Move over Harvard University, there’s now another prestigious university teaching a course about Taylor Swift.
The University of the Philippines (UP) has announced that they are now offering a new elective titled, “Celebrity Studies: Taylor Swift in Focus”, which “focuses on the conception, construction, and the performance of Taylor Swift” according to Dr. Cherish Aileen Brillon, who will be teaching the course. The course will be under UP’s College of Mass Communication, as part of the Department of Broadcast Communication’s Special Topics in Broadcasting class this coming second semester of the 2023-2024 School Year.
Dr. Brillon, a Swiftie herself, aims to help navigate students through a critical analysis of Taylor Swift’s illustrious career spanning over a decade. The syllabus, however, extends beyond the musical realm, delving into the intricate intersections of media with class, politics, gender, and race, as well as an exploration of success and mobility-related fantasies. This groundbreaking course marks the first of its kind in a Philippine university, a fact that Dr. Brillon finds “a bit surprising,” especially considering the nation’s reputation as a “Taylor Swift nation.”
In her interview with PhilStarL!fe, Dr. Brillon disclosed that her course goes beyond the conventional academic approach, examining fandom politics and activism within the Filipino context. While Brillon’s course is the first of its kind in the realm of Philippine academia, it is not the sole ode to Taylor Swift in the global academic sphere. Across the world, universities are tuning into the pop sensation’s influence. Harvard University’s “Taylor Swift and Her World” inspects the singer-songwriter’s musical catalog and artistic predecessors, while combining readings of literary works that aim to enrich students’ comprehension of Swift’s journey over the years.
Previous courses at other renowned institutions like Stanford University, the University of Texas, and New York University also focused on Swift’s songwriting prowess or viewed her commercial success through a business lens. Aside from the United States, Australia is gearing up for ‘Swiftposium 2024’ –– which is an academic conference slated to dissect Taylor Swift’s impact on various disciplines. Scholars from the University of Melbourne are eager to engage in scholarly discussions surrounding the American pop star’s multifaceted influence.
In other news, Swift’s concert film The Eras Tour was declared the highest-grossing concert film of all time, and was also nominated for the Cinematic and Box Office Achievement Award at the 2024 Golden Globes. Swift herself had quite the stellar year in 2023, having been named TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year for 2023, earning the title of the most-streamed artist globally on Spotify with over 26.1 billion streams, and securing Apple Music’s Artist of the Year for 2023.
Listen to Taylor Swift’s latest re-recording 1989 (Taylor’s Version) below: