Taylor Swift is a doctor now…sort of. The singer received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from New York University yesterday, and spoke to graduates at their commencement at Yankee Stadium.

“Hi, I’m Taylor,” she began. “Last time I was in a stadium this size, I was dancing in heels and wearing a glittery leotard. This outfit is much more comfortable,” referring to her purple and black cap and gown. She also joked, “The main reason I’m here is because I have a song called ’22,'” a nod to her “Red” track.

“I’d like to thank NYU for making me, technically, on paper at least, a doctor,” she added, “Not the type of doctor you would want around in case of an emergency. Unless your specific emergency was that you desperately needed to hear a song with a catchy hook.”

• In her nearly 25-minute speech, she talked to graduates about it being okay to make mistakes, noting hers were some of the “best things” in her life. She also touched upon cancel culture, sharing, “getting canceled on the Internet and nearly losing my career gave me an excellent knowledge of all the types of wine.”
• She also discussed the difficulties the students must have gone through thanks to COVID, advised them to get comfortable with “cringe” and urged them to set forth on their own path. “I know it can be really overwhelming figuring out who to be and when, who you are now and how to act in order to get where you want to go,” she said. “I have some good news: It’s totally up to you. I have some terrifying news: It’s totally up to you.”
• Finally, Tay offered, “Hard things will happen to us, we will recover, we will learn from it. We will grow more resilient because of it,” adding, “As long as we are fortunate enough to be breathing, we will breathe in, breathe through, breathe deep, (and) breathe out — I’m a doctor now so I know how breathing works.”

Read the full transcript here.

Source: Variety