ABOUT THIS EPISODE
One of our guests also shows us the brilliance of her lyrics by reading them out to us. What are your faves?
Synopsis: Each month, The Straits Times examines the ins and outs of pop culture in the Asian entertainment and Hollywood scene.
American superstar Taylor Swift has dominated pop culture with her mega-successful Eras Tour, her historic fourth Grammy win for Album of the Year in 2024 and her fairytale-like romance with American football star Travis Kelce.
And she will soon be bringing her tour for a sold-out six-night show at National Stadium in Singapore from March 2-9. Ahead of her concert, #PopVultures host Jan Lee sits down for a throwback to her English-literature-student days.
Joining her in this episode to explore Swift's multi-generational appeal, are Life correspondent and "Swiftie" Yamini Chinnuswamy, 15-year-old Gen-Z "Swiftie" Yvonne Inglin as well as Ravi Agarwal, a 51-year-old connoisseur of Swift's lyrics.
Together, they discuss the literary value of her songs while Ravi also reads out the best of her lyrics. They analyse the appeal of her songs and how different songs reflect different periods in Swift's life.
They spotlight three of Swift's most famous songs from different eras of her career - Blank Space, Anti-Hero and All Too Well (10 Minute Version) - and talk about Swift's use of metaphors, rhymes and sentence structure. They also talk about their own impressions of these songs and why it fascinates and appeals to them.
They also ponder the very important question: Is a Nobel Literature Prize in Swift's future?
Highlights (click/tap above):
3:30 Introduction and everyone's favourite Swift kitty - is it Olivia Benson, Meredith Grey or Benjamin Button?
7:00 Favourite songs
9:30 Dissecting Blank Space
16:40 Examining/Exploring Anti-Hero
26:20 Debating All Too Well (10 Minute Version)
35:30 Rapid-fire Swiftie questions for Yvonne & Ravi
Watch the special video version of this episode on the new Straits Times’ Podcast YouTube channel, where Yamini has set up a mini-Taylor Swift shrine: https://str.sg/itdC
Download ST's Taylor Swift 9-era infographic series in high-res PDF: https://str.sg/qQQU
More of ST's Taylor Swift coverage here: https://str.sg/CJDx
Produced by: Jan Lee (janlee@sph.com.sg), Yamini Chinnuswamy (yaminic@sph.com.sg), Amirul Karim and Eden Soh
Video Producers: Joel Chng, T Kumar, Zeke Tan and Marc de Souza
Edited by: Amirul Karim and Eden Soh
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Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg
Follow Jan Lee on Instagram: https://str.sg/Jbxc
Read Jan Lee's articles: https://str.sg/Jbxp
Read Yamini Chinnuswamy's articles: https://str.sg/h4rH
Follow Yamini Chinnuswamy on Instagram: https://str.sg/sVdB
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COE Watch: https://str.sg/iTtE
In Your Opinion: https://str.sg/w7Qt
Asian Insider: https://str.sg/JWa7
Health Check: https://str.sg/JWaN
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Special edition series:
True Crimes Of Asia (6 eps): https://str.sg/i44T
The Unsolved Mysteries of South-east Asia (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuZ2
Invisible Asia (9 eps): https://str.sg/wuZn
Stop Scams (10 eps): https://str.sg/wuZB
Singapore's War On Covid (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuJa
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