Several days ago, Dylan Barnes, the seven-year-old boy who went viral on Youtube with his “Shake It Off” dance video, met Taylor Swift and had his viral dreams turned into reality.
You may be familiar with Dylan’s video, which has gone viral on Facebook during the past few weeks and which earned the youngster a trip to guest star on Ellen on September 19.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evCcOXms4IE
On her show, DeGeneres gifted Barnes with tickets to a Taylor Swift 1989 Tour show in Kansas City earlier this week and said she hoped he would be able to “go backstage and meet Taylor.”
Dylan did indeed get to go backstage at the Taylor Swift show, and he got to do more than just meet the singer; Barnes got the chance to dance to the song alongside Swift.
After the show had finished, Taylor Tweeted and posted on Instagram about her encounter with Dylan in which the two – Taylor in a red crop top and skinny jeans and Dylan in a turquoise t-shit with shorts – dance in what looks like a reception room backstage.
https://instagram.com/p/76-loRDvL-/
Barnes had said previously that he had been dancing since he was five years old (to be fair, that’s only two years), but that he didn’t ever feel the need to make up any choreography for the Swift original, “Shake It Off.” Hence, his free flowing, off-the-cuff movement in both his viral video and his dance with Taylor.
One can imagine that young Dylan’s up close and personal experience with Taylor Swift, a world-famous superstar, will be something he never forgets.
Barnes’s mother expressed her extreme gratitude to Taylor on behalf of her son in her own Tweet.
Thank you @taylorswift13 for making #persianbigred dreams come true! You are a class act! #shakeitoff #TaylorSwift https://t.co/sZlKtn8x6C
— Mojdeh Barnes (@MojoBarnes) September 22, 2015
To Swift, the instance is not only a satisfying way to make a young fan’s dream come true, but also a great way to spread awareness of her tour. After all, the video, which indirectly advertises the 1989 World Tour Taylor is currently in the midst of, received 1.7 million likes on Instagram, 28,000 re-tweets on Twitter, and probably tens of millions of other viewers globally.
Swift has been working very hard at making her current tour extremely successful in an attempt to, as she says herself, best Micheal Jackson and rival singer Katy Perry, the two artists tied for the highest amount of number one singles on one album. Swift has attempted to pump up the public’s awareness of the album tour by constantly inviting megastars to join her onstage during shows and, apparently, partying with less hardened celebrities like Barnes after those same shows.
[Screenshot via Twitter]
