Taylor Swift Gives NYU Graduation Address: ‘My Mistakes Caused the Best Thing of My Life’

Taylor Swift Gives NYU Graduation Address: ‘My Mistakes Caused the Best Thing of My Life’

Taylor Swift may have released a song in 2012 celebrating 22 years of fun., But now, ten years later, she’s still celebrating, only this time in the graduating class of 2022.

“I’m 90 percent sure the main reason I’m here is that I have a song called ’22,'” Swift jokingly told students when she spoke at the New York University kickoff at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday. fair, after receiving an award. honorary doctorate. . Fine Arts. Swift received her Ph.D. by Jason King, president of the Clive Davis Music Recording Institute.

“Finally, when I was in a stadium this size, I was dancing in high heels and wearing a bright leopard print. “These clothes are much more comfortable,” he said.

Throughout her speech, Swift offered words of encouragement to students as they embarked on the next chapter of their lives and also realized the unconditional support loved ones could offer along the way. Despite his encouraging words, Swift couldn’t help but joke, joking that he’s “not the kind of doctor you’d want in an emergency, unless it was your specific emergency that you desperately needed to hear a song.” Attractive hook and intensely cathartic bridge section. Or if it was your emergency that you needed someone who could name over 50 cat breeds in a minute.”

Swift went on to explain the honor of speaking in front of students, even though she “never had a normal college experience”. After attending public high school through 10th grade, Swift recalled completing her studies “doing homework on airport terminal floors. So I toured with a radio tour that sounds incredibly fascinating but actually consisted of a rental car, motels, and my mom and I seemed to fight loudly as we sat down so no one could get in the way. We want an empty place between us in the southwest.

“When I was a kid, I always thought I was going to college, I imagined posters I would hang on my freshman dorm wall. I even ended up with a clip of my song “Love Story” in my fantastic imaginary school where I find a male model reading a book on the grass and at first glance we realize that we were in love in the past. Live: Exactly what everyone has experienced in the last four years, right? he joked.

The artist then admitted that the students had just endured the normal stress of college and were also in the midst of a global pandemic. “I imagine the idea of ​​a normal college experience was exactly what you wanted. But in this case, you and I learned that you don’t always get everything in the bag you select from the drop-off menu – that’s life. You get what you get. And as I want to tell you, you must be very proud of what you did with it. Today you leave New York University and go out into the world in search of what’s next. “And I will be,” he said.

Swift went on to say, “I wish I knew when I started my professional dreams and lived life, love, pressure, choice, shame, hope and friendship.” Her Life Hacks included reminders that “life can be hard,” “Learn to live with lies” (“For example, I had a phase where I dressed like a housewife during the 1950s. But you know what? what? I was having fun.” Trends and phases are fun. Looking back and laughing are fun.”) and “I’m never shy about trying”.

Swift also devoted a second to her career and the various music genres she’s experimented with, explaining that while “it’s really cool to know who I’m supposed to be and when,” the students in the audience are in control of themselves. trajectories. Since beginning her public career at age 15, Swift has also thought about how “that early success paid off”, which were “years of unwanted advice”.

He told students, “Being in every room for over a decade as the youngest person meant I was constantly being warned by high-profile members of the music industry, the media, the interviewers, the executives. This advice often manifested itself as a thinly veiled warning. You see, I was in the eyes of the teen community at a time when our society was absolutely obsessed with the model of the ideal young woman. I felt as if every interview included the interviewer’s little voices telling me that one day I was “going off the rails.” So I became a young adult when I received the message that if I didn’t make a mistake, every child in America would grow up to be a perfect angel. However, if I swam, the entire Earth would be thrown off its axis and it would be entirely my fault and I would go to a pop star’s prison forever. Everything revolved around the idea that mistakes equate to failure and, ultimately, the loss of all chances for a happy or profitable life.

He went on to say, “It wasn’t my experience. It has been my experience that my mistakes have led to the best things in my life.”

Swift said she informed seasoned record executives that her 13-year-old son was not on the list, wrote reporters “insightful, often critical articles about who they perceived” and saw her love life being mishandled. . Spectator sport.

“Public humiliation at a young age was very painful, but it made me despise the ridiculous notion of minute-by-minute, ever-changing social relevance and appeal,” he said. “Cancelling the internet and almost losing my career gave me excellent knowledge about all types of wine.

Swift reminded students that she was aware of the “pressure on the lens of her life, perfectionism,” but told them to expect inevitable mistakes, whether it be mispronunciation, mistrust of people, distraction, or mistakes that “will cause you to miss things. He noted, “Often, when we lose something, we also gain things. “Now you leave the structure and structure of the school and they break.”

The singer-songwriter then made a final thought: “We are guided by our inner instincts, our intuition, our desires and fears, our scars and our dreams. And sometimes you screw it up. I will be like that too. And when that happens, you’ll probably read about it on the internet. … Difficult things happen to us. let’s recover, let’s learn from him. That’s why we became more resistant. Before we breathe, we breathe, we breathe, we breathe deeply, we breathe out. “I’m a doctor now, so I know how breathing works.”

The speech ended with the lyrics of his song “22”: “I hope you know how proud I am to share this day with you. We do it together. So let’s keep dancing, like… we’re in 22nd grade.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

You may also like