We Know All Too Well You’d Want to Enroll
Attention #Swifties!
Taylor Swift – one of the most powerful personalities in the music industry with countless hit songs and recognitions under her belt.
Because of this, it’s not surprising that aspiring musicians and those who want to break into the music industry would want to study how the famous singer-songwriter sustained her career for almost two decades.
The Clive Davis Institute, under New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, has the answer to that as they now offer a course about Taylor Swift.
The course runs from January 26 until March 9 and has already amassed a long waitlist of students.
Brittany Spanos, an alumna of New York University herself and now a Senior Journalist for the well-known magazine Rolling Stone, will be teaching the course.
“Teaching a course at Clive Davis has been a dream of mine since I attended NYU…I took several of the Topics in Recorded Music courses in the program while an undergrad and they were foundational to my work as a music journalist,” Spanos said.
“It’s such an honor to be able to share my Swiftie expertise with a sharp group of students. I hope to help them rethink how to engage with one of the things world’s biggest and sometimes divisive stars, in the same way Clive professors like Jason King, Vivien Goldman and Joe Levy did for me when I took their courses.”, she added.
According to the report published by Variety, the course is described as follows:
“This course proposes to deconstruct both the appeal and aversions to Taylor Swift through close readings of her music and public discourse as it relates to her own growth as an artist and a celebrity. Through readings, lectures and more, 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. We’ll also consider topics like copyright and ownership, American nationalism and the ongoing impact of social media on the pop music industry.”
Variety’s report also showed that the course’s objectives are the following:
- to develop an understanding and appreciation for Taylor Swift as a creative music entrepreneur; Students will learn to deconstruct the way her creativity and songwriting have made her a durable presence in a quickly evolving music industry
- to learn about the legacy of pop and country songwriters that have influenced Swift as well as the discourses around “prodigies” in pop music history;
- to gain an understanding of how discourses of youth and girlhood are often exploited in the media and music industries;
- to 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;
- to develop greater sophistication in their artistic appreciation, critical thinking, research and writing skills.”
And what better way to get the full experience of learning about Taylor Swift’s music career than having the artist herself speak to the class? That possibility is in talks but is not yet confirmed as of date.
Sources: Variety.com