Taylor Swift Pens Heartfelt Tribute to Fan Who Died Shortly Before Her First Brazil Eras Tour Concert Last Night

Taylor Swift performing in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 18 November 2023

If there’s one thing we know for sure about Taylor Swift, it’s that she loves her Swifties—and the singer has spoken out following news that a fan died shortly before Swift’s first Rio de Janeiro, Brazil show supporting her ongoing Eras Tour.

Swift shared a handwritten note to her Instagram Story on Friday, where she wrote her heart was “shattered” by the death of 23-year-old Ana Clara Benevides Machado, who event organizers Time for Fun shared was feeling unwell at the concert’s venue and was attended to by first responders before being transferred to a nearby hospital, where she died, per People.

Taylor Swift handwritten note on Instagram

“I can’t believe I’m writing these words, but it’s with a shattered heart that I say we lost a fan earlier tonight before my show,” Swift wrote. “I can’t even tell you how devastated I am by this. There’s very little information I have other than the fact that she was so incredibly beautiful and far too young.”

Swift played the first of three shows at Estadio Nilton Santos last night, and added that in the two remaining shows, she wouldn’t be able to speak about the fan’s death: “I’m not going to be able to speak about this from the stage because I feel overwhelmed by grief when I even try to talk about it,” she wrote. “I want to say now I feel this loss deeply and my heart goes out to her family and friends. This is the last thing I ever thought would happen when we decided to bring this tour to Brazil.”

Fan footage shared on X from the show captured Swift pausing her performance to ask that water be brought to fans. “There’s people that need water, right here,” she said, pointing to a section of the crowd where fans appeared to be waving empty water bottles in the air. “So whoever is in charge of giving them that, please come and make sure that that happens.” Another video posted from around the same moment showed Swift pointing out where the fans in need of water were and saying “Sorry, it’s just it’s very hot, so if somebody says they need water when it’s this hot, they really need it. We don’t need to chant, it’s totally fine. But we just need to get water to them.” She then appeared to speak to someone in the audience, confirming the water was indeed brought.

After her three-show run in Brazil, Swift is on hiatus from tour until February, when she heads to Japan and Australia.

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.

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