By Tiffanie Turnbullin Melbourne 

From the moment she slipped the Fearless record into her CD player as a 14-year-old, Georgia Carroll has been fascinated by Taylor Swift.

A decade and a half on, she's now touted as the only person in the world with a PhD on the superstar.

Her assessment? "At the moment, it wouldn't be going too far to say [Swift] is one of the most powerful people in the world." 

That's why Dr Carroll is among scores of experts who have descended on Melbourne this week for an international academic symposium attempting to explain just how Swift has become so influential.

The event - the first of its kind - is a curtain raiser to the Eras Tour in Australia, and has attracted more than 400 submissions from dozens of study disciplines and academic institutions around the world - sparking a flurry of excitement and global headlines.

'Started as a joke'

The idea for the 'Swiftposium' was born last July as a half-joking tweet with just a few dozen likes. But when organisers quietly announced the event months later - backed by seven universities across Australia and New Zealand - it went internationally viral overnight. 

 

Organisers woke up to coverage on the BBC, in Rolling Stone Magazine, CNN.

"I was like, I've got to email my boss," Dr Eloise Faichney says with a grin. "Our little conference suddenly became this juggernaut."

Fans were also desperate to take part, and on Sunday, hundreds of people - walking advertisements for rhinestones, cowboy boots and Swift's signature red lip - flocked into Melbourne's iconic Capitol Theatre just to hear lectures about the megastar.

At a sold-out friendship bracelet-making workshop beforehand, 19-year-old Soumil says the event - run by RMIT University - is helping heal the wounds left by the ticketing bloodbath of last year.

"It's fun to still be part of it all," he tells the BBC.

But the organisers are quick to clarify this is not a fan convention.

 

"Although some of us are fans, it certainly - for us - is about trying to take somebody like her seriously in academia," Dr Emma Whatman says.

"This is not an uncritical celebration."

'Godlike' influence

There's no denying 'Taylor Mania' has swept the world this past year - she was named Time Magazines' Person of the Year in 2023 - and it's unclear when that might fade.

On Monday, the 34-year-old again dominated the headlines with pictures of her and footballer boyfriend Travis Kelce winning at the Super Bowl. Last week she cleaned up at the Grammys, taking home her fourth album of the year accolade.

Even her cats, her publicist and her childhood friends have name recognition and a loyal following.

"[Swift] has somehow become the most godlike superstar on the planet, bigger than I thought was even possible," keynote speaker Brittany Spanos - a Rolling Stone reporter who in 2020 taught the first ever university course on the idol - told the conference.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-68271324

 

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