Dubai: Die-hard fan Bilal Ilyas Jhandir broke the record for the most Taylor Swift songs recognized from their lyrics in a minute, staking his claim as the world's greatest Swiftie.
20-year-old Pakistani broke the previous record of 27 songs, achieved by British radio host Dan Simpson in 2019. The youngster correctly identified a total of 34 songs.
The first line of each of Swift's 50 best-selling songs was read aloud with no music playing, and Bilal needed to identify each song from the list. The songs were arranged randomly.
"I have been listening to Taylor Swift since my childhood. I am a die-hard fan of her," Bilal said. "I have listened to every song of hers. I can identify almost any song of hers from the lyrics."
Bilal thought that breaking this record would be the 'best way on Earth' to show his 'extraordinary love' for Taylor Swift, who holds multiple Guinness World Records titles of her own.
Bilal spent 13 weeks getting ready for the record attempt to make sure he got the best score possible, even though he claims already to know every word to every song by the singer and listens to her music regularly.
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Bilal credits his meticulous planning for making his record attempt 'an easy task,' while he acknowledges that having a man speak the lyrics rather than Swift sing them added a level of challenge.
Bilal has been a fan of Taylor Swift since he was 13 years old, and names 'absolute masterpiece' Folklore as his favourite album.
This is Bilal's third Guinness World Record. He set the first one in 2021 for the most animals recognized from sounds in a minute, and he beat the previous record last year by seven songs for the most Justin Bieber songs recognized from lyrics in a minute.
