Country pop superstar Taylor Swift performed songs from her new album \u201cRed\u201d at an intimate acoustic concert for students from Harvey Mudd College and its four sister Claremont Colleges on Oct. 15 at Bridges Auditorium.<\/p>\n
Swift sang Grammy Award-winning hits, shared personal stories and candidly answered questions from students. The concert was the grand prize in the online voting competition \u201cTaylor Swift on Campus,\u201d won by Harvey Mudd College. The performance was recorded for \u201cVH1 Storytellers\u201d and will air at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Nov. 11.
\nSwift opened with \u201cYou Belong With Me\u201d and then told the students how much she was going to enjoy playing for peers in a small venue.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been very fortunate to play all these arenas and stadiums,\u201d Swift told the excited crowd, \u201cbut tonight is going to be a show like I will never do again and that I\u2019ve never done before.\u201d<\/p>\n
But if anyone was feeling fortunate, it was the students.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still can’t believe it happened,\u201d said Corinne Druhan \u201814 after the concert. \u201cI think that the moment that the curtain rose and she stepped out from behind the couch was one of the highlights of the night. I loved that she shared a lot of the stories behind her songs that she had never really been public about before.\u201d
\nSophomores Travis Beckman and Yeahmoon Hong, both long-time fans, spearheaded the online voting that brought Swift to HMC. Beckman and Hong used social media to engage students and faculty at all five Claremont Colleges, and both were quick to thank voters for collaborating to win the contest.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis concert was truly the most amazing night of my life,\u201d Beckman said after the show. \u201cTaylor knew my name, gave me a hug and kissed me on the cheek, and I nearly fainted. I will never forget being able to share that moment with everyone there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy favorite part of the concert was when we lifted and waved our hands as we sang “Weee eeeeee are never ever ever, getting back together,\u201d Hong said. \u201cThere was so much energy in the room, and we were all singing together and having fun!\u201d<\/p>\n
Six-time Grammy winner Swift will release her new album, \u201cRed,\u201d on Oct. 22. She performed the album\u2019s lead single, \u201cWe Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,\u201d during the finale. She also performed songs from her 2010 album, \u201cSpeak Now,\u201d which has sold more than four million copies and features the songs \u201cMine,\u201d \u201cSparks Fly\u201d and \u201cOurs.\u201d
\n\u201cI have talked to a lot of people who weren’t Taylor Swift fans at all but still loved the show last night and were surprised by how talented and nice she was,\u201d said Druhan. \u201cA highlight for me was that I met her dad! He gave us guitar picks and told us how happy he was that we won the contest, which was awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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