Kendall Park teen meets musical idol

Taylor Swift fan gets to watch video shoot

by Sean Ruppert, Staff Writer
   Like most teenagers, Brianna Olsson, of Kendall Park, dreamed of one day meeting her favorite musical star.
   Unlike most kids though, Briana, 16, has had her dream come true, several times over.
   The South Brunswick High School student is one of the biggest fans of country music star Taylor Swift that you will ever meet. Brianna’s enthusiasm and dedication to the artist has taken her from one of Ms. Swift’s concerts in South Carolina to a trivia contest on the set of MTV’s “Total Request Live,” and all the way out to Nashville for an appearance as an extra in Ms. Swift’s latest music video.
   ”Taylor is the sweetest, nicest person ever,” Brianna said. “She is so down to earth, just a regular person. She is just great.”
   Brianna became a fan of Ms. Swift’s after hearing her song “Tim McGraw,” on the radio while on vacation in North Carolina with her family. She became so interested in the music that for her 16th birthday, her mother, Beth Olsson, took Brianna all the way to the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach, S.C., for a concert. The two showed up to the concert four hours before the doors opened and sat near Ms. Swift’s bus, hoping to get a glimpse of the star before she went into the show.
   ”Brianna’s such a huge fan, she has been for years now,” Ms. Ollson said.
   In between sound checks Brianna got her wish, Ms. Swift came over to them to sign autographs and talk.
   ”She signed her shirt and her cowboy hat, Brianna was so excited that she couldn’t remember how to spell her own name,” Ms. Olsson said. “Taylor hugged her and told her how sweet she was, it was really great.”
   Brianna said she didn’t really think she would get a chance to actually talk to her idol at the show.
   ”It was unbelievable, totally unexpected,” she said. “I was screaming and crying, as soon as she came over I started sobbing. It was the biggest dream come true. Words can’t even describe.”
   Like any good mother, Ms. Olsson was busy snapping away with her camera, documenting the exchange. The pictures would become more than just a nice keepsake for Brianna, they became her ticket to a Taylor Swift No. 1 fan contest for MTV in New York.
   Brianna sent in her pictures for use as a backdrop during Ms. Swift’s visit to TRL in June. Her pictures were selected, and she was invited to participate in a contest where she would decorate a guitar for her idol. Her guitar was selected by Ms. Swift, and Brianna was invited to take part in a three-person trivia contest. The prize was an appearance in Ms. Swift’s next music video. Brianna hung in, answering questions like “What music does Taylor listen to on her tour bus?”
   In the end though, she lost the contest by a single question. While many would be broken hearted over the loss, Brianna said she was satisfied with the experience.
   ”Just being in the same room with her, and being able to breath the same air, was enough to make my life,” she said.
   Though Brianna didn’t know it at the time, Brianna had good reason to be upbeat. In what can only be described as a Hollywood ending, Ms. Swift offered to fly Brianna and a parent out to the video shoot, at Ms. Swift’s expense.
   ”They told us, but they didn’t have a date so we didn’t know if it was really going to happen,” Ms. Olsson said. “Then in August we were on vacation on the Outer Banks, and we they called us to Nashville for the video. So we had to fly out from there.”
   They arrived and Brianna got to appear in the video, as well as watch the rest of the shoot and hang out with Ms. Swift in her dressing room. Brianna said she was impressed with all the work that goes into producing a video.
   ”It was the coolest thing. They had storyboards and they re-shoot everything so many times. The littlest thing and they do it again,” Brianna said.
   On her own musical ambitions, Brianna said, she plays the guitar, but is a little shy about her music and prefers just to play for friends. The video she appeared in, “Love Story” will premier in December.