An Ohio girl’s paper airplane request for a Taylor Swift song led to a viral moment and gifts from Swift
An 8-year-old Taylor Swift fan from Ohio received a surprise response from the singer after a paper airplane song request to her neighbour became a viral social media moment.
Madeline first heard neighbour Ethan Hayes, 26, singing and playing guitar on his porch while her family prepared dinner with the windows open on April 21.
Too shy to approach him directly, she wrote a note asking him to perform a Taylor Swift song and, with help from her mother Natalie Hulec, tossed it over the fence in a paper airplane.
Hayes, a full-time musician who had only briefly interacted with the family before, said he initially missed the note until Madeline’s stepfather Russell pointed it out. After reading the request, Hayes performed Swift’s hit “Love Story” from his porch, despite not knowing every lyric.
Natalie recorded the exchange and later uploaded the video to TikTok, where it quickly attracted millions of views.
By May 26, the clip had surpassed three million views after first being reported by NBC affiliate WKYC.
“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,” Hayes told PEOPLE.
The story later reached Swift herself. Hayes said he received a message from the singer’s team informing him that Swift had seen the video and wanted to send gifts. Madeline later received a signed guitar and handwritten note from the singer.
Asked what she would say to Swift, Madeline replied, “Thank you.”
