Taylor Swift is arguably the most successful pop star in the world right now, with more No. 1 albums than any woman in history. But her mom, Andrea Swift, will never get tired of watching her daughter’s successes, as witnessed at a recent red carpet.
Reagan Baylee, creator of the "Swiftie School" podcast, recently filmed Andrea watching as Taylor greeted fans at the Los Angeles premiere of the "Eras Tour Film Concert" on Oct. 11.
In the now-viral clip, Andrea, 65, is shown behind a glass door beaming at Taylor, 33, who looks stunning in a blue cutout ball gown. At one point, Andrea's mouth falls open.
"Her mama is watching her so proudly," Baylee, 27, captioned the Instagram video.
"I mean how wild for her to look at her little baby daughter and see what she has created," one person wrote in the comments.
Added another, "I feel like Mama Swift will be your friend’s mom whose house smells amazing from fresh cookies she just baked for Tay and her friends that come over."
“I’ve gone to several of shows over the years, and her mother is always there and recording with her iPhone as if Taylor hasn’t done this 100,000 times before," Baylee tells TODAY.com.
When Baylee took her camera out to capture the moment, she never thought it would go viral.
“Maybe it’s because I’ve seen it so many times before,” she says. “And Taylor’s dad is the exact same way — he’s so proud of her."
Later that evening, Baylee approached Andrea with a letter she had written to Taylor. Andrea took the note and promised that Taylor would "cherish it forever," according to Baylee.
“She was beyond friendly and had a full blown conversation with my boyfriend and I,” Baylee says. “It really speaks volumes about what kind of person she is. She could have easily been dismissive.”
After Baylee took her seat in the theater, Taylor’s dad, Scott Swift, stopped by to introduce himself.
“He said, ‘I wanted to give you some of Taylor’s guitar picks,'” Baylee recalls. “Both of Taylor’s parents just go above and beyond. He’s been passing out guitar picks since her first show — and the fact that he still does is just incredible.”
Baylee adds that she also traded friendship bracelets with Andrea.
“Everything I love about Taylor was amplified after my interaction with her mom and dad,” Baylee says. "They're just so warm and wholesome."
Taylor and her brother, Austin Swift, 31, were raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, by Scott and Andrea, who both worked in finance when their children were younger.
While speaking with Rolling Stone in 2009, Swift revealed that Andrea purposely chose a gender-neutral baby name for her daughter because she was worried about gender discrimination.
“My mom thought it was cool that if you got a business card that said ‘Taylor’ you wouldn’t know if I was a guy or a girl,” Swift told Rolling Stone in 2009. “She wanted me to a be a business person in a business world.”
Of course, Taylor had other plans — and Andrea fully supported them. In 2003, the Swift family moved to Nashville to help Taylor pursue a music career.
“My mom waited in the car with my little brother while I knocked on doors up and down Music Row,” Taylor said while speaking with Entertainment Weekly in 2009. “I would say, ‘Hi, I’m Taylor. I’m 11. I want a record deal — call me.”
Swift’s track “The Best Day,” from her 2008 album “Fearless,” was written as a surprise for her mom, and illustrates their special bond. Lyrics include, "I'm 13 now and I don't know how my friends could be so mean. I come home crying and you hold me tight and grab the keys."
“She would just take me on these adventures and we would drive around and go to towns we’d never seen before,” Swift told Taste of Country in 2011. “Those adventures and those days of just running away from my problems — you’re not supposed to run away from your problems, but when you’re 13 and your friends won’t talk to you and they move when you sit down at the lunch table, and your mom lets you run from those problems, I think it’s a good thing ... My mom was my escape in a lot of ways."
Andrea is a two-time breast cancer survivor. In 2020, Swift revealed that Andrea had been diagnosed with a brain tumor.
In 2019, Taylor honored Andrea with a song called "Soon You'll Get Better."
“And I hate to make this all about me/ But who am I supposed to talk to?/ What am I supposed to do?/ If there’s no you,” Swift sings.
“We as a family decided to put this on the album, and it’s something I’m so proud of, but it’s just really hard,” she said during a YouTube Live event in 2019. “I can’t sing it. It’s hard to just emotionally deal with that song.”