Watch video: Taylor Swift pays emotional tribute to fan who died at show
Taylor Swift welcomed the family of fan Ana Benevides, who died at her show in Rio de Janeiro, to her latest concert. Watch video.
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Pop superstar Taylor Swift, who is currently wowing crowds in the Southern Hemisphere with her Eras Tour concerts, hosted some special guests at her latest show in Brazil.
Her VIP guests were the family of the young woman who recently died during a heatwave at a Rio de Janeiro show.
Video posted to X showed five relatives of Ana Clara Benevides Machado enjoying Taylor’s performance from inside a VIP tent at Allianz Parque stadium in Sao Paulo on Sunday evening, local time.
ðŸŸï¸| The family of Ana Clara Benevides, is in attendance tonight! #SaoPauloTSTheErasTourpic.twitter.com/NJX7DE5gBw
— Taylor Swift Updates 🩵 (@swifferupdates) November 26, 2023
The close-knit family were all wearing custom T-shirts emblazoned with Ana’s face, including her dad, Weiny.
A source told People magazine Taylor personally invited the bereaved family to her Sunday show and took a group photo with them, which was later posted to X.
📸| Taylor signed and wrote a message to Adriana Benevides, Ana Benevides' mother, on a photo.
— Taylor Swift Updates 🩵 (@swifferupdates) November 27, 2023
"Eu Te Amo Adriana.
Love, Taylor." pic.twitter.com/MvpCHkYAqQ
The pop star also signed a photo of Ana and gave it to her mother.
It comes as Ana was attending Taylor’s concert at Nilton Santos Olympic Stadium in Rio on November 17, when she began feeling ill during a heatwave. The 23-year-old fan was rushed to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead less than an hour later.
TAYLOR PAYS EMOTIONAL TRIBUTE TO DECEASED FAN
Taylor Swift has paid an emotional tribute to a young fan who died at her Rio de Janeiro show on Friday night.
It was the pop superstar’s first time back on stage with her Eras Tour since postponing her Saturday concert due to extreme temperatures in the city, which resulted in one death and 1,000 recorded fainting spells.
Appearing to be paying her respects to 23-year-old Ana Clara Benevides who died from cardiac arrest at the star’s show, Swift sang the emotional Bigger Than the Whole Sky, which details grief and heartache.
Swift, solo at the piano, was visibly emotional while singing: “Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye / You were bigger than the whole sky / You were more than just a short time.
“I’m never gonna meet / What could’ve been, would’ve been / What should’ve been you / What could’ve been, would’ve been you.”
📹| Full length video of Taylor performing "Bigger Than The Whole Sky" at the second Eras show in Rio #RioTSTheErasTourpic.twitter.com/eeRg1N4kXr
— Taylor Swift Updates 🩵 (@swifferupdates) November 20, 2023
Thousands of fans joined Swift, singing while holding their phone flashlights on: “No words appear before me in the aftermath/ Salt streams out my eyes and into my ears/ Every single thing I touch becomes sick with sadness.”
According to The Sun, Swift’s fans gave her a touching ovation, chanting “Taylor, we love you” as the singer broke down.
Emotional Swifties replied to the heartbreaking video on social media, with one writing: “Ana will always be very loved by us and by Taylor.
“This tribute was the most beautiful thing Tay could do today.”
Another commented: “I got goosebumps with this performance, it was so beautiful.”
“Rest in peace Gabriel and Ana. You will always be remembered. Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye,” a third replied.
It comes after student Ana Clara Benevides, 23, went into cardiac arrest in sweltering heat at the Nilton Santos Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro last Friday.
The 33-year-old star briefly paused the Eras show so drinks could be handed out to fans chanting “water, water”.
She even threw a bottle to the crowd.
A fan video from the Rio de Janeiro concert on Friday night also showed Swift seemingly struggling to breathe after performing her hit “Bejewelled”.
Benevides’ father now wants the show’s organisers punished if they are found guilty of negligence.
“I’ve lost my only daughter — a happy and intelligent girl. I’ve no words,” said Benevides' mother, Weiny Machado.
Benevides’ father told a newspaper it was “absurd” that Swift had to give fans water.
The late woman’s cousin Estela Benevides, who said the devoted Swiftie had travelled by plane for the first time in her life to attend Friday’s concert, added: “Our family is in shock. It’s incredible.
“She left a lasting impression on the lives of the people she knew.”
The dead woman’s family spoke as regional prosecutors announced an investigation focusing on the organisation of the show by T4F, a shortened version of Brazilian entertainment company Time For Fun which has been described as one of the largest of its kind in the world.
It was ordered to make changes for the second Taylor Swift concert last night, including the provision of new water distribution points, before the US artist postponed the show because of the ongoing heatwave in Rio.
SWIFT STRUGGLED TO BREATHE DURING SHOW
During the Friday night concert where the fan went into cardiac arrest and died, Swift appeared to be gasping for air.
A video from the concert shared on social media showed the star seemingly struggling to breathe right after singing Bejewelled at the end of her hours-long performance.
“OMG … this breaks my heart in so many levels,” one concerned fan wrote on Twitter in response to the video.
“She’s so professional but watching her like this, my best wishes go to her.”
A second worried fan wrote, “She is only 33 and in incredible physical shape. That she was struggling that much is really scary.”
Several others commended her for postponing Saturday night’s show after fans attended the previous night’s concert in nearly 100° F (38C) temperatures.
Swift, 33, announced she would postpone her concert out of consideration for the “safety and wellbeing of [her] fans, fellow performers and crew.”
She then postponed her second concert in Rio due to the sweltering temperatures.
The decision came after Ana Clara Benevides, 23, who attended Friday night’s concert, died following a cardiac arrest event due to the extreme temperatures.
Benevides documented her journey to the Eras Tour on social media on Friday, showing herself waiting in line for hours to score a good spot in the general admissions area of the Nilton Santos Olympic Stadium.
Once she was in, she managed to snap some pictures by the stage before collapsing.
She was “resuscitated at the stadium for about 40 minutes,” according to the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, before being taken away by an ambulance.
Unfortunately, she died before making it to the hospital.
Swift later took to social media to mourn the tragic loss of Benevides, writing, “I can’t believe I’m writing these words but it is with a shattered heart that I say we lost a fan earlier tonight before my show.”
She also told her fans: “My broken 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.”
She said she was “not going to be able to speak about this from stage” because she feels “overwhelmed by grief.”
Furious Swift fans later blasted concert officials for banning fans from taking water into the sweltering venue.
In a statement shared to her Instagram Story, Swift said: “I’m writing this from my dressing room in the stadium.
“The decision has been made to postpone tonight’s show due to the extreme temperatures in Rio.
“The safety and wellbeing of my fans, fellow performers and crew has to and always will come first.”
Media reports say Swift urged officials to bring bottles to waving members of the crowd, as chants of “water, water” were heard.
Swift was forced to cancel one of her recent shows in Argentina due to bad weather.
She was also joined by new beau Travis Kelce, 34, and the pair sent the internet wild after he came out to support her and they later shared their first public kiss.
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Originally published as Watch video: Taylor Swift pays emotional tribute to fan who died at show
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