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Taylor Swift's eleventh single, The Tortured Poets Department, was released a few days back and fans are already going gaga over it. With 14 Grammys, 11 original studio albums, and over 250 songs, Taylor Swift's music career is at an all-time high.
The 34-year-old's music has become so iconic that several college courses at institutions like Stanford University, University of Texas at Austin, and Carnegie Mellon University teach her music as a part of their curriculum.
So, has Taylor ever been to a college? The straight answer is no. However, the pop star was awarded an honorary doctorate from New York University after she gave a commencement speech in 2022 for her outstanding achievements in the field of music and arts.
What is an honorary doctorate? Taylor Swift's honorary doctorate explored
An honorary doctorate is different from a conventional doctorate degree because it is given to someone who has not been a student of that particular course and does not have the level of education required to obtain the degree.
Institutions award honorary doctorates to recognize individuals for outstanding achievements in a particular field. In this case, NYU honored Taylor Swift with an honorary doctorate for her outstanding achievements in music and the arts.
Taylor joked in a previous interview with Vogue that she'd like to have an honorary doctorate because Ed Sheeran has one. NYU fulfilled her wish in May 2022 and honored her with the honorary doctorate, titled Doctor of Fine Arts.
In her commencement speech, the 34-year-old thanked NYU for the honor and jokingly commented that she was there because she had a song called '22'.
"I’d like to thank NYU for making me technically, on paper at least, a doctor. Not the type of doctor you would want around in the event of an emergency," she added.
Taylor Swift also added that she'd be a good doctor only if one needed a doctor to name over fifty breeds of cats in under a minute or sing a song “with catchy hook and an intensely cathartic bridge section,”
Besides the humorous elements, Taylor also had some motivational words for the class of 2022. She explained:
"Not a single one of us here today has done it alone. We are each a patchwork quilt of those who have loved us, those who have believed in our futures, those who showed us empathy and kindness or told us the truth even when it wasn’t easy to hear. … I hope you’ll find your own way to express your gratitude for all the steps and missteps that have led us to this common destination."
Taylor went on to explain the importance of filtering one's baggage in life. 'You can’t carry all things, all grudges, all updates on your ex, all enviable promotions your school bully got at the hedge fund his uncle started,' she shared. The 34-year-old implored the class to choose the most important elements in life and discard the rest.
In an interview with Extra, Taylor Swift's boyfriend (now ex), Joe Alwyn, showed his support and commented on how big of a deal that doctorate degree was. 'It’s an incredible honor, it’s absolutely amazing,' he exclaimed in the interview.
In a press release from NYU, the university explained why they honored Taylor Swift with an honorary doctorate. It said:
"An 11-time Grammy winner, Ms. Swift is one of the most prolific and celebrated artists of her generation. She is the only female artist in history to win the music industry’s highest honor, the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, three times."
It added:
"Her many awards and distinctions include being the most awarded artist ever in American Music Awards’ history along with being named Artist of the Decade; winner of the BRIT Awards International Female Solo Artist of the Year in 2015 and the Global Icon Award in 2021; and Billboard’s first-ever and only two-time winner of the Woman of the Decade Award."
Moreover, NYU's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music launched a course in January 2022 that delved deep into Taylor Swift's music, business, and other writing practices. The course also focussed on how societal differentiators like gender, race, fandom, etc., behave in the musical industry.
Taylor Swift earned immense popularity when she was a teen
Taylor Swift's career as a pop star started in her teens, and she never had the opportunity to attend college.
Taylor Swift attended Hendersonville High School in Tennessee for two years before moving to Aaron Academy. The switch made it easy for her to go on musical tours while getting homeschooled.
In her commencement speech, Taylor Swift commented:
"I never got to have the normal college experience, per se. I went to public high school until tenth grade and finished my education doing homeschool work on the floors of airport terminals. Then I went out on the road on a radio tour, which sounds incredibly glamorous but in reality it consisted of a rental car, motels, and my mom and I pretending to have loud mother-daughter fights with each other during boarding so no one would want the empty seat between us on Southwest."
Honorary doctorates for musicians are common, and several juggernauts of the industry have received them from various institutes. E-40, Usher, Master P, Missy Elliott, Queen Latifah, Pharrell Williams, Lionel Richie, Kanye West, Pitbull, John Legend, Chuck D have all received honorary doctorates at some point in their lives.
