Photos and Quotes from Taylor Swift's NYU Commencement Speech

She's feeling ... the class of '22! On May 18, Taylor Swift popped into New York City's Yankee Stadium, giving the commencement address and receiving an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree.

"Last time I was in a stadium this size, I was dancing in heels and wearing a glittery leotard," she joked of touring. "This outfit is much more comfortable."

Always a cheerleader, Swift pumped up the crowd on her walk into the stadium.

"Everyone in college during normal times stresses about test scores, but on top of that you also had to pass like a thousand COVID tests," Swift told the graduating class. "I imagine the idea of a normal college experience was all you wanted, too. But in this case you and I both learned that you don't always get all the things in the bag that you selected from the menu in the delivery service that is life. You get what you get. And as I would like to say to you, you should be very proud of what you've done with it."

Among her words of advice: "Never be ashamed of trying. Effortlessness is a myth. The people who wanted it the least were the ones I wanted to date and be friends with in high school. The people who want it most are the people I now hire to work for my company."

After receiving her degree, Swift joked, "I'd like to thank NYU for making me technically, [on] paper at least, a doctor. Not the type of doctor you would want around in case of an emergency ... unless your specific emergency was that you desperately needed to hear a song with a catchy hook and an intensely cathartic bridge section. Or if your emergency was that you needed a person who can name over 50 breeds of cats in one minute."

Early in her speech, Swift made two personal song lyric references, teasing, "I'm 90 percent sure the reason I'm here is because I have a song called '22,' " and telling out-of-town visitors, "Let me say to you now: Welcome to New York ... it's been waiting for you."

Prior to the ceremony, Swift shared an Instagram video of herself getting ready for the big day.

Swift's advice was peppered with funny lines, but she also took time to get serious, talking about her earlier days of stardom and wondering if people were looking to see her fail.

"It was all centered around the idea that mistakes equal failure and ultimately, the loss of any chance at a happy or rewarding life," she said. "This has not been my experience. My experience has been that my mistakes led to the best things in my life."

"I know that words are supposed to be my thing, but I will never be able to find the words to thank my mom and my dad, and my brother, Austin, for the sacrifices they made every day so that I could go from singing in coffee houses to standing up here with you all today," Swift said.

On the lighter side, Swift said of missing out on the college experience herself: "As a kid, I always thought I would go away to college, imagining the posters I'd hang on the wall of my freshman dorm. I even set the ending of my music video for my song 'Love Story' at my fantasy imaginary college, where I meet a male model reading a book on the grass and with one single glance, we realize we had been in love in our past lives. Which is exactly what you guys all experienced at some point in the last four years, right?"

"I know it can be really overwhelming figuring out who to be, and when, who you are now and how to act in order to get where you want to go," Swift said. "I have some good news: it's totally up to you. I also have some terrifying news: it's totally up to you."

Closing her speech, Swift shared, "I leave you with this: We are led by our gut instincts, our intuition, our desires and fears, our scars and our dreams. And you will screw it up sometimes. So will I. And when I do, you will most likely read about on the Internet ... Hard things will happen to us. We will recover!"