Scottsdale woman set to renew bittersweet friendship with Swift

Among the 126,000 or so people who will reunite with Taylor Swift during her sold-out Eras Tour shows in Glendale is Maya Thompson, a Scottsdale woman who has a special — and bittersweet — decadelong friendship with Swift.

The invisible string connecting the pair is Thompson’s late son, Ronan. The 3-year-old died days before his fourth birthday in May 2011 after a nine-month battle with neuroblastoma. When Swift released “Red (Taylor’s Version)” in 2021, it included Track 21, “Ronan.”

Swift first sang the ballad about Maya and Ronan’s special relationship and its tragic end during a Stand Up to Cancer program in September 2012. She has only performed it twice, and the second time was a surprise for Thompson during Swift’s 1989 Tour concert in Glendale in 2015.

Swift and Thompson’s relationship was born “because of the worst possible reason,” Thompson told The Arizona Republic. But Swift “took so much of my pain and turned it into the most beautiful thing,” as she wrote in an Instagram post after last seeing Swift perform in May 2018.

This “Ronan/Taylor magic … seems to appear during the times in my life that feel extra hard,” Thompson wrote.

How Ronan/Taylor magic began

Swift never met Ronan, but she knew him from Thompson’s hundreds of blog posts on her website, Rockstar Ronan.

There, Thompson shared details of Ronan’s doctor’s visits, chemotherapy treatments and surgeries, interspersed with her raw thoughts and fears and updates on family and friends.

Thompson continued running Rockstar Ronan after he died, and she used the space to share her depression and grief with her readers. Oftentimes, she wrote directly to Ronan.

Little did she know, Swift was reading the blog “every night,” as the singer said during her 1989 Tour stop in Glendale in 2015.

The two met in October 2011, when the Thompsons and their sons were invited to Swift’s Speak Now Tour and met the singer.

The story behind Swift’s song ‘Ronan’

A year later, Swift called Thompson and left a voicemail.

“I wrote a song for Ronan,” Swift said, according to Thompson’s Sept. 9, 2012, blog post.

It was titled “Ronan,” and its lyrics were inspired by Thompson’s writings. Thompson, who was credited as a cowriter, heard the song for the first time alongside the rest of the world when Swift debuted the charity single during a Stand Up to Cancer program on Sept. 7, 2012.

In 2021, “Ronan” went from charity single to an official album track when “Red (Taylor’s Version)” released.

Looking forward to performance

Some people have raised the possibility of Swift performing “Ronan” at her Eras Tour shows in Glendale, but Thompson says she is fine either way.

“I feel like that was a once in a lifetime thing. And I’m so OK with that because it completely changed the dynamic and energy of the concert in, like, the most beautiful way. But it was also very tough,” she said of the 1989 Tour performance.

“Of course, if she wants to, I’m open to that. But also if she doesn’t, I’m not taking that personally at all.”

As guests of Swift both nights at State Farm Stadium, the Thompsons — especially Maya and her daughter, Poppy Ronan Thompson — were excited to see Swift perform again after five years.

There’s also a special guest that she’s wishing for this time.

“I’m really going to put it out there that I’m hoping Stevie Nicks might make an appearance,” Thompson said of the Phoenix-born singer. “That would be the most beautiful collaboration, I feel like.”