Taylor Swift’s influence is reaching college classrooms

By Meghan Boucher

Students at Northeastern, along with other colleges across the country, can now take a course all about Taylor Swift.

The course, titled “Speak Now: Gender & Storytelling in Taylor Swift’s Eras,” will focus on Swift’s narrative songwriting and her experimentation with different genres.

Dr. Catherine Fairfield, the course instructor at Northeastern, said that the course will delve deep into women’s storytelling, cross-genre analysis, and media scrutiny through the female perspective.

“She is so prolific in her songwriting, especially in recent years,” Fairfield said. “We’re seeing this archive of her music that’s become a voice for not just one generation, but multiple generations.”

The course at Northeastern will be an intersession course, running for one week in January 2024.

Other colleges around Boston, like Harvard and Berklee College of Music, also offer classes related to Taylor Swift. Beyond Boston, schools across the country are looking to implement more courses that explore Swift’s fan culture, influence, and impact on the music industry.