My Interview With the 21-Year-Old Mastermind Running the Internet’s Most Powerful Taylor Swift Fan Account

If you are a person seeking breathless, nearly incessant updates on the comings and goings, triumphs and travails of one Taylor Alison Swift, there’s no shortage of places to look and, in fact, very few left to hide. On X alone, a platform otherwise captured by porn bots and crypto bros, a cadre of powerful Swiftie accounts (@swiftnyc, @theswiftsociety, the quasi-official @taylornation, and recently @tayvisnation, to name a few) do a brisk trade in Taylor sightings, micro-developments in her romance with Travis Kelce, and the meticulous deciphering of Easter eggs, both real and imagined.

I would only call myself, generously, a Level 6 Swiftie and even as a casual spectator, I’m overwhelmed by the transparent volume of updates and theories. Just this week at the Grammys, as the Swifties were in full meltdown mode about the allegedly imminent release of Reputation TV, only to have their idol announce a brand-new album, I felt like I was part of a group psychosis, eyes glazed, thumb constantly hitting refresh, powerless to stop.

There’s one place on the internet I’ve leaned on to lead me through the madness with the most delightfully chaotic Taylor alerts (besides Cosmo, ofc): the Eras Tour fan account. @tswifterastour is, to be clear, entirely unofficial and run anonymously, but with nearly half a million followers, it’s a lynchpin of this strange, vast universe. Sure, some of the posts can be perfunctory—it frequently relies on the formulation “🚨Taylor Swift stuns,” with the most recently available picture of Taylor, well, stunning in a new look. But the mystery person running the account can also be soulful and mischievously self-aware. Like when they tweeted “WE CLOWNED A BIT TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN ON THIS ONE OMFG” mid-Grammys psychosis, or when they recently admitted to fabricating the names of the people in a large group photo of Taylor with her new Chiefs friends. The zenith of @tswifterastour’s fame was probably when they broke the internet by tweeting after Taylor’s first Chiefs game appearance, “Taylor Swift was eating a piece of chicken with ketchup and seemingly ranch!"

Before Taylor embarks on another blisteringly busy season—the Super Bowl! The Eras Tour in Tokyo! The Tortured Poets Department!—I simply had to know who the mastermind behind @tswifterastour is. How many hours do they spend each day tracking Taylor’s every public activity? How do they have time to do anything else? What could they possibly mean when they said that the ranch was only seemingly so? When I DMed @tswifterastour, I was shocked, thrilled, and honestly a little starstruck when they—a college student in Singapore, it turns out—replied within a single business day. We set up a cameras-off Zoom call, and soon I was learning about the pressure of being the primary source of news for Swifties all over the globe, that time 30 engraved bottles of ranch dressing arrived at their home, how to stalk Ticketmaster for Taylor clues, and more—straight from @tswifterastour themself. (And sorry, no, I won’t be outing their real identity here—not even their family knows they run the account!)

I am so curious about your IRL self. Can you tell me a little about you?

I’m 21, and I just finished junior college in Singapore. We take A-levels here, which is the big exam. So being a Swiftie is my escape from that whenever I’m stressed. It’s something I always look forward to and enjoy. I’ve been a Swiftie since about 2013, when I was about 9 or 10, but I didn’t have social media then.

I see that you’ve had the account since July 2021, but she didn’t announce the Eras tour until November 2022. HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?? How did you get that handle?

Well, this account was originally for her album Midnights, and then when the Eras tour was announced, I switched to this. I did know a little before other people what the tour would be called. I was in contact with a few other fans—they call themselves senior Swifties—and they know how she likes to announce things and where to look for hints. For the Eras tour, her Ticketmaster account changed its name a day before. But no one was talking about it because not a lot of people actively stalk Ticketmaster.

Wow, my mind is completely blown—the Swifties’ organization is unmatched. Did you expect the account to blow up to the extent that it did?

I definitely didn’t expect it to blow up like this. It really took off the first day of the tour, when people were looking for more information and wanted to talk with other Swifties. I was originally planning to reveal my identity on this account, but as much as there are so many Taylor fans, there are a lot of haters too—people who don’t enjoy her, which is their opinion, I guess. But they like to take that out on Swifties. I thought for safety reasons, I wouldn’t like to put myself out there yet.

I do try to read my DM requests because there are a lot of nice people. But there are also a lot of not so nice people. I just try to filter out the hater stuff.

Is it hard for you to keep up with all the developments on the Taylor-verse? How do you keep track of it all?

In the beginning, it was difficult to keep up. For comparison, I used to run an Ariana fan account, and I would just post news and log off, but that wasn’t as fun for me. For this, I really like finding things out beforehand and sharing them with people. I’ve gotten used to it and now it’s in my blood to do it.

I know that it’s not very healthy to be on social media all the time. So I do take time off. I’ll go out with my friends in real life and turn off my phone. I know when Taylor has events or if she’s attending a Chiefs game, so then I set aside time to prioritize that and put my full focus on it.

Tell me everything about “seemingly ranch”!

That was Taylor’s first Chiefs game, so there was a lot of hype and everyone was talking about it. Because of the time zones, I actually woke up in the middle of the game. People were blowing up my DMs like, “Wake up! She’s at the game! She’s supporting Travis!” I was really shocked.

The thing is, I don’t take my account too seriously in the way I tweet. People who have followed me for a long time know that, but people who haven’t followed me, they don’t realize that I’m trying to make it a joke! With this, I was just trying to have fun with my followers. At first, it didn’t really blow up compared to the other tweets of her cheering at the game. But once the game ended, it was still really taking off. By the end of the first 24 hours, it had around 10 million impressions.

It was very overwhelming because I had never had a tweet blow up to that extent before. There were a lot of brands reaching out to send me packages and wanting to do deals. I don’t know—it felt a bit weird. I did agree to some. Heinz made limited-edition bottles and they sent me, like, 30 bottles all the way to Singapore and the bottles were engraved with my name on it. My actual name!

Omg. What was that like?

It was a bit strange because my family doesn’t know! They know I’m a huge Swiftie and my whole room is covered in merch and signed autographs, but they didn’t know what this “seemingly ranch” thing was. They’re not really on social media. I had to explain to them that, oh, it was a sauce that she ate at a game and they said, “It’s a bit weird that you ordered 30 bottles.” I didn’t really know how to explain it.

There were a lot of random people saying, “Oh, her fans are insane.” I realized it’s quite comical how big this specific tweet had gotten. So in the end, I did enjoy it.

Have you been able to make any money off of running the account, through brand deals or sponsorships?

Only recently, I did start making a bit of money, but hmm…I had to sign an NDA, so I can’t really say much.

It was nice of this brand to offer to pay me, because they did use some of my things for their marketing. A lot of Swifties were speaking up for me. I wasn’t really demanding any money because for me, it’s just fun doing this account. But I think certain Swifties who are lawyers, they were reaching out to me, like “Do you need help? You should copyright this and that.” I think the brand saw some of the comments and offered to pay me.

How do you feel about having to now follow American football??

I really had no idea about American football. I admit I’m still not 100 percent on top of it, but I do know the schedule and when Travis is playing and Taylor will be there. Luckily, I don’t have to keep up with the actual game. It’s not that different from updating the Eras tour stops.

What do you think have been your favorite moments of running the account for the last year?

“Seemingly ranch” is probably somewhere up there. Then there was this time in early December where Taylor was dropping rare merch at a specific time every day, and it always sold out in 30 seconds. All the Swifties would stay up and buzz about it together. For me, it was at 4 a.m., so it was actually like hell, but of course, I still did it. I would tweet, “Oh no, I didn’t get this, I didn’t get that,” and people in my DMs would respond to say, “I have an extra of this from a few years ago. Do you want it?” I would ask for their PayPal, but then they would send it and refuse to let me pay. I really learned the generosity of Swifties that way. They do look out for each other and it’s an actual community of friends. Like a family, almost.

I also just love how hard Swifties clown for her album announcements. The 1989 announcement was my favorite one so far because everyone expected it to happen and it happened. I specifically remember how much my phone was blowing up. It overheated. I had to move to my laptop to do updates. It was like a very insane thing to experience. A similar thing is happening for the Reputation TV announcement. I do fear for my phone when that happens.

Lol, I see that you guys have predicted Reputation TV a couple of times and it hasn't quite panned out.

Unfortunately, none of them have come true, but we will get there one day. Last year, her background dancers were definitely messing with us. Some of them follow me so I messaged to ask, “Is it coming?” And they just replied with the eyes reaction. So I know that they like to tease the fans as well.

I hope it finally happens for you guys!!! Rep is my favorite album.

Ah, you have taste. Editor’s note: Reader, I blushed.

What do you think of people who say there is currently too much Taylor?

She’s not going to get less famous anytime soon, so they’re probably just going to have to deal with it. I can say that it’s even more enjoyable to be a Swiftie now, which is why a lot of people are hopping on the Swiftie train. Even people who hated her two, three years ago are some of her biggest fans now.

I saw one of your tweets that said you’re going to be seeing her in Singapore. Will this be your first time?

I have never seen her before, which a lot of people find shocking. I didn’t have enough money when she came here for the 1989 tour. I think I was maybe 11. And then for the Reputation tour, I had quite a bit of money saved for it, but she ended up skipping Singapore for the first time.

This time, I’m going for all six shows! I’m not supposed to reveal yet, but there are some companies sponsoring me for certain shows. I am so excited. I’m planning my outfits and making friendship bracelets with my friends. And I like tweeting about it and just sharing the excitement with everyone.

It is so nice to talk to a Level 10 Swiftie. Is there anything that we missed?

You never know what Taylor is gonna read, so if she does see this article, I want to request that she play “Long Story Short” in Singapore on any of the six days!!*

*Editor’s note: Taylor, please make @tswifterastour’s dreams come true!!!

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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