“Taylor Swift’s career has spanned from 2006 to the present, covering major technological changes like streaming services. I want students to understand how that history has shaped music making and the industry as a whole.”
Taylor Swift is a popular music icon and Ph.D. Candidate Kari Lindquist knows all too well what an exciting course opportunity her career can be. The material goes further than Swiftie culture to explore Swift’s career as a lens for broader topics such as music theory, genre, cultural impact, and the evolution of the music industry. Taylor Swift may seem like an unconventional vessel for this information, but her 18-year career spanning country, pop, and folk music, as well as her ongoing re-recording project altering the music business, make Swift an accessible and valid example of “Music as Culture,” the umbrella term for this course.
In MUSC 286, students focus on her discography, her creative process, and even her personal brand. This course is not purely lecture-based, Lindquist details that students are invited to share their knowledge and personal experiences related to the “Swiftie” community. Whether it be something from social media fan culture or a trip to the coveted Eras Tour, anything is welcomed.
The inspiration for the course came from Lindquist’s own interest in Taylor Swift’s body of work. Lindquist shared, “I came up with the idea of what would it look like to teach a class just on Taylor Swift and the range of musical things she’s done. I proposed it over the summer, and the department said, ‘Let’s run it.’” This course was originally taught in the summer of 2024 and was so successful it was picked up for a longer full course format this fall.
The timing of the course couldn’t be more appropriate, coinciding with Swift’s Eras Tour. “Whenever I go to the grocery store, it’s all Taylor Swift magazines … people coming into the class, they know the lore.” With a course about something people often have an introductory understanding of, Lindquist finds innovative ways to dig deeper into musical contexts and social implications in Swift’s music. When asked about who this course is suited for, Lindquist shares “I think it’s suitable for a range of different types of undergraduate students, from first-year to senior, all sorts of different majors: music majors, music minors, other types of majors. I think it’s accessible both to people who don’t have a lot of musical background and those that do know things to kind of nuance their understanding.”
At its core, the class takes an album-by-album approach, allowing students to dive into Swift’s evolution as an artist and as a cultural phenomenon. According to Lindquist, “A big theme is her re-recording project—what’s going on with copyright, what are the artistic and financial stakes of re-recording all of her music?” Taylor Swift’s unique experience fighting for her musical rights highlights important realities artists can face. In addition, the course explores genres deeply.
The defining questions for this course are,
“How could you apply different types of frameworks to the same music? How can we look at this from a cultural angle? How can we look at this from a lyrical angle? How can we look at this from a personal perspective?”
Lindquist aims to challenge students to think critically about music. “I really want students to practice writing about music—how can we describe the things that we hear or articulate our preferences?” she said. This focus on in-depth listening and analysis is central to the course’s mission.
An example of the course’s immersive approach is the “All Too Well” deep dive day. Lindquist detailed the experience: “We listened to different versions of the song, talked about drafts, and even analyzed handwritten early copies. We considered the instrumentation, the short film, and the emotional resonance of the lyrics. Students shared their own relationships to the song, which added another layer of discussion.” The song, “All Too Well,” is a fan favorite, and by exploring music in the context of something people already know, it is easier to synthesize the material.
When asked about the future of the course, Lindquist shares there are no immediate plans to offer the course again but she is optimistic about its return. “I’m trying to recruit other graduate students that might want to take it over because I think there’s a lot that different people could bring to teaching a class like this,” she said. Additionally, Lindquist is considering community-based programming, such as public lectures or workshops. This would allow people to explore the material without the time commitment of a full semester-long course.
For Lindquist, the course is personal.
“I grew up in band programs, I’m a saxophonist. I really liked the band and played in every group I could,” she shared. This background informs her research: exploring how Swift incorporates marching band sounds and visuals into her work. “She’s done this consistently throughout her catalog in a way that I think is different from other artists,” Lindquist noted.
The main takeaways from this course as noted by Lindquist are “an understanding of music and musical terms—things they can describe or hear differently in music—and also the cultural side: how the music industry operates, how we think about these songs in relation to other artists, and how we expand on Taylor Swift’s influence and what she’s done for the industry. Her career has spanned from 2006 to the present, covering major technological changes like streaming services. I want students to understand how that history has shaped music making and the industry as a whole.”
Taylor Swift’s evolution from a teenage country singer to a global pop icon provides a lens for examining the intersections of music, culture, and industry. MUSC 286: Taylor Swift isn’t just about analyzing Taylor Swift’s work, it’s about exploring the ways her career has changed the music industry and how the world of music changes over time. From the re-recording of her albums to the Swiftie fan base there is endless material to consider.
by Makala Pitman, class of 2028