MUSC*1150 - Icons of Popular Music: Taylor Swift
Course Description
Popular music permeates virtually all aspects of our lives. It is woven into our culture as we actively engage with artists through their recordings and live performances, while these same artists provide the soundtracks in the backgrounds of our world through television, cinema, and online creator content. Of the current generation of popular musicians, Taylor Swift’s music, image, and product have reached an unprecedented level of success and fan engagement. Her impact on culture goes beyond the performative aspects of her career, directly intersecting with all levels of culture. This course explores the field of popular music studies through the lens of the Taylor Swift Phenomenon. Throughout the semester, students will develop practical and theoretical skills as they interrogate the intersection and impact of Taylor Swift in relation politics, gender, fan cultures, and the music industry.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, the learner should be able to:
- Exhibit an understanding of how popular culture influences, and is influenced by, contemporary political structures;
- Demonstrate an understanding of how issues such as gender, sexuality, race, class, age, ability, technology, politics, location, branding and marketing affect popular music production and reception;
- Illustrate an understanding of introductory musical terms and concepts relevant to the critical interpretation of popular music texts;
- Connect core concepts from a variety of fields connected to popular music studies (media studies, sociology, gender and sexuality studies, history, musicology, religious studies);
- Demonstrate familiarity with both academic and journalistic writing on popular music; and
- Apply critical thinking skills to the interpretation of popular music texts.
Course Topics
- Studying Popular Music: Introduction, Industry and Contexts
- The Taylor Swift Effect: Celebrity and Fan Culture
- Subjectivities: Body, Gender and Feminism
- Worldviews
- Taylor’s Version: Authorship and Rights
Note:
This course will use the following:
- Respondus tool to invigilate one or more exams.
Please view the Technical Considerations.
Technical Requirements
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*Course details are subject to change.