It’s undeniable that Taylor Swift is one of the biggest pop stars in the world right now but her fame has reached new heights with the announcement of an event that has captured the world’s attention.
Melbourne University has announced it will be hosting an academic conference, inviting scholars from Australia and New Zealand to come together to discuss Taylor Swift’s global and economic impact.
The three-day ‘Swiftposium’ will be held from the 11th to the 13th of February, days before she will perform at the MCG for her highly anticipated and sold-out Eras Tour.
Organised by scholars from seven Australian and New Zealand universities, the event has been described as an “academic conference for scholars to engage in critical dialogue about Swift’s popularity and its profound implications for a range of issues including gender, fandom, popular culture, literature, the economy, the music industry, and more”.
The event can be attended either in person or online, including a public event held at Federation Square making Melbourne the place to be for Swifties in February.
The conference’s co-organiser Dr Jennifer Beckett, a senior lecturer in media and communications at the University of Melbourne said academics were invited to submit papers to cover all aspects of the musicians impact.
“Taylor Swift has such an outsized impact on elements of everyday life. For example, she’s been credited with drawing attention back to public transport in a post-pandemic era. A lot of the cities she’s going to – the public transport planners have been speaking out about adding extra services.”
“I can’t think of another artist, with perhaps the exception of Beyoncé, who has had quite the same economic impact,” Beckett said.
You can find all the information about the event on their website here.
Get ready for the Taylor takeover by listening to her on iHeart Radio below!
