Imagine attending classes where your favorite pop star is the subject of study. Instead of focusing on calculus, you'd be analysing Taylor Swift's lyrics.
Elly McCausland's course syllabus at Ghent University is like a star-studded lineup of English literature, featuring renowned names such as Geoffrey Chaucer, Charlotte Brontë, and William Shakespeare. But what's truly causing a buzz is the unexpected addition of a prolific writer: Taylor Swift, the singer-songwriter.
All Swifties, get ready to shake it off but in literature!
McCausland, an assistant professor at the Belgian university, shared her excitement about the course's popularity.
McCausland isn't the first to introduce Swift in a university setting. In 2022, New York University's Clive Davis Institute led the way with a course exploring the "appeal and aversions" of the pop icon.
📝 | @Variety: Taylor Swift Course Launched at NY University’s Clive Davis Institute
— Taylor Swift News 🩵 (@TSwiftNZ) February 2, 2022
“Taught by Rolling Stone’s Brittany Spanos, the class will cover her evolution as a music entrepreneur… Swift has been invited to speak to class, the status of that request is still pending.” pic.twitter.com/c0il93vuo7
Get ready to take notes as we explore 8 similar college courses dedicated entirely to our favorite pop stars.
New York University's Clive Davis Institute rolled out a fun course centred around Lana Del Rey in the fall of 2022. The course aimed to explore how the alt-pop star relates to feminism and connects with social justice movements.
Described as "Topics in Recorded Music: Lana Del Rey", the course delved into the artist's impact.
With eight acclaimed albums and six Grammy nominations, Lana Del Rey introduced a unique blend of sad core, dreamy pop, and baroque elements that transformed the musical landscape beyond the 2010s.
NYU’s Clive Davis Institute has introduced a course on Lana Del Rey for this fall.
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) September 20, 2022
The course, titled “Topics in Recorded Music: Lana Del Rey,” examines Lana’s “contributions to 21st century pop stardom, her relationship to feminism, her musical influences,” and more. pic.twitter.com/AhFoJvbLMa
The course highlighted Del Rey's captivating visuals and her themes of mental health and troubled love stories.
Back in 2015, Georgia State University initiated a course centred on Kanye West, which was followed by another one in 2017 at Washington University in St Louis.
Jump ahead five years, and Concordia University in Montreal introduced "Kanye vs Ye: Genius by Design", bringing the study of Kanye West to Canada.
Rapper and professor Yassin "Narcy" Alsalman, who taught the course, shared on Instagram that it provided an opportunity to invite remarkable guests to the university and explore the world through the perspective of one of the most influential artists of our time.
In 2014, Skidmore College in New York introduced a sociology class dedicated to Miley Cyrus, titled "The Sociology of Miley Cyrus: Race, Class, Gender, and Media".
The instructor of the course, Professor Carolyn Chernoff, highlighted that discussions about female pop stars and their bodies involve factors like class, gender, sexuality, and race.
Guess where two of Toronto's biggest artists had a whole college class dedicated to them? Right in Toronto itself! Canada's X University (also known as Ryerson University) introduced an exciting course named "Deconstructing Drake and The Weeknd" in the fall of 2021.
The goal was to delve into the Canadian music scene, highlighting the representation and infrastructure challenges that led both artists to develop their careers in the US rather than their home country.
The professor of the course, Dalton Higgins, enthusiastically declared on Instagram, "It's time to give our Canadian rap & R&B icons the recognition they deserve, whether it's through academia or other means."
When Beyoncé dropped her acclaimed album "Lemonade" in 2016, it felt like a game-changer for scholars' perspectives on the 28-time Grammy winner.
During that fall, Dr Rachel Fedock taught a course at Arizona State University that cleverly linked Beyoncé's work with scholars like Gloria Jean Watkins (AKA bell hooks).
The following year, Erik Steinskog led a course titled "Beyoncé, Gender and Race" at the University of Copenhagen.
The Queen Bey theme continued at the University of Texas at San Antonio and California Polytechnic State University.
Kinitra Brooks, who organised a seminar on "Lemonade" at UT, even secured a grant from the University of Michigan to compile her teachings into a reader/syllabus.
Rihanna was a significant part of a class taught at the University of Texas Austin titled "Beyoncé Feminism, Rihanna Womanism".
This course, led by associate professor Dr Omise'eke Tinsley, examined how both these icons aligned with Black feminist principles.
In July 2022, Texas State University introduced a class centred on Harry Styles and the broader phenomenon of idolising celebrities.
It's official, official. I'm teaching the world's first ever university course on the work of #HarryStyles is happening Spring 2023 at @TXST University (see description).
— Louie Dean Valencia (@BurntCitrus) July 16, 2022
This is what tenure looks like. Let's gooooo! 😊 pic.twitter.com/1z3vMZoxRV
The course's description stated, "This class delves into British artist Harry Styles and the broader European pop culture landscape. It explores the evolution of modern celebrity in terms of gender, sexuality, race, class, national and global influences, media, fashion, fan communities, internet culture, and consumerism."
In the spring of 2011, the University of South Carolina presented a class named "Lady Gaga and the Sociology of Fame".
The course, instructed by professor and self-proclaimed Little Monster Mathieu Deflem, who also authored a book with the same title, had a focus on Gaga as a social phenomenon rather than as an individual.
Remember when Mathieu Deflem, Professor of sociology at the U of SC, taught a course called "Lady Gaga and the sociology of fame"? "to examine the social conditions of the rise of Lady Gaga’s popularity to her current status as a global pop music icon"? Did you know this book? pic.twitter.com/83PJkEKSfL
— Mabel🌹Fan (@lavieensale) June 3, 2022
The class took a sociological perspective, analysing various aspects of her music, videos, fashion, and more, as per BBC News.
Education just became interesting and groovy with our pop stars. Would you apply to these courses?