The power of Swift compels you. After countless fans mobilized online to have Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer welcome Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour with a temporary makeover, the famous statue now sports a T-shirt inspired by the pop star’s iconic “You Belong With Me” music video outfit — and it’s all thanks to the holy spirit of Swifties.
His arms spread wide in welcome, the giant stone replica of Jesus Christ is currently adorned with the light projection of a white shirt made to look like the homemade “Junior Jewels” tee Swift wears in her 2009 video, which has been viewed more than 1.5 billion times on YouTube. In place of the names of Swift’s friends, the statue’s shirt is covered with the names of different cities and states in Brazil in different colors.
The shirt is also dotted with Swift-themed doodles, including a hand heart, an archer bow and “All Too Well” scarf. “Welcome to Brasil” is emblazoned across the chest, a customized nod to the pop star’s “Welcome to New York.”
Sharing an aerial video of the 98-foot statue’s new look, Christ the Redeemer’s Instagram page captioned the visual, “We did it, Swifties!”
“You were able to show all the love to Taylor!” continued the statement in Portuguese, as translated to English by Google. “Many thanks to all who donated! Make it a wonderful day!”
The “Anti-Hero” singer is set to play six Eras shows in Brazil, the first three of which will take place in Rio at Estádio Nilton Santos starting Friday (Nov. 17). The next weekend, she’ll set up shop in São Paulo for three nights at Allianz Parque.
Chris the Redeemer’s wardrobe change wouldn’t have been possible without a lot of hard work from Swift’s disciples. According to an Instagram video on the landmark’s Instagram, the Sanctuary’s rector Father Omar had challenged Swifties to donate money for the collection of 20,000 units of panetone and mineral water for people in “vulnerable situations and social exclusion.”
“If the goal is met, the Christ the Redeemer Sanctuary will do the mapped projection at the Christ the Redeemer monument in response to the request of fans with a welcome message to Taylor,” continued the Thursday (Nov. 16) call to action, which clearly paid off. “The Sanctuary will bear all the costs of the projection and will continue with the mission of welcoming everyone with open arms.”
Swift is the leading finalist at the 2023 Billboard Music Awards, with nods in 20 categories. The BBMAs are Nov. 19 and can be viewed on BBMAs.watch, or via the Billboard and BBMAs social media channels.
See Christ the Redeemer in the welcoming T-shirt below:
