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Good news for all the 'Swifties'.
By Sanika Nalgirkar — Written on Feb 04, 2022
Finally, Taylor Swift’s fans or ‘Swifties’ can say they are just doing homework when they’re listening to Swift’s music.
New York University recently announced that NYU Tisch School’s Clive Davis Institute is offering a course on Taylor Swift for its Spring Semester.
Clive Davis Institute offers the program of BFA in Recorded Music where students gain artistic as well as business skills in the field of music.
NYU students can be excited to learn about the famous pop star and her music in a theoretical manner. The class has started on Jan. 26 and will go on till Mar. 9.
The NYU course will offer teachings about Taylor Swift’s music and her career as an artist.
This class will be diving into a deeper understanding of Swift’s songwriting and her growth as a musician. In addition, there will also be an introduction to pop culture and its various aspects.
The course description reads, “The class delves into analyses of the culture and politics of teen girlhood in pop music, fandom, media studies, whiteness and power as it relates to her image and the images of those who have both preceded and succeeded her.”
Students will get the opportunity to learn more about Swift’s music and understand the process of her songwriting.
They will also get a detailed understanding of what a big influence Swift is in the music industry and how much difference her music makes.
One of the course objectives for the course reads:
“Students will learn about the politics of race in contemporary popular music, and to interrogate whiteness as it relates to Swift’s politics, songwriting, worldview and interactions with the wider cultural world around her.”
The course is taught by a writer at 'Rolling Stone.'
Brittany Spanos is a staff writer at 'Rolling Stone' and an NYU Alumni. She shared a tweet about the class on her feed a couple of days ago.
Spanos shares her excitement of getting the chance to share her knowledge about the “All Too Well” singer.
“I’ve been covering Taylor Swift since I began my writing career a decade ago and have been a super fan of hers for even longer."
Spanos further says, "It’s such an honor to be able to share my Swiftie expertise with a sharp group of students.”
Jason King, the Chairman of Clive Davis Institute also spoke about Spanos and that he was immediately on board with the idea when Spanos suggested this class.
King says, “She’s a Taylor fan but she also understands how to contextualize her culturally, and get students to think more deeply about her and her music through the lens of gender, feminism, race, and class..."
He also shares his excitement about bringing Spanos to teach the course as he has seen her evolving career as a journalist and she is his former student.
Students are quite excited about the class and it seems to have created a lot of buzz as it already has a long waiting list.
Swift has also been requested to make an appearance at the class, however, she has not responded yet.
Sanika Nalgirkar, M.F.A. is a writer and an Editorial Intern at YourTango who writes on entertainment & news, lifestyle, and pop culture topics.