"The reason they had to be cancelled filled me with a new kind of fear and an incredible guilt since so many people had planned to attend the concerts", writes Swift in a statement via Instagram, where she explains that she was waiting for the right moment to speak out.
The three performances – where a total of 200,000 tickets had been sold – in the Austrian capital were supposed to take place earlier in August but were stopped after two people, a 19-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy, were arrested suspected of planning an Islamist attack.
Authorities in Austria have previously stated that the main suspect, the 19-year-old, has confessed to planning to "kill as many people as possible" in what the security service describes as a suicide attack in connection with the sold-out arena.
Taylor Swift expresses gratitude towards the authorities' actions, which meant that "we got to mourn concerts and not people". She was also strengthened by the sense of community among fans.
"I decided that all my energy had to go towards helping to protect the nearly half a million people who would come to see the shows in London".
