Taylor Swift, Pop Music, and the Creation of Modern Folklore

Identifier

228

Author

Leah Virginia Flettrich

Date

2023

Document Type

Honors Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Major

English

Concentration

Literature

Committee Member

Donal Harris

Committee Member

Emily Skaja

Abstract

This thesis explores how Taylor Swift's album folklore engages with the history of folk traditions. Throughout folklore, which was released a few months into the COVID-19 lockdown, Swift embraces and alters elements of traditional folklore in order to present pop music as a modern kind of folk. In times of cultural transformation, like that of the COVID-19 pandemic, pop songs as folk offered Swift a means of managing the distress that came with lockdown, while also providing a way to connect with others experiencing similar feelings. In highlighting certain clusters of songs from the album, these familiar yet reinvented elements of folklore are brought to light, culminating in the argument that Swift's songwriting in folklore creates a contemporary version of traditional folklore, ultimately serving to create unity in isolation.

Comments

Undergraduate Honor's Thesis

Library Comment

Honors thesis originally submitted to the Local University of Memphis Honor’s Thesis Repository.

Recommended Citation

Flettrich, Leah Virginia, "Taylor Swift, Pop Music, and the Creation of Modern Folklore" (2023). Honors Theses. 144.
https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/honors_theses/144