NYU's 2022 Commencement Speaker Taylor Swift

(audience clapping)

- I would like now to introduce Jason King

Chair and Associate Professor

of the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music,

Tisch School of the Arts,

who will present the candidate for Doctor of Fine Arts.

Will trustee, Brett Racon,

please escort the candidate to the lectern.

(audience applauding) (audience cheering)

- Taylor Swift

(audience cheering) (audience applauding)

blazing singer, songwriter, producer, director, actress,

pioneering and influential advocate for artists' rights

and philanthropist.

You have brought joy and resolve

to your hundreds of millions of fans throughout the world.

(audience cheering)

One of the best selling music artists in history.

You have crossed genres, demographics, age groups

and borders of all kinds

to touch lives around the globe.

With nine original studio albums

two re-recorded studio albums,

(audience applauding) (audience cheering)

five extended plays, three live albums and 14 compilations.

You have sold well over 100 million album units,

(audience applauding) (audience cheering)

earning awards and honors in every category.

You have used the remarkable platform you earned

to galvanize support for the Equality Act

to prevent discrimination

on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

(audience applauding) (audience cheering)

And you have spoken out

and you have supported initiatives

to protect women and girls

from harassment and sexual assaults.

(audience applauding) (audience cheering)

You have donated significantly

to victims of floods and tornadoes,

for cancer research, literacy programs for children

and public education.

You have fearlessly challenged the exploitation

of music artists

and successfully championed their right

to be compensated for their work.

(audience applauding) (audience cheering)

- Taylor Swift, (audience cheering)

you are a role model across the world

for your unprecedented talent and accomplishment,

your fierce advocacy

for protection of those facing discrimination

and your commitment to speaking out

forcefully, eloquently and effectively

on behalf of all artists.

(audience cheering) (audience applauding)

By virtue of the authority vested in me,

I am pleased to confer upon you

the degree of Doctor of Fine Arts honoris causa.

(audience cheering) (audience applauding)

(audience members cheering)

I am now pleased to introduce Taylor Swift,

who will respond

on behalf of the honorary degree recipients.

(audience applauding) (audience cheering)

- Hi, I'm Taylor.

(audience applauding) (audience cheering)

Last time I was in a stadium this size

I was dancing in heels and wearing a glittery leotard.

(podium members chuckling) (audience cheering)

This outfit is much more comfortable.

I would like to say a huge thank you

to NYU's Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Bill Berkeley

and all the trustees and members of the board.

NYU's President Andrew Hamilton, Provost Katherine Fleming

and the faculty and alumni here today,

who have made this day possible.

I feel so proud to share this day with my fellow honorees

Susan Hockfield and Félix Matos Rodríguez,

who humble me with the ways they improve our world

with their work.

(audience applauding) (audience cheering)

As for me, I'm 90% sure, the main reason I'm here

is because I have a song called "22."

(audience cheering) (audience applauding)

And let me just say, I am elated to be here with you today,

as we celebrate and graduate

New York University's Class of 2022.

(audience cheering) (audience applauding)

Not a single one of us here today has done it alone.

We are each a patchwork quilt of those who have loved us,

those who have believed in our futures,

those who showed us empathy and kindness

or told us the truth, even when it wasn't easy to hear.

Those who told us we could do it

when there was absolutely no proof of that.

Someone read stories to you and taught you to dream

and offered up some moral code of right and wrong

for you to try and live by.

Someone, tried their best to explain every concept

in this insanely complex world,

to the child that was you,

as you asked a bazillion questions,

like how does the moon work

and why can we eat salad, but not grass?

(audience chuckles)

And maybe they didn't do it perfectly,

no one ever can.

Maybe they aren't with us anymore.

In that case, I hope you'll remember them today.

If they are in this stadium,

I hope you'll find your own way to express your gratitude

for all the steps and missteps

that have led us to this common destination.

(audience cheering) (audience applauding)

I know that words are supposed to be my thing

but I will never be able to find the words

to thank my mom and dad, my brother, Austin,

for the sacrifices they made every day,

so I could go from singing in coffee houses

to standing up here with you all today

because no words would ever be enough.

(audience cheering) (audience applauding)

To all the incredible parents, family members, mentors

teachers, allies, friends, and loved ones here today,

who have supported these students

in their pursuit of educational enrichment.

Let me say to you now welcome to New York,

it's been waiting for you.

(audience cheering) (audience applauding)

I'd like to thank NYU for making me

technically, on paper at least, a doctor.

(audience cheering) (audience applauding)

Not the type of doctor you would want around

in case of an emergency,

unless your specific emergency

was that you desperately needed to hear a song

with a catchy hook

and an intensely cathartic bridge section.

(audience cheering) (audience applauding)

Or if your emergency was that you needed a person

who can name over 50 breeds of cats in one minute.

(audience cheering)

I never got to have a normal college experience per se.

I went to public high school until 10th grade

and then finished my education,

doing homeschool work on the floors of airport terminals.

Then I went out on the road for radio tour

which sounds incredibly glamorous,

but in reality it consisted of a rental car, motels,

and my mom and I,

pretending to have loud mother-daughter fights

with each other during boarding,

so no one would want the empty seat between us on Southwest.

(audience chuckles)

As a kid, I always thought I would go away to college,

imagining the posters I would hang on the wall

of my freshman dorm.

I even set the ending of my music video

from my song "Love Story" at my fantasy imaginary college

where I meet a male model, reading a book on the grass.

And with one single glance

we realized we had been in love in our past lives

which is exactly what you guys all experienced

at some point in the last four years, right?

But I really can't complain

about not having a normal college experience to you

because you went to NYU during a global pandemic

being essentially locked into your dorms

and having to do classes over Zoom.

Everyone in college during normal times

stresses about test scores.

But on top of that

you also had to pass like a thousand COVID tests.

(audience chuckles)

I imagine the idea of a normal college experience

was all you wanted too.

But in this case, you and I both learned

that you don't always get all the things in the bag

that you selected from the menu

in the delivery surface that is life.

You get what you get.

And as I would like to say to you wholeheartedly

you should be very proud of what you've done with it.

Today, you leave New York University

and then go out into the world, searching what's next,

and so will I.

(audience cheering) (audience applauding)

So as a rule, I try not to give anyone unsolicited advice

unless they ask for it.

I'll go into this more later.

I guess I have been officially solicited in this situation

to impart whatever wisdom I might have

to tell you things that have helped me so far in my life.

Please bear in mind

that I in no way feel qualified to tell you what to do.

You've worked and struggled and sacrificed

and studied and dreamed your way here today.

And so, you know what you're doing

you'll do things differently

than I did them and for different reasons.

So I won't tell you to what to do

'cause no one likes that.

I will, however, give you some life hacks, I wish I knew

when I was starting out my dreams of a career

and navigating life, love, pressure, choices,

shame, hope, and friendship.

The first of which is, life can be heavy

especially if you try to carry it all at once.

Part of growing up and moving into new chapters of your life

is about catch and release.

What I mean by that is,

knowing what things to keep and what things to release.

You can't carry all things, all grudges

all updates on your ex,

all enviable promotions your school bully got

at the hedge fund his uncle started.

(audience chuckles)

Decide what is yours to hold and let the rest go.

Oftentimes, the good things in your life are lighter anyway,

so there's more room for them.

One toxic relationship

can outweigh so many wonderful, simple joys.

You get to pick what your life has time and room for.

Be discerning.

Secondly, learn to live alongside cringe.

(audience cheering) (audience laughing)

No matter how hard you try to avoid being cringe,

you will look back on your life and cringe retrospectively.

(audience cheering) (audience applauding)

Cringe is unavoidable over a lifetime.

Even the term cringe might someday be deemed cringe.

I promise you're probably doing

or wearing something right now

that you will look back on later

and find revolting and hilarious.

(audience chuckles)

You can't avoid it, so don't try to.

For example I had a phase where for the entirety of 2012,

I dressed like a 1950's housewife

But you know what? I was having fun.

Trends and phases are fun.

Looking back and laughing is fun.

And while we're talking about things that make us squirm

but really shouldn't.

I'd like to say I'm a big advocate

for not hiding your enthusiasm for things.

(audience cheering) (audience applauding)

It seems to me that there is a false stigma around eagerness

in our culture of unbothered, ambivalence.

This outlook perpetuates the idea

that it's not cool to want it.

That people who don't try

are fundamentally more chic than people who do.

And I wouldn't know because I've been a lot of things

but I've never been an expert on chic

but I'm the one who's up here,

so you have to listen to me when I say this,

never be ashamed of trying.

Effortlessness is a myth.

The people who wanted it the least

were the ones I wanted to date

and be friends with in high school.

The people who want it the most

are the people I now hire to work for my company.

(audience cheering) (audience applauding)

I started writing songs when I was 12.

And since then it's been the compass guiding my life,

and in turn, my life guided my writing

everything I do is just an extension of my writing

whether it's directing videos or a short film

creating the visuals for a tour

or standing on a stage performing.

Everything is connected by my love of the craft

the thrill of working through ideas

and narrowing them down and polishing it all up in the end,

editing, waking up in the middle of the night,

throwing out the old idea

because you just thought of a new or better one

or a plot device that ties the whole thing together.

There's a reason they call it a hook.

Sometimes a string of words just ensnares me

and I can't focus on anything

until it's been recorded or written down.

As a songwriter I've never been able to sit still

or stay in one creative place for too long.

I've made and released 11 albums

and in the process, I've switched genre

from country to pop, to alternative to folk.

And this might sound

like a very songwriter-centric line of discussion,

but in a way I really do think we are all writers

and most of us write in a different voice

for different situations.

You write differently in your Instagram stories

than you do your senior thesis.

You send a different type of email to your boss

than you do your best friend from home.

We are all literary chameleons and I think it's fascinating.

It's just a continuation of the idea

that we are so many things all the time.

And I know it can be really overwhelming

figuring out who to be and when,

who you are now and how to act

in order to get where you wanna go.

I have some good news. It's totally up to you.

I have some terrifying news.

It's totally up to you.

I said to you earlier that I don't ever offer advice

unless someone asked me for it

and now I'll tell you why.

As a person who started my very public career

at the age of 15, it came with a price

and that price was years of unsolicited advice.

Being the youngest person in every room for over a decade

meant that I was constantly being issued warnings

from older members of the music industry,

media interviewers executives

and this advice often presented itself

as thinly veiled warnings.

See, I was a teenager at a time

when our society was absolutely obsessed

with the idea of having perfect young female role models.

It felt like every interview I did

included slight barbs by the interviewer

about me one day, running off the rails

and that meant a different thing

to every person who said it to me.

So 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.

It was all centered around the idea

that mistakes equal failure

and ultimately the loss of any chance

at a happy or rewarding life.

This has not been my experience.

My experience has been that my mistakes

led to the best things in my life

and being embarrassed when you mess up

it's part of the human experience.

Getting back up, dusting yourself off

and seeing who still wants to hang out with you afterward

and laugh about it, that's a gift.

The times I was told no or wasn't included,

wasn't chosen, didn't win, didn't make the cut,

looking back, it really feels like those moments

were as important if not more crucial

than the moments I was told, yes.

Not being invited

to the parties and sleepovers in my hometown

made me feel hopelessly lonely,

but because I felt alone, I would sit in my room

and write the songs

that would get me a ticket somewhere else.

Having label executives in Nashville tell me

that only 35 year old housewives listen to country music

and there was no place for a 13 year old on their roster

made me cry in the car on the way home

but then I'd post my songs on my MySpace and yes, MySpace.

(audience chuckles)

And I would message with other teenagers like me

who loved country music

but just didn't have anyone singing from their perspective.

Having journalists write in depth

oftentimes critical pieces about who they perceive me to be

made me feel like I was living in some weird simulation

but it also made me look inward

to learn about who I actually am.

Having the world treat my love life

like a spectator sport

in which I lose every single game

was not a great way to date in my teens and twenties,

but it taught me to protect my private life fiercely.

Being publicly humiliated over and over again at a young age

was excruciatingly painful

but it forced me to devalue the ridiculous notion

of minute by minute,

ever fluctuating social relevance and likability.

(audience cheering) (audience applauding)

Getting canceled on the internet and nearly losing my career

gave me an excellent knowledge of all the types of wine.

(audience laughing)

I know I sound like a consummate optimist

but I'm really not.

I lose perspective all the time.

Sometimes everything just feels completely pointless.

I know the pressure of living your life

through the lens of perfectionism

and I know that I'm talking to a group of perfectionists

because you are here today, graduating from NYU.

(audience cheering) (audience applauding)

So this might be hard for you to hear.

In your life, you will inevitably misspeak,

trust the wrong person, under react, overreact

hurt the people who didn't deserve it,

overthink, not think at all, self-sabotage,

create a reality where only your experience exists,

ruin perfectly good moments for yourself and others,

deny any wrongdoing, not take the steps to make it right,

feel very guilty, let the guilt eat at you, hit rock bottom.

Finally, address the pain you caused,

try to do better next time, rinse, repeat.

(audience chuckles)

(audience cheering) (audience applauding)

And I'm not gonna lie,

these mistakes will cause you to lose things.

I'm trying to tell you that losing things

doesn't just mean losing.

A lot of the time when we lose things,

we gain things too.

Now you leave the structure and framework of school

and chart your own path.

Every choice you make leads to the next choice,

which leads to the next

and I know it's hard to know which path to take.

There will be times in life

where you need to stand up for yourself

times when the right thing

is actually to back down and apologize,

times when the right thing is to fight,

times when the right thing is to turn and run,

times to hold on with all you have

and times to let go with grace.

Sometimes the right thing to do

is to throw out the old schools of thought

in the name of progress and reform.

Sometimes the right thing to do is to sit and listen

to the wisdom of those who have come before us.

How will you know what the right choice is

in these crucial moments?

You won't.

How do I give advice to this many people

about their life choices?

I won't.

The scary news is you're on your own now

but the cool news is, you're on your own now.

(audience cheering) (audience applauding)

I leave you with this.

We are led by our gut instincts, our intuition,

our desires and fears, our scars and our dreams.

And you will screw it up sometimes, so will I.

And when I do,

you will most likely read about it on the internet.

Anyway, hard things will happen to us.

We will recover, we will learn from it.

We will grow more resilient because of it.

And as long as we are fortunate enough to be breathing

we will breathe in, breathe through,

breathe deep, breathe out.

And I am a doctor now,

so I know how breathing works.

(audience laughing)

(audience applauding)

I hope you know how proud I am to share this day with you.

We're doing this together.

So let's just keep dancing, like we're the Class of '22.

(audience cheering) (audience applauding)