Taylor Swift Wants The Media To Chill Out Over Her Birthday, Here’s Why
Taylor Swift has addressed the rumors surrounding her upcoming 26th birthday on December 13. After a brief break from social media, the singer returned to Instagram on Wednesday night to quash reports that claim she’s flying down her girl squad and boyfriend Calvin Harris to Australia.
Taylor Swift, 25, have been on vacation on Hamilton Island with her family and 125 members of her crew from her “1989 World Tour.” She wanted to do something special for them as her way of thanking them for their hard work. Swift took to Instagram to share an exclusive photo of her crew. Think you can find Swift herself? Well, of course, she’s sitting pretty in the middle of the group photo.
“Aussie press, I love your enthusiasm but my birthday isn’t for two weeks and it’ll be a quiet one this year. Let’s take it down a notch.”
This Swift warning (excuse the pun) came after an Australian reporter was banned from the island when he was trying to film the singer. In addition, Sunrise Queensland correspondent Michelle Tapper said she was also asked to leave the island by Swift’s security because the singer wanted privacy during her vacation.
“There is a complete media ban on the island and Taylor Swift has asked for privacy. I have never heard anything like it in almost 20 years of journalism.”
Swift has also battled with the press when she filmed her new music video for “Out of the Woods” in New Zealand. In fact, she ruffled the feathers of local New Zealand conservationists after her video shoot disrupted the endangered New Zealand dotterel. Swift’s crew was given permission to have two vehicles on the beach, but reportedly brought a dozen vans and four-wheel drive vehicles instead, according to Sandra Coney, the chairperson of the Waitakere Ranges Local Board.
“It’s really disappointing that such a large number of vehicles would park all over the beach and drive all over the beach There are only 1,700 dotterels left in New Zealand. So it is a major concern for the board. We are trying to minimize vehicles on beaches for good reasons. Taylor’s lot did not respect the environment or the conditions of their consent.”
But Taylor Swift’s team claims that they did not harm the endangered birds on the island.
“Taylor Swift and her management were in no way at fault and did not do anything that violated permits or ordinance. At no time were the film crew close to that habitat… No dotterel were harmed.”
The company has asked for those to make donations to the breeding program in order to protect the “local dotterel population.” This isn’t the first time that Swift has created controversy with one of her music videos. Parts of the video for her last single, “Wildest Dreams,” were filmed in Tanzania. At the time, she was accused of embracing white colonialism. Toward the end of the video, Swift’s team said that all proceeds were donated to the African Park Foundation of America.
But Swift insists that she’s a huge wild animal lover. In fact, she took to her Instagram to share photos of herself mingling with some of the animals native to Hamilton Island. Swift shared this photo of herself hanging out with a white cockatoo.
She captioned the cute pic, “Making friends on Hamilton Island.”
She shared another cozy photo of herself without makeup as she held a koala in her arms. Also in the photo is her mom Andrew Swift and her brother Austin Swift.
She captioned this cozy family photo, “Swifts. Thank you to the Australian Wildlife Conservation Fund for letting us hang out with Willy. WE LOVE HIM and will miss him terribly.”
Taylor Swift is not completely done with her world tour just yet. She has seven shows left in Australia but will first hold a special concert for 40 of her fans on Hamilton Island before heading back to Brisbane on Saturday night.
[Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images]
