Ari Perez

Ari Perez is the host of ¿What Are Taylor Swift Studies Anyways?Originally from Honduras, he is an Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT. It was there where he discovered Taylor Swift’s work and became a Fearless Stan. 

Describe ¿What Are Taylor Swift Studies Anyways? In 10 words or less.
An academic discussion about Taylor Swift’s interdisciplinary impact on society.

Tell us about the show’s origin story.
I was preparing to teach a course on Taylor at my institution and my friend (Prof. Kim O’Neill) who has helping me design the course mentioned doing a series of recorded lectures with our colleagues as a way to use multiple academic disciplinary lenses to look at Taylor’s work and impact. As soon as she said that, I knew I had found a great idea for a podcast!

Now tell us about the title.
It’s a reference to both a lyric from Taylor (in “22” she has a spoken interjected line “Who is Taylor Swift anyways?”) as well as a nod to the fact that we are applying a lot of different academic viewpoints to study Taylor Swift in order to find the ones best suited for assessing her work and impact.I also added an upside down question mark as a nod to my mother tongue, Spanish.

Why are you the perfect host for this show?
I’ve been a Swiftie since 2009, and throughout the last 15 years I have followed Taylor’s work through multiple eras so I have a trove of subject content knowledge both from scholarship and from lived experience. My own academic background is strongly interdisciplinary so I am used to both interacting with fields different than mine and new to me.

Fill in the blank: You will like ¿What Are Taylor Swift Studies Anyways? If you like ______.
Taylor Swift // Quinnipiac University // Slate’s Culture Gabfest

Who is the podcast for? Taylor swift fans? Academics? Do you have to be both?
It’s for both people interested in Taylor Swift’s work on any level and folks who want to learn about how multiple academic fields can intersect to produce scholarship on one subject! White Taylor is the subject I picked, I think anyone wanting to listen to casual discussions of academic work will be interested! The show is meant to be accessible to everyone, so you don’t need any particular academic background for it - just an open mind and a desire to learn!

If people haven’t listened, where should they start?
Either with the first episode (Women and Gender’s Studies with Prof. O’Neill) or with whichever one that grabs their attention based on the field and/or guest. The episodes have a loose chronology, but can be listened to in any order - I tried to make them like a thematically linked set of short stories that when taken together tell a larger story - kinda like the Jennifer Egan book A Visit From the Goon Squad.

How did making the podcast change you as a person?
It allowed me to explore a side of my personality, as well as some skills, that I hadn’t really had a serious chance to develop - my creative side. As a professor I do a lot of writing, but since its about engineering, I wouldn’t really call it a creative endeavour. I really enjoyed the creative (or sub-creative) experience of making something I really cared about and putting it out there in the world.

How did making the podcast change you as a podcast listener?
I am so much more aware of the work that goes behind making a podcast and I am so much more appreciative of it. I am now much more attentive to the growth and evolution of a podcast through its first episodes as it finds its sound.

What do you wish you had known about making a podcast before you started?
How difficult it is to schedule guests! The format of my podcast has me bring on a guest every episode, and because it is a commitment for their time before and during the taping, the scheduling can be tough. I was incredibly lucky to get the wonderful colleagues I did to come, but there were some stressful times!

What do your students think of the podcast?
They seemed to like it! The feedback was positive, with about half of them expressing they had liked it and the other half staying silent. The ones that liked it both liked it by itself but also much preferred it to a video lecture.

Do your students…listen to podcasts? (This is me desperately wanting to know if young people are podcast listeners.)
Not as many as I would like - about 3/19 mentioned they like podcasts, though they tended to be different than the ones I consume. They really like the unscripted, people hanging around a table for a couple of hours ones rather than more high brow scripted ones like I typically do.

If you were going to start another podcast, don’t worry about the logistics or whether or not anyone would listen to it, what would it be? Your budget is $1M.
It would be a podcast interviewing 13 different Swifties around the world about how Taylor impacts their life. Kind if a mix of biographical and slice of life, but set in 13 very different locations around the globe so that while all the stories are different (and I would look for people with interesting life stories) there would be one common thread that unites them and shows how universal the Swifite experience can be. I would mix interviews with following them around for a day or two to get footage of living in Sao Paulo, Manila, or MIlan. I would envision it as a mix of This American Life and Beautiful Stories From Anonymous People.

Are there too many podcasts?
I don’t think so! I think it feels like the space is saturated, but I also feel like I’ve listened to enough shows that finding a new one can be difficult. That might be my overconsumption though.

What’s a show you love that not enough people know about?
Mystery Show from This American Life alum Starkee Kine. It only ran for one 6 episode season, but they were all amazing and magical. Case #3 Belt Buckle might be my favourite hour of audio ever, I have not stopped repping it for almost a decade.

What’s a show you love that everyone already knows about?
The History of Rome, probably the genesis of popular historical podcasts. I am obsessed with Ancient Rome, and the way MIke Duncan creates a long running, accessible, and engaging narrative blew my mind the first time I heard it.

What didn’t I ask you about that I should have?
What’s my favorite Taylor Swift song? To which I would say that Taylor Swift songs are like Pokemon, books, or Real Madrid players: favorite is the descriptor of a category, not of an individual. In that category for me are I Heart ?, Fearless, You Belong With Me, The Story of Us, New Romantics, Delicate, Invisible String, The Lakes, Champagne Problems, You're Losing Me, and So Long, London.

Thanks, Ari!