Because the Taylor Swift case will be studied at university

Pop icons are often studied in universities around the world. This time it is the American university of Harvard, one of the most important internationally, which dedicates a course to the American pop star Taylor Swift. Here you are because the Taylor Swift case will be studied at university.

The Taylor Swift case is being studied at university

If there is a pop star who is riding the crest of the wave internationally more than the others, it is Taylor Swift, who has 279 million followers on social media. The American singer, born in West Reading in Pennsylvania in 1989, it conquered everyone, and travels among the top of the music charts around the world. Now the news is the decision of Harvard University to dedicate a course in the English Department to her.

The seminar, entitled ‘Taylor Swift and her world’, has already been a huge success: over 300 people have signed up. But why did Harvard decide to focus on the Taylor Swift case? In reality, other US universities have already dealt with the Swift phenomenon, such as Berklee College of Music of Boston, theUniversity of FloridaL’University of California and the Stanford Universitydemonstrating the growing academic interest in his figure and, above all, in his own cultural influence.

“The first song on Taylor Swift’s first album, released when she was 16, paid homage to a more established country artist. Are you the country artist today – or ex-country? or pop – more recognizable than North Americaif not the world: his songs span half a dozen genres and his economic impact changes cities,” we read on the Harvard University website in the description of the course, which will be taught by the professor Stephanie Burt.

“We will review Swift’s discography – still on the university website -, including her greatest hits, her deepest songs, her out-takes, her re-recordings, considering songwriting as an art itself. Students will be invited to delve into topics such as “the fan phenomenon, celebrity culture, adolescence and adulthood, appropriation, what to think about white texts, Southern texts, transatlantic texts and queer subtexts.”

Furthermore, the course will also focus on its precursors, from Dolly Parton at Border Balladsand on the literary and musical works that inspired Taylor Swift, such as those of Willa Cather, James Weldon Johnson, Tracey Thorn And William Wordsworth.

The Taylor Swift effect on American elections

Taylor Swift’s popularity is so high that Republicans fear any statements against her Donald Trump and his party or in favor of Joe Biden and Democrats can have an impact on the results of the Presidential Elections. As explained by ‘Il Sole 24 ore’ in an article from January 2024, according to American political experts, new public support from Taylor Swift – she had already done so in previous elections – could in fact influence around 1 million votes . According to what was reported by the newspaper, Tramp’s staff has been focused for some time on a strategy to deal with a possible endorsement of the pop star for the democratic cause during the November 2024 presidential election campaign.

This is just another example that shows why universities are interested in Taylor Swift and the phenomenon that her figure has generated in mass culture, primarily American culture.