A Taylor Swift fan has sparked backlash after she filmed herself walking through the singer’s former residence in New York City.
The since-deleted video, which was shared by user @natfrantantaro on TikTok and re-posted on Twitter, showed the “Shake It Off” singer’s previous apartment at 23 Cornelia Street in Manhattan’s West Village neighbourhood. The woman began by showing the brick exterior of the building, showing off its notable arched wooden door.
She then walked through the entryway of the building, which featured concrete floors and white walls. It appeared the building was under construction, as a queen-size mattress was wrapped in plastic off to the side and workers could be heard using power tools inside the residence.
Her video also showed several empty, white staircases winding throughout the building and one long vacant hallway.
“I’m sorry, Taylor. I’m not a stalker but when I saw your old door was open, I had to take a peek in,” she said in the TikTok video. “After it was open for two hours and I came back and it was still open, I walked through and I was like: ‘What am I doing? I actually can’t believe - am I in the halls that Taylor Swift walked through?’”
“That hit me after I got back to my apartment, but I did a little snooping and then I felt uncomfortable and I didn’t want to get arrested so I left,” she said.
Perhaps the West Village residence appeared vacant because it’s currently on the market for nearly $18m. According to Homes and Gardens, the “Bejeweled” singer briefly rented the Cornelia Street apartment from its former owner, Soho House executive David Aldea, between 2016 and 2017 while her $50m Tribeca loft was being renovated. Swift references the townhouse in her song “Cornelia Street” off her 2019 album, Lover.
The apartment is now listed by The Corcoran Group for $17.9m to buy or $45,000 to rent per month. It was previously sold in 2019 for $14.9m.
The Cornelia Street residence is also one of the oldest buildings in New York City, having been built in 1870 as a carriage house and now transformed into a contemporary-style home with garage, pool, and rooftop terrace.
While the building may be vacant, the woman’s video still sparked backlash from Taylor Swift fans who claimed she was “creepy” for filming herself inside the private residence.
“This is literally creepy….” said one user on Twitter.
“How disrespectful,” another person said.
“For cool points? Like what was the reason,” a third user wrote.
However, others defended her video by pointing out that Swift hasn’t lived in the Cornelia Street residence in more than five years.
“Tbh I thought she was gonna be a creep but then I saw that the door was open so I don’t really see a problem with it,” one person tweeted.
“Why are people hating on her? Taylor doesn’t even live there anymore, it looks like the residence is being remodeled,” said someone else.
“It’s not like anyone’s living there,” a third person said. “Lowkey I would’ve stepped in a little and peeked too lmfao I’ve done way worse but I wouldn’t have recorded and posted on TikTok”.
The woman’s video comes after another Taylor Swift fan was arrested on 3 July outside of the Grammy winner’s home in Rhode Island. The fan, named Kimberly Meyer, was charged with trespassing and ordered to stay away from the Westerly home in court on 21 July. It was unclear if Swift was home at the time, as she is currently in the middle of the US leg of her Eras Tour.
In 2021, a man was arrested on a trespassing charge after trying to break into the “Bad Blood” singer’s Tribeca loft. Hanks Johnson claimed Swift was communicating with him on social media, as he showed the predictive text suggestions on his phone that he believed were replies from Swift.
The Independent has contacted @natfrantantaro for comment.
