Taylor Swift tribute singer, coming to Wind Creek Event Center, says show fills 'Blank Space' for fans

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — If you're portraying popular music's biggest name in a tribute show, it helps if you're a fan, Olivia Mojica says.

Mojica performs as Taylor Swift in the tribute show Blank Space, which stops at Wind Creek Event Center at 8 p.m. today, Dec. 6.

The show follows the general presentation of Swift's recent Eras tour, with her hits from the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s.

Tickets, at $35 general admission standing dance floor, $25 per person for groups of four or more, $15 for ages 12 and younger and $59 for seated wings, remain available at the Wind Creek website. VIP with meet and greet are $99.50.

“I’m a big fan and I love her so much," Mojica said in a recent phone call from the Silver Lake community in Los Angeles — where the act is from — while getting her hair done.

"I’m lucky I get to cover maybe the best music ever. I feel really fortunate for that.”

In fact, she said it was Mojica's affinity for Swift that got her started doing the tribute act in the first place.

'It kind of made sense'

Mojica said she has “been singing forever" as she grew up in church and started in beauty pageants at 7 or 8, and spent nearly a decade performing a wide range of hits in a cover band.

“I always loved Taylor Swift, and I would keep on adding Taylor Swift songs to my cover band set," she said. "But my cover band leader, he wasn’t a big fan. So I would try to sneak them in here and there."

Mojica, a Texas native, said she moved to New York to pursue music, then to Austin, Texas, “the music capital of the world,” and finally Los Angeles.

“And then I was just ready to take it to the next level and do bigger shows," she said. “But when I was doing some covers here in L.A., at that point I was choosing the songs.

"We were doing so many Taylor Swift songs at that point that I was, like, ‘Why am I not just doing a tribute act?’ So it just kind of made sense."

The timing also "was serendipitous with the timing of [Swift’s] Eras tour" — which broke record for the most successful tour in history and is scheduled to conclude Sunday, Dec. 8, Mojica said.

Blank Space kicked off about a year ago.

'That's the biggest challenge'

Mojica said recreating the vocals of the world's biggest music star isn't the difficult part of doing a Taylor Swift tribute act.

“I wouldn’t say it’s intimidating," she said. "I would say it’s a challenge worthy of my expertise, because I feel like I have been a performer for nearly 30 years now."

The fact that Swift is a mezzo-soprano helps, "because I am, as well," Mojica said. "Actually, I’m a little bit lower of a register than she is, but it just really worked out."

Mojica said that, except for “some enunciations, maybe," she hasn't had to change the way she sings to cover Swift.

"She has a very straight-forward voice and it’s not stylized that much. And after so many years of singing pop and covering pop, I intentionally have tried not to have a stylized voice because I’m covering so many different artists.

“Versus if it was blues or jazz or classical. I had done some training with that, too, but with the pop it’s very straight-forward.”

Mojica also said, “I am so grateful to bear somewhat of a resemblance to her because I think that vocally, our voices are very similar, and also just our styles of music are very similar.

"So it feels comfortable for me to sing her songs, versus if I was covering other artists."

The challenge, Mojica said, is having to do a larger show fitting of Swift.

“It is a challenge when it comes to being a bigger product — a bigger show. When it comes to all the costume changes and all of that, that’s been probably the biggest challenge, is just getting used to putting on a visual identity portion of it to make it resemble her. That’s been the biggest challenge."

'They believe!'

Mojica said one appeal of Blank Space is that it's far less expensive than actually seeing Swift in concert — and offers more accessibility.

“From my own perspective, the tickets [for Swift's Eras tour] were quite a financial investment," she said. "A lot of folks, they don’t have the resources to do that for all of their children."

She said she's gotten "a lot of the feedback" from parents.

"I’ve literally had moms and dads come up to me after the little photo session that we do and say, ‘Thank you so much for doing this. Thank you so much.’

"Like, ‘I’m dad of the year now. I couldn’t afford to take all three of my little girls to see her.’"

“And then it’s just fun for everybody, and it makes it a little more accessible, because after every show we’re doing photos, and I’m coming up to the end of the stage and they can touch my hand, even, sometimes if we’re close enough to the audience.

“So especially the little ones — the ones who still believe in Santa Claus — they probably can’t tell the difference. They’ll call me Taylor. A lot of the younger ones — they believe!

“So it’s really, really fun. I’m so fortunate to do that for people.”

A broader audience

But Mojica said Blank Space appeals to more than just a young audience.

"But I think the reaction has been pretty great on all fronts," she said. "Because [Swift] spans a lot of years."

With Swift now having charted songs over 18 years — her debut album came out in 2006 — “it spans generations," Mojica said.

"It’s not only the little girls who want to come, but also the moms. It’s very intergenerational.

“I think that’s just the power she has as an artist. The type of music and storytelling that she does, it can really reach so many people.”

Speaking of Swift's many years as an artist, Mojica is reminded in the interview that Swift grew up in Wyomissing, Berks County — less than 50 miles from Wind Creek Event Center.

And she played early shows at venues such as Allentown's former Crocodile Rock Cafe and Allentown Fair.

"I knew she was from Pennsylvania," Mojica said with mock concern. “They’re going to be really judging, then. I’ll have to get all my dances down.”