In a new podcast episode, a music scholar examines the forces driving the rise of pop stars and songs in the age of TikTok and Spotify.
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.
But why do some pop stars have more success creating hit songs and building online following than others?
Paula Harper is a musicologist and assistant professor at the University of Chicago. Harper co-edited the book Taylor Swift: The Star, The Songs, The Fans (Routledge, 2025), which explores the online musical cultures that produced and propelled the image of megastar Taylor Swift.
In this episode of the Big Brains podcast, 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:
Read the transcript for this episode.
Source: University of Chicago
