Several media outlets reported Thursday that students at Stanford University will be able to study Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" in a course aptly named "All Too Well (Ten Week Version)."
This news surely came as a surprise to Nona Hungate, the Stanford undergrad who has been teaching the course since Jan. 12. "We're almost finished," she told iHeartRadio.ca, explaining that the class wraps up next Thursday.
Hungate said 11 students signed up for the course, which promised to offer an in-depth analysis of "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)," a song on 2021’s Red (Taylor’s Version) – the re-recorded version of Swift's 2012 album.
The course is part of ITALIC 99, a program of “student-led classes” that are “focused on hands-on learning,” according to Stanford’s website. Other courses include “Joining Hands: Practice in International Folk Dance” and “Listening to Music Like Your Life Depended On It.”
“All Too Well (10 Minute Version),” which Swift co-wrote with Liz Rose, set a Guinness World Record as the longest song to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won Best Lyrics at the iHeartRadio Music Awards last year.
The video, directed by Swift, was named Best Video at the Grammys, Video of the Year at the MTV Video Music Awards, Best Video at the MTV Europe Music Awards and Favourite Music Video at the American Music Awards.
Last fall, Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont. began a course titled “Taylor Swift’s Literary Legacy (Taylor’s Version),” which aims to “cultivate an understanding of the intersections of literary and cultural studies by exploring Swift’s work through the lenses afforded by literary theory (e.g., feminist, or queer theory) and by discussing her sociopolitical impact on contemporary culture.”
Queen’s was not the first university to offer a course on Swift. Music journalist Brittany Spanos taught one at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute earlier last year.
Last May, Swift received an honorary doctorate from New York University.