Commencement Archive

Taylor Swift

Singer-songwriter

Video

Taylor Swift addresses NYU's Class of 2022, reflecting on her unconventional path without a traditional college experience and the students' pandemic-disrupted education. She offers 'life hacks' rather than advice, encouraging graduates to let go of what weighs them down, embrace embarrassment and enthusiasm, and accept that mistakes and losses often lead to growth. She closes by acknowledging the uncertainty ahead and framing self-reliance as both scary and empowering.

“We will grow more resilient because of it.”

On resilience YouTube captions ->

Key moments

  • 01 Thanks to family, faculty, and honorees, acknowledging no one succeeds alone
  • 02 Advice to practice 'catch and release' and let go of grudges and toxic relationships
  • 03 Encouragement to embrace cringe and never be ashamed of trying or showing enthusiasm
  • 04 Reflection on public scrutiny and how her mistakes and losses led to growth and resilience

Transcript

No full transcript has been located yet. A video of the address is available above.

Provenance

Verified from official source

Explore this speech

Find the next thread through the archive

Browse all themes ->

Speeches like this one

Search all speeches ->