If you want to see real passion, find a Taylor Swift fan! Swifties are the kind of dedicated people we rarely see these days. From decoding Easter eggs to organizing some of the biggest fan events on earth, to putting months of effort into their Eras Tour outfits. And can you blame them? Not only does Taylor Swift have an era or a song for basically every single thing a person can go through, good or bad, but most of these fans have literally grown up with her. The music icon is releasing her 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl, on Oct. 3, and ahead of the release, I took it upon myself to find some of the biggest Swifties in Ontario and learn more about the journey that led them to the fandom.
Abigale Valliere
Meet Abigale Valliere. From Toronto. Her love for Taylor Swift began back in the days when the singer wasn’t even headlining shows.
“My love for Taylor Swift started when I was 11. My mom had brought home her CD from when she opened for Rascal Flatts. My mom said, ‘Ab. You need to listen to this album, you’re going to love her,’ and well, that was history,” Valliere tells Curiocity.
There’s being a massive fan, and there’s doing something about it, and Valliere definitely did something about it, creating an online community for fellow Swifties.
“My biggest moment as a Swiftie was creating my Canadian Swifties Facebook group to bring more Canadian Swifties together. I also helped real fans get real tickets from real fans who were selling them to prevent scamming. This all took place in the Facebook group!”
Having attended the Eras Tour twice, Valliere is ready to dive headfirst into some new music.
“I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS NEW ALBUM! The same producers as Rep? Are you kidding me?” Valliere shares. “I am so excited for track five, as we all know the hidden meaning. I plan on celebrating this album by decorating my house orange and glittery and blasting it as loud as I can. IT’S TIME TO BE A SHOW GIRL.”
Alyssa Moncata
Also from Toronto is Alyssa Moncata. Like a lot of Swifties, Moncata felt a connection to Swift, being the same age as the singer.
“I bought the Fearless CD when I was in high school. I can remember listening to it on repeat for weeks. And when I watched the music video for Love Story, I was just obsessed. Taylor was my age, and it just felt like she was singing about everything I felt or was going through.”
Moncata saw Swift in concert for the first time during the RED album tour. “I was 22, and when she sang ’22’, I just felt like she was singing directly to me,” she explains.
From there, her passion only got stronger.
“My bachelorette party was ‘Lover’-and Taylor Swift-themed,” Moncata tells me. “When I got married and walked down the aisle to my husband, it was to ‘Wildest Dreams (TV)’, which will always be so special to me,” she continues.
And it doesn’t stop there.
“My baby shower had heavy Taylor Swift influence, and we did many Taylor-related games, and I was gifted a Taylor Swift wardrobe for my baby girl. I couldn’t get tickets for the ERAs Tour in Toronto, but my husband and I did get tickets to see her in Italy; however, shortly after we got our Italy tickets, I discovered I was pregnant with our daughter, and the concert was a few days after her due date. Sadly, we couldn’t go, and I was heartbroken. And as luck would have it, I ended up getting tickets for one of her Toronto shows! We went to the concert (in postpartum – with my breast pump) and it was the best night of my life.”
Moncata says she wears her friendship bracelets every single day. As for the upcoming album, she cannot wait.
“I love this era for her! She’s had a good amount of heartbreak and sad pop songs, but it seems like this will be dancey, pop, and happy in love. I just know it’s going to be full of energy and excitement. And good for her – she found a good guy, she’s engaged – we love that for her.”
Evie Marcotullio
Originally from London, Ontario, Evie Marcotullio is currently a law student at the University of Windsor, but if she could get her degree in being a Taylor Swift fan, she surely would.
“I often catch myself saying that Taylor Swift and her music have been the most consistent things in my life. Fearless was the first CD I ever owned; my mother bought it for me, and every day in her car, we would blast the album. ‘Love Story’ is the first song I ever memorized, and I always think about screaming it in the back seat, with the windows down, at eight years old,” Marcotullio says.
From being a little girl to being a law student, Swift was always there for her.
“On my first day of law school, before I knew anyone and I was terrified, I listened to Taylor Swift. When I had my first breakup, I listened to Taylor Swift. The day of my university graduation, I listened to Taylor Swift. On my 22nd birthday at my Taylor Swift-themed party, I listened to Taylor Swift. She has inadvertently been holding my hand through the significant achievements in my life. Honestly, without Taylor Swift, I wouldn’t be in law school, because she is the one who taught me that my opinions matter.”
Marcotullio has yet to meet Swift, but she met the next best person: her mother.
“In November of 2024, I went to the Eras Tour in Toronto, and I got the chance to meet Andrea Swift, Taylor Swift’s mom. We spoke briefly, and I gave her a friendship bracelet, but it was so cool to meet the woman who birthed the most important figure in history (according to me).”
As for her favourite Taylor Swift song, Marcotullio shares that ‘Mad Woman’ is her ultimate fave, and not only does she listen to it at least twice a day – she wrote a 5,000-word paper on it during her undergrad.
With her 25th birthday a week after the new album’s release date, Marcotullio considers this a little gift from the singer.
“My hot take about The Life of a Showgirl is that I think it is going to be the soundtrack to what will become Taylor Swift’s jukebox musical. She already has an Emmy, she has 14 Grammys, and I think she is going to use The Life of a Showgirl to catapult her to an EGOT. All the album photos mirror those of famous Broadway musicals such as Funny Girl, Cabaret, Chicago, and more, and who better to understand the intricacies of a showgirl’s life than a Broadway Starlet?”
Alyssa Rabito
Alyssa Rabito is from Stouffville, and being in close proximity to Toronto, she’s never missed a Taylor Swift tour in the city.
“I’ve been to every tour Taylor’s put on in Toronto, and each time I think that’s my biggest moment (I may have cut my school’s grade eight grad trip short just so I could make it to the Fearless tour), but going to the Eras Tour was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Rabito shares.
“When I first heard Taylor Swift’s first single, ‘Tim McGraw,’ on the radio on the way home from school in grade four, the drive home was only two minutes long, and I made my mom sit in the car until the song was over because I just fell in love instantly. Ever since then (19 years later), I’ve been a diehard Swiftie,” she continues.
For Rabito, Swift is one of the most relatable people, despite her mega fame.
“I think her genuine personality, which she’s showcased even before she got uber famous with her video vlogs on YouTube and MySpace posts, and fan interaction, has made all of us Swifties feel connected to her in a way that other artists cannot and do not reach.”
She’s ready for The Life of a Showgirl, just as she has been for all the albums before.
“I am just on another level of excitement! My husband and family are well prepared for what’s to come, as they’ve seen me through every album rollout. I’ll be staying up until midnight for the album, and hopefully for whatever else is to come. I’m thinking that there is going to be a documentary or musical release, based on her saying we’ll be up until 4 am on the New Heights podcast, and the album length is only 41 minutes and 40 seconds.”
Alyssa Croezen
Alyssa seems to be a popular name for the Swifties, and this Swiftie happens to be one of my best friends. I couldn’t do an article on super fans without including the biggest Taylor Swift fan I’ve ever met, Alyssa Croezen.
Croezen’s love for Taylor Swift became apparent to me when I watched her jump up and down and scream at the top of her lungs in the office we used to work at together when the singer announced her Eras Tour was coming to Toronto. But her dedication to the fandom started well before that.
“I was a teenager when I first heard Taylor’s music, and it just spiralled from there. When she went through her entire Reputation era, people had a lot to say about her online (it was peak social media/Twitter trolls), her music, and who she was as a person, and I stood by her during that time. That album is one of my favourites of hers to this day,” Croezen explains.
As for songs, we actually share a favourite. “My favourite song of all time is definitely ‘Clean’ off of 1989. That song has a very special meaning to me lyrically and has gotten me through some of life’s biggest challenges.”
Her goal for the album release? Make it to midnight.
“I truly have no idea what to expect, and I think that’s the most exciting part. The fact that we get to go through another roller coaster of a journey with this album is just so exciting. Will I make it to midnight to listen? Hopefully. But I know all day tomorrow, this album is the only thing I will be eating, sleeping, and breathing. (How am I supposed to work tomorrow?).”
“Also, the fact that she’s doing SO much press for this album (radio shows, late-night talk shows) is also so exciting and surprising. She hasn’t done press in forever! I can’t wait for all the new content,” she continues. “Obviously, this weekend I will be attending and watching The Life of a Showgirl release party at my local Cineplex, and I truly can’t wait. Baby, let the games begin!”
Emily Smith
Much like Alyssa Rabito, it all started for Emily Smith listening to one of Swift’s first songs in the car with her mom.
“I first heard ‘Tim McGraw’ play on the radio while driving in the car with my mom when I was 10 or 11 years old. I remember watching the music videos for Our Song and Teardrops on My Guitar in grade seven computer class with my friends and being mesmerized by her lyrics and beauty,” she tells me.
As an adult, Smith has experienced the magic of the Eras tour not once, but twice.
“My mom surprised me with resale tickets for Indianapolis night one. We drove 11 hours through the night to make it there and listened to Taylor’s entire discography there and back. It was a weekend I will always remember. My mom and I said at the time, if we had the chance to go again, we would go with my cousin and my best friend, who are big Swifties like us. Two weeks later, I somehow managed to get last-minute production drop tickets for Toronto night three.”
In true Swiftie fashion, they shared the magic. “We surprised my eight-year-old cousin by pretending we were going to a Swiftie-themed event. We made a printed ticket and gave it to her outside of The Rogers Centre. The look on her face when we gave her was priceless.”
“When I had my first crush, my first boyfriend, my first heartbreak, Taylor was the soundtrack. Now, I’m 30,” Smith gushes.
Well, this 30-year-old has still got it and will be celebrating with the same excitement she’s always had.
“Each album release, I pull an all-nighter and listen through the album on repeat. While listening, I plan to make some Showgirl friendship bracelets to trade at The Life of a Showgirl Release party Friday night. I am so happy to have an excuse to wear my sparkly boots again!”
Thank you to all the Swifties who shared their stories with me. I could feel the excitement in every answer, and just like them, I cannot wait for the album.
Life of a Showgirl is out at midnight — lock in, Swifties!
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Taylor Lucas
Associate Editor – Taylor is a Toronto-based journalist with a passion for storytelling. Whether chasing a story, writing, or editing, she brings a creative spin to the media world and has a blast doing it. Taylor brings years of journalism experience in sports, local/national news, and entertainment. In her spare time, you can typically find Taylor trying out a new restaurant or cocktail bar, cooking, golfing or binge-watching true crime documentaries.
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