From Beyonce To Lana Del Rey; These 10 Music Stars Are Part Of Course In Universities

Taylor Swift: The course named after is, Swifties at New York University analyze progression as a creative music entrepreneur, her pop and country songwriting influences, how discourses of youth and girlhood are exploited in the media and music industry, and the politics of race in contemporary popular music in another Clive Davis Institute course taught by Rolling Stone staff writer Brittany Spanos.

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Miley Cyrus: New York’s Skidmore College debuted a sociology course on Miley Cyrus in 2014, titled “The Sociology of Miley Cyrus: Race, Class, Gender and Media.”

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Britney Spears: In light of legal conservatorship case in 2021, William Paterson University in New Jersey introduced an online course aptly titled “FreeBritney.” Using the “Toxic” singer’s situation as a culturally relevant core example, the class was designed to explore disability rights as they pertain to the legal system.

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A course on Kanye West was offered by Georgia State University in 2015, followed by another in 2017 at Washington University in St. Louis. Then five years later, Concordia University in Montreal brought the study of Ye to Canada with a course called “Kanye vs Ye: Genius by Design.”

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Canada’s Ryerson University introduced a course titled “Deconstructing Drake and The Weeknd” in the fall of 2021, aimed at dissecting the Canadian music scene’s representation and infrastructure problems that had both artists work on their careers in the U.S. instead of their home country.

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Rihanna represented one half of the subject matter in a class taught at University of Texas Austin called “Beyoncé Feminism, Rihanna Womanism.” Led by associate professor Dr. Omise’eke Tinsley, the course analyzed how both icons relate back to Black feminist principles.

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Beyoncé: There have many college courses dedicated to Beyoncé over the years. Arizona State University compared Bey’s work to that of scholars such as Gloria Jean Watkins. The University of Copenhagen taught a course titled “Beyoncé, Gender and Race”. University of Texas at San Antonio and California Polytechnic State University have also taught about Queen Bey.

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Harry Styles: In July 2022, Texas State University unveiled a course all about Harry Styles and, more broadly, celebrity worship which describes British musician Harry Styles and popular European culture.

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Lady Gag: The University of South Carolina offered a course called “Lady Gaga and the Sociology of the Fame” in spring of 2011, taught by professor/Little Monster Mathieu Deflem, who also penned the book of the same name.

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Lana Del Rey: New York University’s Clive Davis Institute introduced a Lana Del Rey course for the 2022 fall semester, aimed at examining the alt-pop star’s relationship to feminism and connection to social justice movements.

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