Taylor Swift's NYU Graduation Speech Will Inspire You

Taylor Swift has won several Grammy Awards, and she now has a new title: "doctor." On Wednesday, the celebrity got an honorary degree of fine arts from New York University, embracing the audience as she headed toward the stage at Yankee Stadium.

Swift remarked to the hundreds of graduates gathered, wearing her distinctive red lipstick and her freshly bestowed honorary robe, "I'm 90% sure the main reason I'm here is because I have a song called 22."

Taylor Swift Awarded Honorary Degree From NYU

She began her music career at the age of 15, traveling various radio stations around the country, according to the singer-songwriter, producer, and director. She went on to sell over 100 million records and win album of the year at the Grammys in 2021 for 'folkore,' making her the first woman to win the award three times. Her previous awards were for 'Fearless' in 2010 and '1989' in 2016, according to the Independent.

When Jason King of the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music introduced her newly rerecorded albums, including 'Fearless,' she smirked at the audience.

Taylor Swift offered guidance to the class of 2022, but cautioned, "I in no way feel qualified to tell you what to do. You've worked hard, sacrificed, studied, and imagined your way to this point. I won't tell you what to do because no one likes being told what to do, but I will give you life hacks from when I was starting out on my career path."

The Grammy-winning singer and songwriter got an honoris causa Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the Manhattan-based institution on Wednesday and delivered the commencement speech with a joke.

Per USA Today, the ceremony at Yankee Stadium was dubbed a "unprecedented 'doubleheader," as it honored graduates from this year's class as well as students from the 2020 and 2021 classes whose graduations had been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Taylor Swift walked into the stadium with the rest of the students, donning doctorate regalia and a red lip, waving to audience members and throwing up peace signs before taking her place with the rest of the commencement's platform party.

The singer spoke to the class of 2022 on behalf of several honorary degree recipients, including Judith Heumann, a long-time disability rights campaigner who was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.

Swift's honorary degree has been a long time coming, and she first stated her desire for one in a 2016 interview with Vogue, when she said that her musician pal Ed Sheeran had gotten one from the University Campus Suffolk in England.

Taylor Swift's Boyfriend Raves on Her Achievements

Swift, who has an NYU course dedicated to studying the singer's rhyme and reason taught by Rolling Stone's Brittany Spanos, continued her speech by giving her audience "life hacks," recognizing that hacks are different from giving "unsolicited advice." Some of Swift's suggestions included having a "catch and release" mindset, embracing the concept of "cringe," and "never be ashamed of trying."

Swift explained that growing up in the music industry meant that she was always receiving advice from individuals who wanted to help her live the life of a pop star. Her adviser's mindset was based on the assumption that "mistakes mean failure," but she later discovered that her mistakes were the "greatest things" in her life.

Joe Alwyn, Taylor Swift's longterm boyfriend, expressed his joy at his girlfriend getting an honorary doctorate from New York University. The 31-year-old actor raved about the 32-year-old singer-songwriter's accomplishements in an interview with Entertainment Tonight the night before she delivered the commencement address at NYU and got an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the famous university.

The pair started dating in late 2016 and confirmed their relationship in January 2017. Although 'The Favorite' actor made a few brief appearances in the 11-time Grammy Award winner's Netflix documentary Miss Americana, the couple has generally kept their romance out of the public. Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn also collaborated on numerous tracks for Taylor Swift's upcoming albums folklore and evermore in 2020.