This morning, 11-time Grammy winner Taylor Swift delivered a different kind of acceptance speech.
“Hi, I’m Taylor,” she began. “The last time I was in a stadium this size, I was dancing in heels and wearing a glittery leotard. This outfit is much more comfortable.”
The outfit in question was black Doctoral regalia bordered in purple which she was wearing to receive a Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa, at New York University’s commencement ceremony which this year was unusual for more reasons than one.
The event honored the Class of 2022 as well as the pandemic-cloistered graduates of 2020 and 2021 and was so big that it had to take place at Yankee Stadium. Swift, 32, came with advice appropriate for the times.
“Life can be heavy, especially if you try to carry it all at once,” she said. “Part of growing up and moving into new chapters of your life is about catch and release.
“Secondly, learn to live alongside cringe…I had a phase where, for the entirely of 2012, I dressed like a 1950s housewife,” she said referring to her “Cardigan” phase. “But you know what? I was having fun.”
The multiplatinum musician encouraged her twentysomething listeners to take chances.
“I became a young adult while being fed the message that if I didn’t make any mistakes, all the children of America would grow up to be perfect angels. However, if I did slip up, the entire earth would fall off its axis and it would be entirely my fault and I would go to pop star jail forever and ever.
“You will screw it up sometimes. So will I. And when I do, you will most likely read about it on the internet,” she joked. “Hard things will happen to us. We will recover. We will learn from it. We will grow more resilient because of it.”
You can watch Swift’s speech at about the 2:50:00 mark below.