While standing in Taylor Swift’s New York City apartment, the music icon told Syracuse University student Melissa Cubit something she’ll always remember: Being an awkward dancer is OK.

The opportunity to meet Swift came when the artist held a live stream for her 2014 album “1989,” inviting fans to apply to see it at ABC studios.

Cubit submitted her application and was one of 89 people chosen out of at least 5,000. Cubit, a longtime fan of Swift, said she couldn’t believe she made the cut.

“I’ve been listening to her for so long, probably since I was 11 or 12, so for me it’s like I grew up with her,” Cubit said, adding that she admires Swift’s songwriting skills and sincere personality.

After the show ended, the selected applicants were told that they were going to get pizza.

“We ended up going to her apartment, which was huge,” Cubit said.

Swift stood in her apartment and personally talked to each of the fans for a few minutes. Cubit was even able to snap a picture with the pop star and pet her cat.

Swift and Cubit even got to chat about the star’s chart-topping ‘Shake it Off’ music video. The video shows Swift dancing awkwardly, which Cubit said she connected with.

“I told her I think it’s funny because I can’t dance either and she was like, ‘You know what, it’s OK to be an awkward dancer, we can stick together,’” Cubit said.

Now, whenever anyone comments on Cubit’s dancing, she responds that Taylor Swift told her it’s OK.

Cubit said her favorite album by Swift is “Speak Now” because it’s entirely her original work — work she created at an age when most college-aged people are going to class.

Cubit said she plans to continue her support of Swift by traveling to Toronto in a few weeks to see her “1989” tour for the fifth time. She saw the tour twice at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and twice at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

For each show she attends, Cubit chooses a specific lyric from a Swift song and creates a costume reflecting her interpretation of it. Three of the four times she’s seen the show this year, Cubit and her friends have had their tickets upgraded to front row seats as Swift’s public relation’s team recognizes them as dedicated fans. Once, they watched the entire show with Swift’s mother.

“I admire [Swift’s] honesty and how she might not say anything in an interview but through her songs, she tells a lot,” Cubit said. “She’s such a genuine person and I think a lot of times celebrities aren’t…but she genuinely cares about her fans, which is really cool.”

Published on September 21, 2015 at 12:01 am

Contact: moberger@syr.edu