She concluded, “I want to say now I feel this loss deeply and my broken heart goes out to her family and friends. This is the last thing I ever thought would happen when we decided to bring this tour to Brazil.”
When Swift returned to the stage Nov. 20, she didn’t expressly mention the tragedy, but she did add “Bigger Than the Whole Sky” as one of her surprise songs—which fans around the world quickly took to be a tribute to Benevides.
The 34-year-old also met with Benevides’ family, who were spotted in a VIP area at her Nov. 26 show.
“I lost my only daughter, a happy and intelligent girl,” Benevides’ father, Weiny Machado, told Folha de São Paulo (per a translation from Portuguese into English) the day after she died. “She was about to graduate in psychology next April, saving money. I have no words to express my pain. She left home to fulfill a dream and came back dead.”
After the tragedy, event organizer Time 4 Fun announced plans to distribute free water at all future shows in Rio (Swift fans had noted online that, on the day Benevides died, they hadn’t been allowed to bring their own water bottles into the venue) and said multiple medical stations and mobile ICUs would be set up around the stadium.
In announcing that the show would not go on Nov. 18, citing “extreme temperatures” in Rio, Swifted noted in a statement, “The safety and well-being of my fans, fellow performers, and crew has to and always will come first.”
