Paula Harper, Assistant Professor of Music, was featured on the most recent episode of UChicago News's podcast Big Brains. The episode, titled "What makes music go viral—From AI to Taylor Swift, with Paula Harper," examines the forces driving the rise of pop stars and songs in the age of TikTok and Spotify.
Read an overview of the episode below, and head over to Big Brains to listen.
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"The internet and social media have transformed the way in which we hear and understand music today—and online communities and platforms from YouTube to TikTok have changed how music circulates and ultimately goes viral. Why do some pop stars have more success creating hit songs and building online following than others?
In this episode, we speak with Paula Harper, a musicologist and assistant professor at the University of Chicago. Harper co-edited the book Taylor Swift: The Star, The Songs, The Fans, which explores the online musical cultures that produced and propelled the image of megastar Taylor Swift. Harper unpacks how gendered narratives around “the fangirl” continue to influence which musical practices we take seriously—and how studying music on the internet helps us understand contemporary cultural power."