A wholesome moment between neighbors captured on video went viral and caught the attention of nearly 4 million viewers, including Taylor Swift.
Last month, an 8-year-old Swiftie named Madeline took notice of her next door neighbor Ethan Hayes, who spends his afternoons singing and playing his guitar. The moment was captured on video, which went viral on TikTok. Madeline’s mom, Natalie Hulec, told People that her daughter was too shy to ask Hayes directly for a special request, so instead devised a different way to reach him. With the help of her parents, she asked him to play a tune from Swift’s catalog via paper airplane, sent it over the fence, and got him to sing “Love Story.”
Swift caught wind of the clip and sent a special gift to Madeline and her next door neighbor. Swift sent the young girl a signed guitar and a handwritten note, telling her that the clip “brought the biggest smile to my face,” according to the outlet.
“I just wanted to let you know that it made me so happy that you asked your neighbor to play my song for you,” Swift wrote in her note to Madeline, which arrived alongside a signed Taylor Swift printed acoustic guitar. “You brought the biggest smile to my face. I’m sending you your own guitar in case you ever want to learn too!”
The TikTok currently has nearly 500,000 likes and 3.7 million views. “Pretty sure we hit the neighbor lottery,” her mom wrote in the TikTok’s caption.
For Hayes’ part, he said that the Fearless track is “one I always usually keep in my back pocket,” and added that he also received a guitar from Swift. “I was expecting maybe a signed poster or something. And then she sent us guitars, which is insane.”
Hayes also noted that the viral video has helped his music career. “I’ve gained thousands of followers, which is always really great,” he said. “We haven’t seen one single negative comment, which I think is really, really rare, just a really wholesome situation that I’m really grateful to be a part of.”
