'I was all sorts of panicked': Meet the Taylor Swift fan from Green Bay who kept that box of signed 'Folklore' CDs safe

GREEN BAY - Can you think of anyone better to hang on to a box of signed Taylor Swift CDs for safekeeping than someone whose doormat at home reads “You Better Like Taylor Swift”?

The delivery driver didn’t know that when he asked Brandy Baenen to sign for The Exclusive Co.’s shipment of 30 autographed “Folklore” CDs before the downtown record store opened Saturday morning, but as it turned out, the precious cargo couldn’t have landed in better hands.

Baenen is the good Samaritan Swiftie who was waiting for the store to open — so she could buy one of the CDs the superstar had sent to select independent record stores across the country — when the entire box literally landed in her lap. Store manager Tom Smith said she could’ve easily walked away with the delivery before he arrived 15 minutes later to open the store and he never would've known, but she didn’t. She waited and turned over the box.

A Green Bay Press-Gazette story about the good deed was picked up by USA TODAY and covered by the “Today” show and other media outlets, sparking all kinds of social media love from fellow Swifties for the mystery fan who did the right thing.

“Crazy, absolutely crazy,” Baenen said on Monday. “I was like, ‘What?!’” 

If this is her 15 minutes of fame, the 26-year-old Baenen, who lives in Green Bay, said she's overjoyed that it's for being a Swift fan.

Before her name was revealed, friends who read the story reached out to see if it was her. It just sounded so Brandy. Even an ex-boyfriend figured as much and sent a text. That’s how big a fan she is.

“That’s what makes me happier than anything is that anybody who read it without my name already thought it was me, because that’s how much I pride myself on being a Taylor Swift fan,” she said. “... Nobody’s surprised.”

Baenen and her boyfriend, Garrett Lloyd, had a pretty good idea what was inside the box before the UPS package label gave it away. In between “kind of freaking out” and being “all sorts of panicked,” she never thought to do anything with it but protect the box until it could get to its destination.

Not even take a peek inside?

“Oh no, definitely not,” she said. “Taylor Swift would not want me or anyone else to do anything with those CDs other than a) get to where they were going and b) be purchased, and not purchased specifically for her. The reason she sent them out was to keep smaller businesses in business.

“A hundred thousand times percent, I literally would not have left with those CDs, because Taylor Swift wanted them there, and I would never do anything to disappoint Taylor Swift.”

Baenen has been a fan since middle school when she first heard Swift sing “Teardrops on My Guitar.” She considers seeing the Reputation Stadium Tour on June 1, 2018, at Soldier Field in Chicago, as “by far the best day of my life.” A wall in her living room is devoted to Taylor Swift art.

She remembers watching a short DVD about Swift’s life that accompanied her self-titled debut album in 2006. 

“I fell in love with her as a person, and I just feel like I’ve been completely able to grow with her," Baenan said. “She’s so open and honest in all of her writing. It’s been so easy to relate to her. I don’t think you could ask for a better role model for your kids. She’s an angel. She’s literally an angel.”

Baenan excitedly posted on Facebook Live when she and Lloyd each bought their copy of "Folklore" when The Exclusive Co. opened. She never mentioned anything about having the entire box of  them in her possession, because it didn’t seem like a big deal at the time. She was just doing what her dad always taught her: Be a better person today than you were yesterday.

In between answering a lot of media calls the last two days, Smith also received a call from Swift’s distributor asking for the contact info for the fan who protected the package.

Baenen has no idea what that might mean or what will come of it, but if Swift or her team did reach out ...

“RIP me,” Baenen said. “I cry like maybe four times a week minimum because I love her so much. I just want her to know that I exist and that I love her.” 

Contact Kendra Meinert at 920-431-8347 or kmeinert@greenbay.gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KendraMeinert.