In a remarkable feat, 20-year-old Bilal Ilyas Jhandir from Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan, achieved a Guinness World Record by identifying 34 Taylor Swift songs in less than a minute. Jhandir, known as a devoted Swiftie, shared his experience via Zoom, revealing the challenges he faced during the attempt.
The young record-breaker wore an eye mask in the submission video to ensure fairness and prevent any accusations of peeking. Two verified witnesses presented randomly chosen Taylor Swift song lyrics on a screen, and one of them read the beginnings of songs while a timer counted down. Jhandir had to rapidly identify the songs based on the incomplete lyrics.
Reflecting on the difficulty of the task, Jhandir explained, “It was very difficult because you had to listen to another person read the lyrics, and they were pronouncing some of the words incorrectly.” Despite the challenges, he successfully identified 34 Taylor Swift songs within the minute, breaking the previous record set by Dan Simpson from the U.K. in 2019, who identified 27 Swift songs.
The video submission for Jhandir’s record-breaking attempt was recorded in September 2023, and the results were recently verified. He shared that he dedicated 13 weeks to practice before the official attempt. This achievement added to Jhandir’s existing Guinness World Records for the most animals identified from animal sounds in one minute (23) and the most Justin Bieber songs identified from lyrics in one minute (29).
Jhandir, who refers to himself as a Belieber as well, humorously mentioned that during his Justin Bieber record attempt, he had to skip two songs, but he didn’t need any skips for the Taylor Swift challenge. When asked about his favorite Taylor Swift era and song, he expressed a preference for the “Folklore” era and cited “You’re Losing Me,” a bonus track from “Midnights,” as his favorite song.
Addressing the possibility of attempting to break his own world record, Jhandir mentioned the response from social media platforms where people claimed breaking the record would be easy. He playfully said, “So let’s see if someone broke this score. Then definitely I will try to regain it.”
Jhandir also shared insights into Taylor Swift’s popularity at his university in Pakistan, and he expressed his dream of meeting her or at least attending one of her tour stops. Despite the challenges and the pressure of maintaining a world record, Jhandir remains a dedicated fan, showcasing his passion for both Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber.