Courtesy of Miranda Schweisberg
Miranda Schweisberg, a fourth year Cultural Anthropology major, was invited by Taylor Swift’s management team to go to Taylor Swift’s Rhode Island house to attend a Reputation Secret Session. At these meetings, Taylor plays the new album before it comes out and discusses each song’s meaning with lucky fans, like Miranda. There were other secret sessions all around the world at Taylor’s various houses from New York, to London, and Nashville. I talked to Miranda about her experience in Rhode Island.
How did this happen? I was at my house and got a DM on Twitter from her management team, Taylor Nation, saying that they had a confidential event that they would like to invite me to. They asked for my full name and phone number. A few days later, I got a call in the evening and they asked if I would be able to make it to Rhode Island by 3pm on Wednesday, October 18th. At this point, I was pretty sure I knew what was going on and all I could do was just keep saying yes and trying not to scream. They told me I couldn’t tell anyone, it was extremely confidential and that they would send me an email with more info by the end of the week.
What did you do at her house? For a while we just hung out, ate food, and talked. They took away all the clocks, including our phones, so we had no idea what time it was. I think that part lasted a couple of hours. We got to talk to her parents and her brother. Then we were ushered into her living room and told to sit on the floor. This is when Taylor came in. She introduced herself, and then we listened to the entirety of the new album. Afterwards, we had a special event that was filmed by ABC. Taylor played one of her new songs, New Years Day, for us on the piano. After that we all got to personally meet Taylor, talk to her for a couple minutes, and take pictures with her. Once you were done, you left.
First thoughts on the album: My first thoughts were, “Holy sh*t, this is amazing.” It surpassed all my expectations. I was surprised with some of the lyrics, how mature and suggestive they are, but they’re undeniably some of the best songs she’s ever written. We were all dancing so much while listening to it with her. Taylor has always been honest in her songwriting, but this album took it to another level.
What was Taylor like? Taylor is one of the nicest, most genuine people I’ve ever met. She was funny, sarcastic, kind, chill, and felt like our best friend. Most artists don’t take the time to get to know their fans, but Taylor does. She would randomly talk to someone and call them by their name. For me, she knew my name and asked if I had dyed my hair because it looked darker to her. It felt really special. She also gives really good hugs!
Any other thoughts about meeting her? After meeting her, I definitely am an even bigger fan than before, if that’s possible. I don’t know how she found me but I am so thankful she did. There’s a saying among Taylor’s fans on Tumblr that you’ll meet her when you most need it and that’s definitely true. I had been having a rough time when her management team reached out to me. I’ll forever be grateful for the opportunity. It was a dream come true.
To catch a glimpse of what happened during the secret sessions head to Taylor Swift’s Youtube.