US pop sensation Taylor Swift can now be prefaced with ‘Dr’ next to her name after being bestowed with an honorary doctorate in Fine Arts by the University of New York (NYU).
Taylor Swift reacts to NYU honorary doctorate
The songwriter addressed a stadium packed with graduates and die-hard fans on Wednesday. She was one of three honorary doctorate recipients, and for the 32-year-old, this was the perfect setting for an impassioned speech about picking “what your life has time and room for.”
Dr. Taylor Swift 💜 #22GraduatesVersion pic.twitter.com/FEuml1c1rc
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“You will look back on your life and cringe retrospectively. Cringe is unavoidable over the course of a lifetime… You can’t avoid it so don’t try to – for the entirety of 2012 I dressed like a 1950s housewife” she joked, much to the cheer of the packed stadium.
Swift, born on 13 December 1989, is a Pennsylvania native, but her musical roots are closely attached to New York. The Big Apple is where she regularly travelled to attend vocal and acting lessons.
Sure, her background was not ‘humble’. Her parents, Scott Kingsley and Andrea Gardner Swift afforded their children a life of comfort. Therefore, her failure to obtain a college degree was not due to a lack of affordability.
In fact, the singer’s career in music started early in her teens and by the age of 14, she was touring venues in Texas, with country music labels pining for her signature.
“Life can be heavy – especially if you try to carry it all at once… all the grudges, all the updates on your ex…. You get to pick what your life has time and room for,” Swift reflected on stage.
This was the 32-year-old’s reaction to receiving an honorary doctorate in Fine Arts from NYU.