Celebrities aren’t strangers to getting a little personal in the social media spotlight now and then. #Nomakeup selfies and the occasional rant and rave aside, sometimes they actually use their follower power for more. They rally fans to help another fan in need, share the good news of a couple’s pregnancy and now, if you’re a Taylor Swift fan, you could be next in line to receive some sage love advice from the heart-strummin-on-her-sleeve songstress.
Taylor took to Instagram to answer one of the millions and billions of pleading messages her plebes leave her. This one, all about unrequited love with a guy who plays guitar and lives across the street from her and — wait, isn’t this just like that song? Yes, yes it is — probably struck a closer cord in the 24-year-old than some of the caps locked comments she’s used to seeing.
The message Hannah (or as her 3,000 Instagram followers know her, @SherbetSwift) posted to Taylor on Instagram was:
There’s a guy Taylor, a guy who’s sweet and charming and makes me laugh. A guy who said sorry for eating in front of me after finding out I had to skip breakfast. A guy who grew up across the street from me. A guy who plays guitar like me. A guy who was my first best friend. A guy who I met when I was seven and he was nine. A guy who this one time, when we were younger, said that I was ‘like’ his girlfriend because I was a girl and his friend. I wish. A guy who I have the biggest crush in the whole wide world on, and he’ll never like me back. (And he has a girlfriend who he adores and she’s pretty and has an amazing figure and is actually nice to me). A guy who will never like me back. @taylorswift can you give me some advice maybe. I love you. Hannah.
Taylor took the time to respond — and not just respond, but click through to get to know Sherb/Han, with the following:
Hannah. Eyes, eyes, eyes. Woah. You have the prettiest, widest, most child like eyes. (Composes herself) Okay. About this guy. I think we grow up thinking the only love that counts as true love is the kind that lasts forever or is fully realized. When you have a broken heart, the first thing a stranger will ask is ‘how long were you two together?’ As if your pain can be determined by how long you were with someone. Or if you were with them at all. I don’t think that’s how it works. I think unrequited love is just as valid as any other kind. It’s just as crushing and just as thrilling. No matter what happens in this situation, I want you to remember that what you are doing is selfless and beautiful and kind. You are loving someone purely because you love them, not because you think you’ll ever have your affections reciprocated. You are admiring something for its beauty, without needing to own it. Feel good about being the kind of person who loves selflessly. I think someday you’ll find someone who loves you in that exact same way.
Gulp. Way to break the 4th wall of tech fandom, Tay. We’ve always known Taylor to have a way with lyrical words, but after reading this and her recent op-ed for the WSJ on the future of music, it seems she might be leading a whole new charge for how fans interact with celebs through the tech we know and love. In the meantime, we nominate her to shadow Cheryl Strayed to take on Dear Sugar advice column duties. Come on, Tiny Beautiful Things readers, can’t ya picture Taylor curling up with a steaming mug of cocoa in some sort of cozy blanket she knit herself — freshly baked cookies on a plate in arm’s reach, looking to share the love?
Sorry we’re not sorry this makes us love TayTay that much more! Do you <3 the superstar? Have you ever written fan mail to a celeb before (admit it ’90s kids)?