Taylor Swift: An Icon

There has been a lot going on with Taylor Swift recently and this is a round-up of her life so far this year.

Midnights

In late October 2022 Swift released her most recent album, ‘Midnights’, which contains 13 songs about midnights that she’s experienced through her life. She has also released a 3am version, which contains an extra 7 tracks ‘from the vault’.

Eras tour

On the 1st of November 2022 she announced that she would be going on a world tour called ‘The Eras Tour’. It's called this because each night she performs several songs from each of her albums. The setlist is 44 songs, which goes on for 3 hours and 15 minutes. However she also sings two bonus songs. Although so far she has only been performing in the USA, we hope to see her releasing her international tour dates in the near future.

Love life

As well as all this going on, it has also been rumoured that she has broken up with her boyfriend of 6 years, Joe Alwyn. Joe Alwyn is a British actor and fans think that he cheated on Taylor and that is why they broke up. However this was in early April and neither of the two have confirmed the rumours. It has also been reported that she has a new boyfriend, Matty Healy, who is also in the music industry as a songwriter, musician and record producer.

Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)

She has also recently announced that she will be releasing ‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’. This is her 2010 album re-recorded. She has been re-recording all of her albums so that her old record company, Big Ma-

‘ chine Record Label, purchased by Scooter Braun recently (who Taylor has described as a 'incessant, manipulative bully') doesn't hold the recording rights to her old albums. ‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’ is being released on the 7th July. This track has all the original songs plus two new songs ‘from the vault’

Lover review

Lover’ is one of the most powerful and meaningful albums, because she is in love. ‘Lover’ is the most free spirited and meaningful album Taylor Swift has ever recorded. ‘Soon You'll Get Better’ is a song inspired by Taylor's mother's battle with cancer. ‘Lover’ is the flagship song of the album ‘Lover’ and has a calm, slow progression. Overall it is a relaxing song to cook to!

Taylor Swift performing live at one of her 213 concerts

Scholars Review - By Alex Bradshaw

Summer Holidays ~ Time for Reading

Noughts and Crosses Malorie Blackman

A biting YA social commentary. In Blackman’s bestselling novels she inverts the racial history of the world - instead of Western colonialism, the countries of the African continent colonised the rest of the world. The novel is set in a modern inverted Britain, where white Britons are the disadvantaged minority group subject to racial abuse. In a Romeo-and-Juliet-esque love story, a rich black girl, Sephy, falls in love with a poor white boy who works on her parent’s estate. Their love story shakes the foundations of the fictional British society.

Blackman’s novel demonstrates the hypocrisy of racist arguments, as well as outlining the continuing destitution, poverty, and police brutality that disproportionately affect black communities, by inverting such blights onto the white communities in her novel. The novel has been turned into a limited series by the BBC, and is available on BBC IPlayer.

Klara and the Sun KazuoIshiguro

Ishiguro’s most recent novel revolves around the relationship between an ‘Artificial Friend’ in the near future, her worship of the sun, and the human child that she takes care of. Ishiguro, in his patented manner, slowly unspools the eerie dystopian near-future world through assumptions and off-handed comments about the purpose of ‘Artificial Friends’. The novel is an exercise in Ishiguro’s craft as a Nobel-Prize winning author, demonstrating his skill in plot development and character construction - like all of his work, ‘Klara and the Sun’ explores the deepest philosophical questions we ask. Specifically, Klara and her relationship with Julie, the human child she befriends, allows Ishiguro to explore the essential human question; what does it mean to love?

What is Good?

A.C.Grayling

One of the most compelling questions which has enveloped Western philosophical and religious thought since Grecian classical antiquity is the question of how to live the good life; what constitutes the good life, and the way in which to achieve it.

Led by Grayling's understanding hand, ‘What is Good?’ takes the inexperienced reader on a fascinating journey through Western philosophy. Starting in the Golden Age of classical thought he covers Plato, Socrates and Aristotle’s virtuous man, to the Hellenistic period that followed - Epicureanism, Stoicism and Cynicism. Grayling outlines the Christian contribution to the conversation on morality (a hegemony enforced by an iron fist) through the Middle Ages and particularly why the Christian hold on morality in Europe lessened during the Renaissance, Reformation and 3rd Enlightenment. Grayling takes the reader around and through philosophical, humanist and religious thought throughout the ages of Western history, opening the mind of the reader, providing a strong grounding of knowledge in the development of philosophical Western thought. Because of the comprehensive nature of Grayling’s work, he successfully articulates and explores the history of human thought about the key question in our life: how to live that life well.