Taylor Swift goes to extraordinary lengths to appease her fans. Prior to the release of her 2014 album, 1989, Swift invited hundreds of her Swifties over to her many houses to eat cookies, hang out with her kittens, and listen to the unreleased album.
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Few artists would trust their fans with access to her house. Swift, however, views her loyal followers more as friends. After all was said and done, Swift posted a behind-the-scenes look at what she dubbed The 1989 Secret Sessions.
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In the footage, Swift can be seen baking cookies herself and waiting eagerly to meet her fans at various locations: Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, Rhode Island, and London. The details of the event were kept under wraps. Hundreds of fans simply heard “Awesome Opportunity” and “Taylor Swift” and jumped at the chance.
“They told us it was a top-secret event,” two super fans can be heard saying while another group reiterated, “We have no idea what we’re in for.”
“[The Secret Sessions] are mini living room house parties,” Swift added in the BTS footage. “I’m playing my fans the album first. We wanted to surprise them and they are out there mingling. They know something is going on, but I don’t know if they know this is going on.”
Swift, of course, wanted to keep the unreleased project under wraps for as long as possible and kept any spoilers out of the BTS footage. But, judging by the fans’ faces after they heard the record, they understood what we all know now: 1989 is an album chock full of hits.
In an interview soon after the Secret Sessions, Swift explained her decision to bring fans into her home. “I’m more proud of this album, more than anything I’ve done before,” Swift told U.K. chat show host Graham Norton. “So I wanted to give fans a chance to hear it before it came out.
“I would go online and watch them for months,” she added, explaining why she chose to invite the fans that she did. “Then I invited them over and they came!”
Revisit the Secret Sessions ahead of 1989 Taylor’s Version, below.
(Photo by Michael Stewart/WireImage)
