Are we taking Taylor Swift too seriously? Academics have gathered in Melbourne to discuss the world-conquering pop star. Some think she should remain in the tabloids.
Academics meet to study ‘godlike superstar’
On top of the world: Last year Swift became a billionaire and Time magazine's Person of the Year. Glossary
Grammys - The most prestigious award in the US music industry. The trophy is shaped like a gilded gramophone. Last year, Billie Eilish won most of the main awards.
Super Bowl - An American football match played each year to decide which team is the best in the country.
Melbourne - The capital of the state of Victoria, and Australia’s second largest city after Sydney.
Academic - Someone who does research or teaches at a university.
CPR - Short for cardiopulmonary resuscitation. An emergency procedure that is used to save someone's life if their breathing or heart stops.
Colonialism - This refers not only to the material realities of colonial rule, but also to the mindset of the colonising powers and their ways of justifying empire. Most Europeans believed that empire was a moral good, because it imparted 'civilisation' to 'primitive' cultures and so helped them to develop.
Seismic - Of enormous size or effect.
Beatles - An English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960, and is widely regarded as one of the most influential bands of all time. They played for ten years between 1960 and 1970, with Paul McCartney as co-lead vocalist, bassist, and songwriter.
Misogynist - A person or being who dislikes and is prejudiced against women.
Millennium Bug - Also known as the Y2K problem, the mostly unrealised fear in the 1990s that computer programmes would not be able to cope with the date change from the 1900s to 2000s.
Fireside poets - A group of 19th Century American poets who were famous in their time.