Taylor Swift reunites with 10-year-old fan during Massachusetts concert

A 10-year-old Connecticut boy got the thrill of a lifetime when singer Taylor Swift called him to the stage during a concert in Massachusetts earlier this month. As it turns out, it was not their first encounter.

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Leyton Barnett, 10, of West Haven, attended Swift’s concert at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough with his mother on May 20, the New Haven Register reported. During her Eras Tour, Swift has given one fan a signed hat while singing her song, “22,” and she handed one to Barnett, according to WTNH-TV.

Barnett gave her a friendship bracelet and a hug, and the singer mouthed her thanks, according to the Register.

The boy’s connection to the singer comes through his mother, Stephanie Barnett, WVIT-TV reported. Stephanie Barnett caught Swift’s attention on social media a decade ago when she wrote that her music helped her cope while she was having trouble getting pregnant, according to the television station.

In 2014, Stephanie Barnett shared her fertility journey on Instagram and Tumblr, adding that Swift’s 2008 song “Change,” inspired her to keep going, according to the Register.

Swift saw the comment and reached out to Stephanie Barnett, WTNH reported.,

“It was amazing that she cared at all,” she told WVIT.

Swift included the Barnetts in “Swiftmas,” a Christmas celebration where the singer would send fans hand-picked personalized gifts in the mail. But in Barnett’s case, it was in person.

Leyton was a toddler in 2014 when Swift showed up unannounced at their home with presents for the child, the television station reported.

“I open the door and she’s like, ‘Hey, Steph!’ and it’s just her right there, and I lost it,” Barnett told WVIT in 2014. “I lost it for a while.”

Swift brought Leyton a Power Wheels electric toy vehicle, a rotor control car, a piano inspired by the movie “Big” and a helmet, the Register reported. She also gave Stephanie Barnett a necklace.

So when Swift’s team learned via social media that the Barnetts were going to attend this year’s concert in Foxborough, they put a plan in place to give Leyton a memory he would cherish, the Register reported.

“Right as the song started, her management team came up to the end of the aisle and waved us on, brought us to the end of the stage and he got the hat,” Stephanie Barnett told WTNH.

“I was really excited and happy,” Leyton told WVIT. “Also, since there was 70,000 people there, I was a little bit nervous.”

It did not matter that it rained at Gillette Stadium the night the Barnetts saw Swift in concert. Leyton’s smile was as bright as sunshine.

“It was good, it was great, it was amazing,” he told the Register. “Going to the concert in the rain was even more fun and the best day of my life.”

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