Taylor Swift paid an emotional tribute to deceased fan Ana Clara Benevides during her concert in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday night.
Benevides, 23, died after suffering a heart attack while attending Swift’s premiere in Rio de Janeiro on Friday.
Returning to the stage for the first time since Benevides’ death, Swift honored the fan with a performance of “Bigger Than the Whole Sky.” Swift was noticeably emotional during the performance as she fought through tears and nearly choked up while singing the lyric “Did it take you some strength ’cause I didn’t pray?”
Benevides had reportedly been at the Nilton Santos Olympic Stadium for more than eight hours when she began to feel unwell. Temperatures in Rio de Janeiro on Friday reached the 90s, and water bottles were not allowed inside the venue.
In a statement addressing Benevides’ death posted on social media, Swift wrote: “I can’t believe I’m writing these words, but it is with a broken heart to say that we lost a fan earlier tonight before my show.”
“I can’t even tell you how sad I am about this,” she continued. “There is very little information I have other than the fact that she was very beautiful and very young.”
Swift added that she won’t talk about Benevides’ death during her shows because I feel too sad to even try to talk about it. I want to say now that I feel this loss deeply and my heart goes out to her family and friends. This is the last thing I thought would happen when we decided to take this tour to Brazil.
Due to extreme temperatures in Rio de Janeiro, Swift then moved a concert that was scheduled to take place from Saturday to Monday.
🎥| @TaylorSwift13 Performance of “Bigger Than the Whole Sky”#RioTSTheErasTourpic.twitter.com/Fd4R7HywXh
— The Swift Society (@TheSwiftSociety) November 20, 2023
This angle is larger than the entire sky tonight. Wow pic.twitter.com/Q51Kr63yTb
— #1 Karma Clown ✨ (@tsisitovernow) November 20, 2023
Future teen idol. Typical social media ninja. Alcohol buff. Explorer. Creator. Beer advocate.”