The Eras Tour may be on a break, but Swifties are still getting surprise songs.

Carole King gave fans of Taylor Swift an impromptu performance of one of Swift’s biggest hits Tuesday night during a virtual kickoff meeting for Swifties for Kamala, a political organization aiming to harness the power of the Swiftie community to elect Vice President Kamala Harris as president this November. 

“I am a Swiftie, and Taylor and I are actually friends. I see her as sort of my musical and songwriting granddaughter. We have a lovely relationship and I’m so proud of her,” King said, recalling Swift honoring her with a performance of her song “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?” in 2021. It was King’s time to return the favor, she said, breaking into an a capella version of the chorus of “Shake It Off.” 

The four-time Grammy Award-winning singer, 82, was among a handful of lawmakers and a reported 20,000 fans of Taylor Swift on the call. King, a longtime Democratic political activist, aimed to share tangible tips on how to advocate for a political candidate while communicating with a prospective voter. The key, King said, is asking questions, listening and “speaking from the heart.” 

“You’re there to build a bridge,” King says. 

“[Swifties] love a good bridge,” one organizer joked in the comments.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, all Democrats and all self-described Swifties, were among the high-profile politicians who joined to voice their support. 

“What I love best about Swifties [is] you are resilient, you know how to take on bullies and you know how to be your most authentic, most joyful selves,” Warren said. “You come together, hand in hand, friendship bracelets on your wrist, and you overcome pretty much anything that life throws at you. That’s what the Kamala Harris campaign is all about: It’s about standing up for what is right in the face of bullies like Donald Trump.” 

As is the case for any Swift-related event, the call was rife with Easter eggs and lyric references. “Welcome to the Swifties for Kamala kickoff call – it’s been waiting for you,” co-founder Irene Kim began, showing off her folklore cardigan. 

“There are just five fortnights until election day, but we are not out of the woods yet,” said Sen. Markey, who Swift publicly shouted out in 2019 after he signed her Change.org petition to push for the Equality Act. “Instead of clowning about the release of ‘Reputation (Taylor’s Version),’ we should all be pounding on doors to get out the vote.” 

Organizers encouraged fans to make red, white and blue friendship bracelets and dress up for debate parties with sparkly blue “47”s on their hands, a la Swift’s “13” hand drawings. They also invited viewers to chip in $13, $19.89 or $47 — the first two, notable Swift numbers, and the latter a nod to their hopes of Harris becoming the 47th President of the United States. Donors raised nearly — you can’t make this up — $130,000 by the end of the two-hour call, per the organization’s website. 

Instead of clowning about the release of ‘Reputation (Taylor’s Version),’ we should all be pounding on doors to get out the vote.

Sen. Ed Markey

“This movement started in a moment of anxiety: A moment when I felt like I needed to become the cheer captain and not just on the bleachers,” co-founder Emerald Medrano said. “It was a time when all my fears about our country and our democracy just built up and I knew I had to speak now.” 

Swift herself has not yet publicly commented on anything related to this election cycle, and she has no affiliation with Swifties for Kamala — though the organization says she has a standing invitation to join them. 

She first dipped her toe into politics in 2018, when she endorsed Democrat Phil Bredesen for Tennessee senator. It was a move some on her team feared would spell disaster for her career — The Chicks were famously shunned by the country music world after speaking against then-President George W. Bush. Trump, in the aftermath, said he liked Swift “25% less.” 

Since then, she has continued to selectively voice her political beliefs. And it’s had influence — a post Swift shared on Instagram last year about Vote.org directly resulted in 35,000 new voter registrations. 

On Oct. 7, 2020, just under a month before the last presidential election, Swift showed support for Biden and Harris with a plate of “Biden Harris 2020” cookies and an interview with V Magazine, in which she explained that she planned on voting for Biden because she believed his and Harris’s leadership would give the country “a chance to start the healing process it so desperately needs.”

“The change we need most is to elect a president who recognizes that people of color deserve to feel safe and represented, that women deserve the right to choose what happens to their bodies, and that the LGBTQIA+ community deserves to be acknowledged and included,” Swift told the magazine at the time. “Everyone deserves a government that takes global health risks seriously and puts the lives of its people first. The only way we can begin to make things better is to choose leaders who are willing to face these issues and find ways to work through them.”

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