(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Spring semester offerings at New York University now include a course on Taylor Swift, which will teach about the singer as a “creative music entrepreneur,” but will also educate students in “the politics of race in contemporary popular music.”
The class will also examine “American nationalism” and “interrogate whiteness as it relates to Swift’s politics, songwriting, worldview,” according to The Blaze.
“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,” the course description states. “We’ll also consider topics like copyright and ownership, American nationalism, and the ongoing impact of social media on the pop music industry.”
The course will be offered at the Clive Davis Institute at the NYU art school, which has a tuition of $62,062.
Brittany Spanos, an NYU alum and staff writer for Rolling Stone, will be teaching the course.
The entertainment writer covers “music, fandom, and pop culture,” which include recent listicles such as “The 20 Best Billie Eilish Songs” and “How Did Olivia Rodrigo’s Sad Girl Anthem Become So Big on TikTok?”
A self proclaimed “Swiftie,” Spanos said it’s been a dream of hers to teach a course at Clive Davis:
“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 told Variety.
“It’s such an honor to be able to share my Swiftie expertise with a sharp group of students,”she said. “I hope to help them rethink how to engage with one of the things world’s biggest and sometimes divisive stars.”
“To me, the class was a no-brainer when Brittany first suggested it,” Jason King, the chair of the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, said.
“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, and other categories related to identity, and that deeper thinking is what this program is all about,” he added.
Taylor Swift has been invited to speak at the course, but has not responded to the request.
