Taylor Alison Swift is an American singer-songwriter. She is known for narrative songs about her personal life, which have received widespread media coverage. At age 14, Swift became the youngest artist signed by the Sony/ATV Music publishing house and, at 15, she signed her first record deal.
Her 2006 eponymous debut album was the longest-charting album of the 2000s in the US. Its third single, "Our Song", made her the youngest person to single-handedly write and perform a number-one song on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. Swift's second album, Fearless, was released in 2008.
Buoyed by the pop crossover success of the singles "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me", it became the US' best-selling album of 2009 and was certified diamond in the US. The album won four Grammy Awards, and Swift became the youngest Album of the Year winner.
New York University launches new course on Taylor Swift
nme.comTaylor Swift.The course began at the Davis Institute, which is part of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, on January 26 and will run through to March 9.Set to be taught by Rolling Stone’s Brittany Spanos, the course will cover “Swift’s evolution as a creative music entrepreneur, the legacy of pop and country songwriters, discourses of youth and girlhood, and the politics of race in contemporary popular music” (via Variety).“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,” a description adds.“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.”The Swift course already has a long waiting list of students, a representative for the course told Variety.
Swift has also been invited to speak to the class.“Teaching a course at Clive Davis has been a dream of mine since I attended NYU,” Spanos said in a statement. “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.“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.
It’s such an honour to be able to share my Swiftie expertise with a sharp group of students. I hope to help them rethink how to.
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