ZUNDERT – Nola Zagers (22) from Zundert has been a super fan of Taylor Swift for about seven years. She is even such a big fan that this year she is collaborating on a book about Taylor Swift: TS. And that was quite an honor for the journalism student.
Zagers has been a real Swiftie for years, as fans of the American artist call themselves. “I already listened to her music when I was 10 years old, but I have been a real fan since 2014. Then her album 1989 was released. It wasn’t cool at all to be a fan of Taylor at the time, so I started searching the internet for places to talk about her. And now, almost ten years later, I am truly part of a huge community.”
Zagers and her fellow fans are not only fans because of the music, but also because of the artist herself. “Taylor was always very close with her fans. She also used to organize events where fans could come to her house to listen to the album. And she was just very active online. This sounds a little weird, but there are even some inside jokes with it fandom. She is not a cold artist. I also really wanted to be part of that group.”
No matter how older Zagers got, she did not lose her love for Swift. “When I was 15 years old, she wrote songs about being in high school and growing up. Now I’m 22 and she writes about finding your identity. The music grows with you a bit. And people think that Taylor only has young fans, but that’s not so bad. When we organize something we see so many different people: from ten-year-old girls to adult women and even men. That is really the power of her music.”
It was only at the first meeting that I saw what a big deal this was and how proud I could be of myself that I could be part of this
Nola Zagers
A while ago, Zagers received a striking request in her Instagram inbox: whether she wanted to collaborate on a book. “I still don’t quite know how the compiler of the book ended up with me, but I was immediately super enthusiastic. Thirteen different writers write an essay about Taylor and I am one of them. I’m going to write about what it was like to be a fan of hers in the past, because that wasn’t cool back in the day. And I also had a fan account, so I’m going to write something about that too.”
Co-writing is a big deal
The other writers of the book are also not bad: journalist and television maker Haroon Ali, writers Tatjana Almuli and Hanna Bervoets and presenter Samya Hafsaoui, among others, contribute to the book. That was quite a surprise for Zagers. “It was only at the first meeting that I saw what a big deal this was and how proud I could be of myself that I could be part of this. And I am also the youngest who can participate in this.”
The book is now at the printer. It will be released on May 13th. Completely in the style of the Dutch Swifties, there will probably be a festive book presentation. How did she go from an uncool singer to a woman with a huge fan base, a fortune of a billion and her own book? Zagers knows that: “You just can’t ignore her anymore.”
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