A course at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) studies how to build an empire like the jet-setting climate change activist pop star Taylor Swift.
The course, titled “Artistry and Entrepreneurship: Taylor’s Version,” is reportedly being taught by undergraduates Sofia Lendahl and Miaad Bushala.
“Taylor is so strategic in all the things that she does,” Bushala told CBS News. “When you think of a brand, that’s all they ever want. They want loyal customers. And that’s what Taylor has.”
The Taylor Swift course also examines the pop star’s failures and her struggle to get control of her master recordings.
“We’ve also learned about some of the implications she’s had on legal issues, such as artist rights and ticketing legislation, which has been really impactful as well, because that’s not something you see every day,” UC Berkeley student and media studies and art history major Will Grischo told the outlet.
Another UC Berkeley student, business major Angelique Zoile, told CBS that Swift has inspired her to take on career risks, commenting that the pop star is “incredibly fearless in the ways in which she doesn’t mind taking creative risks,” adding, “To me it’s like, climb the corporate ladder — I’ll end up as a manager in five years or so.”
UC Berkeley student and chemical engineering major Sejal Krishnan added that “Taylor Swift is a phenomenon.”
“Her tour has essentially revitalized so much of the economy and boosted the local economy everywhere she goes,” Krishnan said. “There’s a reason top institutions are studying that. They know it’s a trend.”
After being asked about what her family thinks about her taking a college course on the “Cruel Summer” singer, Krishnan replied, “My parents were super thrilled,” adding, “My mom took me to the 1989 concert.”
UC Berkeley student and sociology major Jessica Revolorio, meanwhile, said her parents “were like, ‘You have to take this class, if it’s not now, never.'”
This is not the only Swift-inspired course being taught at an accredited university.
As Breitbart News reported, a transgender Harvard professor is boasting about a new course, titled, “Taylor Swift and Her World,” which began in February at the Ivy League university.
Courses on Swift have also been established at Stanford University, University of Florida, Arizona State University, New York University, University of Texas at Austin, and Ghent University in Belgium.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and X/Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
