Prioritizing the safety of her fans and crew, 33-year-old Taylor Swift has made the difficult decision to postpone her Saturday show in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, following the shocking death of a young fan just before her Friday performance. Taking to Instagram, the singer explained that the extreme temperatures in Rio necessitated the postponement. She conveyed in her message, “I’m writing this from my dressing room in the stadium. The decision has been made to postpone tonight’s show due to the extreme temperatures in Rio. The safety and well-being of my fans, fellow performers, and crew have to and always will come first.”
Mere hours before Taylor Swift made the decision to postpone the show, 23-year-old fan Ana Clara Benevides tragically passed away, reportedly due to cardiac arrest, just before the “Midnight Rain” performer took the stage for the initial show of her three-part Brazil tour on the Eras Tour. While an official cause of death is still pending confirmation, it is noted that the venue’s temperature reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and fans were facing challenges in obtaining water to stay hydrated. Prior to commencing the show, Taylor shared a poignant message, seemingly in response to Ana’s untimely death.
“I find it unimaginable that I have to put these words together, but with a heavy heart, I must convey that we lost a fan earlier tonight before my show. The devastation I feel is beyond words,” she expressed. “I have limited information at this time, but all I know is that she was remarkably beautiful and tragically too young.”
“I won’t be able to address this from the stage because the grief is too overwhelming when I attempt to speak about it,” she continued. “Right now, I want to express how profoundly I feel this loss, and my shattered heart goes out to her family and friends. This is the last thing I could have anticipated when we made the decision to bring this tour to Brazil.”
The second Brazil show on Taylor’s agenda marks the second occasion in the last two weeks that she has had to postpone a show on the Eras Tour due to weather conditions. The initial instance occurred during one of her shows in Buenos Aires, Argentina, when heavy rainstorms occurred.
