Tag: Taylor Swift

  • Six universities are now offering courses on Taylor Swift

    Six universities are now offering courses on Taylor Swift

    ‘Well they didn’t teach you that in prep school so it’s up to me!”

    Looks like Taylor Swift has decided to take this lyric literally and influenced more than six universities across America, including NYU and Stanford, are introducing courses revolving around the pop mastermind and her works, ranging from literature to psychology.

    Arizona State University announced this month that they were offering a course titled “Psychology of Taylor Swift — Advanced Topics of Social Psychology” where the course revolves around connecting various themes from Taylor’s music like revenge, trauma, anxiety- and link it to psychology. PHD student Alexandra Wormey used Swift 2017 album ‘Reputation’ as an example:

    “Taylor’s sixth album, Reputation, is her comeback after disappearing from the spotlight due to conflicts with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. She enacts her revenge on them — and the broader media landscape — by dropping an incredibly successful album along with a stadium tour,” she explained. “The students know this — but do they know why we like revenge? Do they know how we enact revenge? Social psychology can tell us.”

    This decision to incorporate the singer-songwriter’s ballads into academic life has long started with places like New York University, when in 2022 the Clive Davis Institute introduced their first ever course on Taylor Swift, which will explore her evolution as a songstress, country, pop and indie legend, as well discourses surrounding girlhood, sexism and trauma from her work. The course is three months long, and Swift had also been invited as a guest speaker.

    In August 2022, University of Texas at Austin introduced “Literary Contests and Contexts — The Taylor Swift Songbook”, where the 12 time Grammy award winning’s music would be studied alongside the masters of literature like Emily Dickinson, Shakespeare, Sylvia Plath.

    There are courses dedicated to dissecting some of her most critically acclaimed songs like ‘All Too Well’ (10 minute version) which Taylor had released on Red (Taylor’s Version). Stanford University announced the set up of their winter quarter course ‘All Too Well (10 week version)’ which would revolve around an in-depth analysis of Taylor’s hit.

    Berkley College of Music recently announced that the students could opt for a course that requires them to study the songs written by Taylor Swift and dissect each album and the themes it revolved around.

    And it’s not just the US now which is offering Taylor Swift courses now! Ghent University in Belgium called ‘Literature: Taylor’s Version’ which, according to the instructor Elly McCausland, would delve into how the ‘Anti Hero’ singer incoporates some of the most prominent writers of English literture like Jane Austen, Shakespeare or even Charlotte Bronte into her works.

    “The way she uses the war, like a metaphor for a relationship, made me a bit uncomfortable and it got me thinking about Sylvia Plath’s poem Daddy, which does a similar thing and also it’s very uncomfortable reading,” the academic said speaking to AFP. “Literature (Taylor’s Version)”, is a way to make literature “more accessible” and “not to create a Swift fan club”.

  • Arijit Singh beats Taylor Swift to become third most followed artist on Spotify

    Arijit Singh beats Taylor Swift to become third most followed artist on Spotify

    Indian singer Arijit Singh has surpassed global superstars like Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish to become the third most followed artist on Spotify. The musical prodigy, who rose to fame with songs like ‘Agar Tum Saath Ho’ and ‘Channa Meraya’, has a total of 86 million followers on his Spotify page.

    Taylor currently has 83 million followers, making her the fourth most followed artist on the music streaming platform.

    According to chart masters, the most popular artists among the top five on Spotify include Ed Sheeran, pop singer Ariana Grande, Arijit Singh, Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish.

  • Taylor Swift announces 1989 (Taylor’s Version)

    She never goes out of style

    Taylor Swift really knows how to keep cruising. On Wednesday she announced that her next rerecorded album will be 1989, on the sixth L.A show of the Era’s tour at SoFi Stadium.

    The new rerecording comes after Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version)- in an effort to own the original masters of her own albums after she spoke publicly about cutting ties with her own record label when they sold it to Scooter Braun.

    Swift said the album will be released internationally on October 27, calling it a dream to own her music:

    “Since I was a teenager, I wanted to own my music and the way to do it was to re-record my albums and call them Taylor’s Version. And the way that you have embraced that, the way that you have celebrated that, you really decided that it was your fight, too, and that you were 100% behind me and that if I cared about it, you cared about it,” the ‘Anti-Hero’ singer. “I will never stop thanking you for that. It was so generous. And so now here we are at the last night of the US leg of the Eras Tour in the eighth month of the year, on the ninth day of the month.”

    “There’s something that I’ve been planning for a really, really long time… and I think instead of just like telling you about it, I think I’ll just sort of show you,” and Swift gestured to the screen which showed the album artwork for 1989, along with the release date.

    Along with a post on her social media account, Swift called this her ‘FAVOURITE re-record’ and said that the 5 From The Vault tracks are ‘insane’.

    Released in 2014, the album featured critically acclaimed tracks like ‘Blank Space’, ‘Style’ and ‘Wildest Dreams’, and had gone on to win Swift’s second Album of the year award at the Grammy’s.

  • Taylor Swift gives $55 million bonuses to crew behind worldwide tour

    Taylor Swift gives $55 million bonuses to crew behind worldwide tour

    Cruel Summer? Not on Taylor’s watch.

    Like the outstanding artist that she is, Taylor Swift pulled off an awesome move, becoming the boss everyone will want to work with. People Magazine has reported that the superstar has given bonuses amounting up to $55 million to the hard working crew behind her mega-popular Eras tour, which is set to earn around $1 billion in sales, according to CNBC.

    The ‘Anti-Hero’ singer reportedly gave truck drivers around $100,000 each ahead of the concert stop in Santa Clara. Bonuses were handed out to dancers, sound technicians and caterers working on the tour.

    An account has shared a picture of the hand-written note the singer gave to her truck drivers.

  • Drop everything now: Taylor Swift releases Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)

    Drop everything now: Taylor Swift releases Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)

    This night is sparkling as at long last, Taylor Swift finally released her third rerecorded album Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) which also features six previously unreleased songs from the vault tracks.

    “It’s an album I wrote alone about the whims, fantasies, heartaches, dramas and tragedies I lived out as a young woman between 18 and 20. I remember making tracklist after tracklist, obsessing over the right way to tell the story. I had to be ruthless with my choices, and I left behind some songs I am still unfailingly proud of now,” Taylor wrote in a statement announcing the album’s release.

    The rerecorded album follows Fearless and Red as Taylor attempts to take back control of her musical legacy when she was denied the opportunity to own her original masters by her record label Big Machine Records in 2019, a decision she detailed on a Tumblr post as the “worst case scenario” when news spread that the masters were sold to Scooter Braun:

    “This is my worst case scenario. This is what happens when you sign a deal at fifteen to someone for whom the term ‘loyalty’ is clearly just a contractual concept. And when that man says ‘Music has value’, he means its value is beholden to men who had no part in creating it. 

    When I left my masters in Scott’s hands, I made peace with the fact that eventually he would sell them. Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter. Any time Scott Borchetta has heard the words ‘Scooter Braun’ escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to. He knew what he was doing; they both did. Controlling a woman who didn’t want to be associated with them. In perpetuity. That means forever.”

    The updated album features six previously unreleased songs including  ‘Electric Touch’ featuring Fall Out Boy and ‘Castles Crumbling’ with Paramore’s Hayley Williams. The others ‘From the Vault’ tracks are titled ‘When Emma Falls in Love,’ ‘I Can See You’, ‘Foolish One’, and ‘Timeless’.

    Listen to the album here:

  • ‘Wildest crossover’: Diljit Dosanjh and Taylor Swift dating rumor has launched hilarious memes

    ‘Wildest crossover’: Diljit Dosanjh and Taylor Swift dating rumor has launched hilarious memes

    From London boy to Ludhiana boy?

    The world’s axis shifted and Mother Nature began healing when news publications announced that superstar Taylor Swift had dumped the controversial Matty Healy, with fans around the world rejoicing

    But because it can never be a dull day in showbusiness l, some media platforms are trying to link her with Indian singer Diljit Dosanjh. Never did we think this would happen, not even in our wildest dreams (wink)

    Dosanjh himself fanned the flames by hilariously trolling the news site that spread the rumor with a cheeky comment which he later deleted:

    “Yaar privacy naam di v koi cheez hundi aa”

    Which soon led to a storm on social media with fans trying to re-imagine what would ‘Anti-hero’ singer and Doshanjh dating be like. The results were hilarious.

    Can you do a bhangra to ‘Anti-Hero’? We’d pay A LOT to see Taylor trying to do that.

    Lover (Taylor’s Version) ft Diljit?

  • Trouble, Trouble, Trouble: Taylor Swift’s boyfriend Matty Healy faces backlash from fans for problematic history of islamophobia, racism, sexist jokes

    Trouble, Trouble, Trouble: Taylor Swift’s boyfriend Matty Healy faces backlash from fans for problematic history of islamophobia, racism, sexist jokes

    We knew you were trouble when you walked in like quite literally the receipts are right here.

    Taylor Swift made headlines when the ‘Anti Hero’ singer started dating the frontman of The 1975 band, Matty Healy, after splitting up from her longtime boyfriend, Joe Alwyn.

    However, the news was not received well by fans, who criticised Healy’s problematic history of making racist, sexist and Islamophobic jokes.
    Swift has been extremely vocal about her activism for gay rights and feminism, with songs like ‘Mad Woman’ discussing female rage and sexism, and ‘You Need To Calm Down’ from her Lover album empowering the transgender community.

    It must be exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero? Not for Tay-Tay it seems.

    Fans began sharing clips and problematic posts Healy had posted in the past where he appeared to be mocking Islam. For instance, a fan shared a screenshot of his Instagram stories with a tweet:

    “You start dating a Muslim girl then BOOM”

    Another user shared a clip of ‘The City’ singer’s interview with Brut Mexico where he slammed religious people by saying they should be ashamed of themselves, addin that he had no rights as an athiest.

    “Religious people are always allowed to be offended: ‘Oh, we’re offended by this, I’m offended by that,’ I have to get up every day and read something abhorrent that’s happened in the name of religion.”

    https://twitter.com/msatermnid/status/1657258113324441601?s=20

    The ‘Medicine’ singer has been slammed for his controversial racist and sexist comments about rapper Ice Spice. During his appearance at The Adam Freidland Show, the episode was immediately pulled from Spotify and Apple after backlash, but is still available on Youtube.

    Healy had also courted controversy in January when videos emerged of him doing the Nazi salute on stage, a move that has enraged many Swifties

    These recent controversies have led to many Swifties starting to retract their support for Swift, and even criticising her for working with problematic men but yet being quite vocal about social issues.

    Fans even began using the hashtag #speakupnow to demand Swift addressed the problematic history of her boyfriend, and stand up for the rights she claims to be advocating.

    https://twitter.com/laurenelectro/status/1658968672428343297?s=20

  • A couple got married during Taylor Swift’s concert

    Taylor Swift being the icon and queen she is, has curated a safe space in her concerts for everyone to dance and cry to her music, and now it is even permissible to get married during her shows.

    A clip of one of her concerts held in Glendale on March 18 went viral on social media. A couple were seen getting married during the ‘Seven’ spoken version.

    Speaking to Rolling Stone, the bride René Hurtado revealed the reason why she and her husband, Max Bochman, had chosen to get married during Swift’s concert:

    “It was really thrilling and exciting. I’m so glad that we did it. It was really special, and the timing during the concert was so beautiful.”

    On the reason why they chose to recite their wedding vows during “Seven”, Hurtado revealed that it was quite a significant song for them:

    “We pretty much had the best seat in the house, she added. “It was a really wonderful experience. Our section was so supportive and sweet to us when they saw what we were doing.”

    Since the past two days, Taylor’s concerts have featured all kinds of spectacular moments which only prove that she is breaking global records of the most highly rated tour anyone has ever witnessed.

    At the first concert, which was held in Glendale on 17th March, during the performance of Love Story, a couple went viral for getting engaged during the iconic bridge of the song.

    Another moment showed a guest service employee dancing to ‘Blank Space’ along with the rest of the audience.

    Us international Swifties can just sob into our pillows while watching livestreams, witnessing a powerful singer inspire other people to live their best moments in these wholesome ways.

  • Taylor Swift drops three surprise songs ahead of Era tour

    Taylor Swift drops three surprise songs ahead of Era tour

    Taylor Swift is the gift that keeps on giving.

    In a surprise announcement on Thursday night, Taylor Swift said that she was dropping three un-released songs in celebration of the upcoming Era tour which is starting today in Glendale, Arizona.

    On her Instagram page, Swift revealed that the three songs were Safe and Sound (Taylor’s Version) featuring the former members of The Civil Wars, Joy Williams and John Paul White, Eyes Open (Taylor’s Version) , If This Was A Movie (Taylor’s Version) and All Of The Girls You Loved Before.

    You can listen to these songs on Spotify

    Swift also shared teaser of her practicing for the upcoming Era’s tour, with the caption:

    “In my era’s era”

  • Elon Musk is no longer joining Twitter board as the microblogging network is “dying”

    Elon Musk is no longer joining Twitter board as the microblogging network is “dying”

    The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk will not be joining the Twitter board of directors, according to Twitter’s CEO Parag Agrawal. Musk’s appointment on the board was supposed to start on April 9, however, he announced that he would no longer be joining.

    Agrawal posted a statement on April 10, saying Musk’s appointment to the board would be subject to a background investigation and that once nominated, he would have to operate in the company’s best interests. “Elon is our biggest shareholder and we will remain open to his input,” he added.

    What Happened Earlier?

    Earlier, the tech mogul tweeted the list of the top ten most followed personalities, which included celebrities and politicians such as former US President Barack Obama, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, and Lady Gaga.

    The world’s wealthiest man had a complaint: many of the top Twitter accounts do not upload anything.

    Former US President Barack Obama (131.4 million followers), singer Justin Bieber (114.3 million), Katy Perry (108.8 million), and other top accounts belonging to popular artists Rihanna and Taylor Swift were among the names on the list from the Twitter account of World of Statistics, which Musk posted.

    Interestingly, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is ranked ninth on the list, with a popularity of 77.1 million followers, one notch below Musk, who has 81 million followers on the social network.

    Whereas Modi is an avid Twitter user who publishes everything from his daily schedule to welcoming foreign leaders, Musk laments that celebrities like Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber rarely post. Taylor hasn’t posted anything in three months, and the ‘yummy’ singer Justin Bieber only tweeted once in 2022.

    Musk, who just purchased a 9.2 per cent interest in Twitter for roughly $3 billion in his controversial style, asked his followers another question: Is Twitter dying? 

    In an ‘April fool’ message, Twitter said that it is testing some new features, one of which is a long-awaited ‘edit’ button. The platform later explained that the change to the edit button was not an April Fool’s prank and that it was truly being tested by the company.

    It is worth noting that Musk also proposed a number of improvements to Twitter’s Blue premium subscription service, including lowering the price, limiting adverts, and allowing users to pay in the crypto. Many internet users were surprised by the recent announcement, as they had been expecting Tesla’s CEO to join the board of microblogging site and witness what changes he would make.