About the Pod

about the show

AP Taylor Swift is a weekly podcast diving into Taylor Swift’s music to uncover poetic devices, themes, and literary connections to figure out why her music touches the hearts of so many fans.

Unlike other podcasts that focus on gossip and Taylor’s personal life, AP Taylor Swift takes a more academic approach. We let the lyrics speak for themselves without relying on rumors. Our conversations help us uncover deeper meaning in Taylor’s music and connections to other books, films, and songs. And most importantly, we explore what these songs reveal about ourselves and the role Taylor’s music plays in the lives of Swifties everywhere.

about the hosts

Although it’s been a decade since Jodi’s last English class, she’s kept all her books waiting for just this occasion. As a marketer, Jodi is no stranger to the power of word choice and scrutinizes every lyric like she does a positioning statement. With an MBA from the University of Michigan, she tends to examine Taylor’s songs through the lens of business and career choices. Jodi feels Taylor’s music resonates because of the literary quality of her lyrics and the attention to detail in her storytelling, and hopes that fans new and old can learn something new about the music--and themselves--through the podcast.

Favorite Taylor Swift song: “Shake It Off,” 1989

Favorite AP Lit book: If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino

Product marketer by day, Master of Liberal Arts candidate at Stanford by night, Maansi loves to read between the lines and understand what makes language so effective at achieving its purpose. She approaches Taylor’s lyrics both as a marketer, trying to understand how words strum on the strings of human emotion, and through a humanities lens, examining how Taylor often enters into conversations with the Greats who have come before, in efforts to capture and examine the human condition of our own time.

Favorite Taylor Swift song: “Cornelia Street,” Lover

Favorite AP Lit book: Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Former English teacher turned marketer, Jenn loves bringing her classroom to a whole new audience. Jenn obtained her BA in English at Purdue University and her MA in English at Appalachian State University. She believes that Taylor Swift’s music is the perfect medium for people of all ages and educational backgrounds to explore new ideas, philosophical frameworks, and perhaps even change how they see the world.