Brett Hagan is a 23-year-old Cadet Second Class at the Air Force Academy, studying law. During graduation week each year, the juniors are honored in the annual Ring Dance, where they receive their class ring. Hagan needs a date, and the person he wants to go with him is arguably the biggest pop star in the world: Taylor Swift.
Following the tradition of service members before him, who were successfully able to get celebrities to attend their military balls, Hagan posted a video on Youtube in an attempt to entice Swift to join him. But rather than making a 30-second video where he sat in front of the camera and asked her to join him at the ball, Hagan decided to get creative.
He’s been rapping for several years now, and he decided to use that skill when he made his plea. He crafted a four-minute long music video, where he raps an original song filled with references to Swift’s music and celebrity. Her megahit “Shake It Off” served as the backing track. He even referenced Ed Sheeran and the now-infamous Kanye West incident. The Marine who started the craze of asking celebrities to military balls gets a shout-out, too, as “that Marine dude” who got Mila Kunis to go to the ball with him, asking, “How the flip do you do that though?” And while he jokes throughout the video about hoping for a kiss, he closes with a little more seriousness, saying that he knows she has a boyfriend and is just hoping to take her to the Ring Dance and show her a good time. “Every pretty girl needs to go to a ball,” he says.
So far, the video has racked up almost 200,000 views. Hagan hopes that the video will get enough attention that Swift will see it and give him an answer. Given Swift’s massive popularity, the odds seem to be against him, but other troops have been able to pull off the impressive feat of getting celebrities to go with them — and Swift is a celebrity known for going the extra mile for her fans.