If you think you’re the biggest Swiftie in DFW, chances are TCU professor Andrew Ledbetter has you beat.
The chair of communication studies says his love of Swift first sprouted when he was a graduate student, telling NBC DFW, “I was driving around Lawrence, Kansas—where I went to graduate school—and ‘Love Story’ came on the radio, and I remember thinking to myself, ‘I think I could be a Taylor Swift fan.’
“My fandom just grew and grew from there.”
Not only did his fandom grew, but his curiosity, as Ledbetter dedicated his studies to the interconnectivity between Swift’s catalogue.
“I was interested in interconnections among the song lyrics,” he said. “The songs that are most central have a lot of overlap with other songs, might tend to be songs that are the most popular.”
Ledbetter ran lyrics from Swift’s ten albums through a program to find any connections, sharing his findings on his personal blog.
Ledbetter believes his research offers insight into more than just pop music saying, “I think it helps us understand Taylor Swift, but I think it also helps us understand, overall, how do we engage with stories in art, and what stories do we find most interesting and compelling?”
As for what’s next, Ledbetter says he would “love” to teach a seminar on Swift.
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