A 12-year-old girl from Northern Virginia was among a booming crowd of Taylor Swift fans who sang in the streets of Austria after the pop star canceled her three Vienna shows in response to threats of a terrorist attack.
Among disappointment and fear following the unprecedented cancellations, broken hearted Swifties came together in the city’s center Thursday, swaying their arms in sync and belting out lyrics from songs in the star’s discography.
Julia Brandus said she was walking the streets of Vienna with her mother, Kathryn Falk, when the pair ran into what she described as a “humongous crowd” of around 1,000 people singing.
“You could hear them all the way down the street, and it was really loud,” she told WTOP.
Brandus, who was supposed to attend Thursday night’s show, joined in with the crowd, singing along to “You Need to Calm Down.”
Videos show the crowd raising their voices to the lyrics: “You need to just stop. Like, can you just not step on my gown? You need to calm down.”
The chart-topping hit from the album “Lover” happens to be one of the songs that made Brandus a fan of Swift. She remembers listening to it while she was sick at 7 or 8 years old.
“I wanted to sing along, because I was going to remember that moment pretty clearly, because this is very big,” Brandus said.
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What Brandus described as a “joyous” street takeover comes as many fans contend with their disappointment over the canceled shows and anxiety over the threatened attacks.
The two suspects in the foiled plot to attack the shows appeared to be inspired by the Islamic State group and al-Qaida, Austrian authorities said. Officials said one of the two confessed to planning to “kill as many people as possible outside the concert venue.”
Brandus was planning to celebrate her mom’s birthday at Thursday’s concert.
“Personally, I’ve never really experienced anything like this,” Brandus said. “I wasn’t alive during 9/11 but this is really a big, big deal.”
While grappling with her own fears over the threats, the 12-year-old said she agrees with the decision to cancel the shows.
Brandus said she’s been checking Swift’s social media, waiting and watching for a statement as she worries about Swift’s mental health and well-being following the threats.
“It’s just really terrifying to think what might have happened,” Julia said. “But I’m just glad she made the right decision, and I know everything will be OK, but I’m just worried about her because she’s probably really scared.”
Julia’s father, Paul Brandus, is a finance columnist for Dow Jones/MarketWatch who has contributed his expertise on WTOP.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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