Welcome to Brazil, Taylor Swift, it’s been waiting for you.
As her sweep of Rio de Janeiro shows got underway this week, the pop superstar and her legions of devoted fans were greeted by the wide-open arms of the world’s most-famous Christ statue, sporting a projected image of a Swift-inspired T-shirt.
The 125-foot Christ the Redeemer was illuminated Thursday night with a towering message welcoming the singer to the country for the most recent leg of her Eras Tour. The grand show of hospitality was because of a charitable act by her fans and orchestrated by the Christ the Redeemer Archdiocesan Sanctuary, which manages the long-lasting statue.
On social media, Swifties asked Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes to project onto the statue a likeness of the “Junior Jewels” shirt from Swift’s “You Belong with Me” music video. Their plea went viral. Paes, who once called the singer the “Madonna of our times,” said he’d take the matter to the Rev. Omar Raposo, the rector of the sanctuary.
“Okay, I did my part!” said Paes on X, formerly generally known as Twitter. “From today onwards, I ask all fan clubs to direct their requests concerning the Sanctuary of Christ the Redeemer to our beloved Archdiocese. Friend Father Omar, the ball is in your court!”
In exchange for the projection, the priest, who runs the favored Catholic site, challenged Swifties to boost money to purchase food and drinks for the upcoming Catholic Church’s World Day of the Poor, which will likely be marked on Sunday.
In someday of crowdfunding, fans raised about 180,000 reais (about $37,000), which covered the price of 20,000 loaves of panettones, a conventional sweet yeast bread, and bottled water for Rio’s homeless, an announcement from the sanctuary said.
With the fundraising goal met, the statue was lit Thursday night. A small team from the sanctuary and just a few Swifties began distributing the food and drinks to those in need that evening.
“Young people like challenges. So we directed the energy of fans to do good,” said Raposo, who is also pastor of Rio’s São José da Lagoa parish.
“This can and will likely be replicated! It’s a mobilization for solidarity, Christ the Redeemer descending the Corcovado mountain to affect society.”
The statue, viewed as a worldwide symbol of Christianity, was inaugurated nearly 100 years ago, and a priest got here up with the concept for it even earlier, in line with the monument’s official site. Today, the Christ statue with its arms wide open welcomes thousands and thousands of selfie-snapping tourists annually. In 2017, it was elected as one in every of the brand new seven Wonders of the World.
Rio is removed from the one place to present Swift a special welcome for her Eras Tour. Cities across the United States paid homage to Swift — from declaring her the honorary mayor of the day to renaming stadiums.
Currently on her international leg of the tour, hundreds of fans also recently gathered for the superstar’s first-ever concert in Argentina, which took a political turn ahead of the country’s presidential elections. Swift will play six Eras shows in Brazil. The first three will likely be at Rio’s Estádio Nilton Santos starting on Friday. Next week, she’ll perform in São Paulo at three shows at Allianz Parque stadium.
Hely Olivares, a 41 year-old Venezuelan who works and lives in Panama City, made the trip to Rio to attend what he thinks will likely be “one in every of those concert events that can make history.”
On the plane, he saw many passengers, some coming from other South American countries, wearing a T-shirt of the Eras Tour or the singer’s friendship bracelets.
“There is a historical element that caught my attention, with the mobilization of so many individuals,” he said.
“We did it Swifties!” said a post on the Christ the Redeemer official Instagram account, which showed an aerial 360-degree video of the statue while Swift’s song “You Belong with Me” played. “You were in a position to show all of your love for Taylor and on your neighbor.”
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Henao reported from Princeton, New Jersey.
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