Taylor Swift appeared to pay tribute to late fan Ana Clara Benevides Machado with an emotional song choice on night two in Brazil.
At every show on her Eras tour, Swift, 33, performs two surprise songs acoustically and on Sunday, November, 19, Swift opted to sing “Bigger Than the Whole Sky” from her 2022 Midnights album.
“Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye / You were bigger than the whole sky / You were more than just a short time,” the song’s lyrics read. “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.”
While she didn’t name Machado before singing the song, fans were quick to speculate that Swift was subtly honoring the late fan, who died two days earlier.
“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,” Swift shared via her Instagram Story on Friday, November 17. “I can’t even tell you how devastated I am by this. There’s very little information I have other than the fact that she was so incredibly beautiful and far too young.”
The singer further explained that she would be unable to speak about the tragedy on stage.
“I feel overwhelmed by grief when I even try to talk about it,” Swift wrote on Friday. “I want to say now I feel this loss deeply and 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.”
Local concert organizer Time For Fun confirmed on Saturday, November 18, that Machado had died at age 23 ahead of Friday’s show.
“Last night, Ana Clara felt unwell and was promptly attended to by the team of firefighters and paramedics, being taken to the Estádio Olímpico Nilton Santos [on-site medic] for first aid protocol,” the statement, which was posted in Portuguese, read. “Given the situation, the medical team chose to transfer her to Salgado Filho Hospital, where, after almost an hour of emergency care, she unfortunately died.”
Machado’s official cause of death has yet to be revealed.
In the wake of Machado’s passing, her father, Weiny Machado, shared a statement to local newspaper Folha de São Paulo on Saturday.
“I lost my only daughter, a happy and intelligent girl,” he said. “She was about to graduate in Psychology next April, saving money. I have no words to express my pain. She left home to fulfill a dream and came back dead.”
Swift kicked off the South American leg of the Eras Tour earlier this month and has been forced to postpone two shows — something that is unheard of for the singer — due to various unsafe conditions.
Initially, she postponed the November 10 show in Argentina following “truly chaotic” weather. A week later, Swift was forced to postpone Saturday’s Rio de Janeiro show “due to extreme temperatures.”
“The safety and well-being of my fans, fellow performances and crew has to and always will come first,” she wrote via Instagram Stories at the time.
