until the Saturday show. Even further, she’d already seen the tour in Nashville. (“I’m taking an 11-year-old little girl, it’s her first time,” is her explanation for attending again in Cincinnati.) And all this after presumably fighting tooth and nail just to secure tickets during the Great Ticketmaster Debacle.

All of it speaks to the ongoing awesome powers of Taylor Swift, who holds in sway legions of loyalists who would happily call out sick a full two days before seeing the show, employment be damned. The tour stops themselves have paid fealty to the traveling bard by renaming their cities and stadiums. The city of Bellevue, less than two miles from the stadium where Swift performed, renamed a street from Taylor to “Taylor Swift Avenue,” and changed all the street signs to Lover pink. Local businesses also offered “Swift-inspired food, drinks and specials,” per the Cincinnati Enquirer.

As for the actual performances, Swift was forced to do some shuffling and started the show early on July 1. As a result, opener Gracie Abrams didn’t get to perform, so Swift brought her out during the main set to duet Abrams’ song “I miss you, I’m sorry.” Swift also welcomed collaborator and Cincinnati native Aaron Dessner to the stage to play “ivy” from evermore as a surprise song, and additionally performed reputation’s “Call It What You Want.” Hopefully, the experience was worth it for that anonymous Swiftie!