Taylor Swift just gave an inspiring speech to New York University (NYU)'s newest batch of graduates. 

In line with receiving her honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts on 18 May, the acclaimed singer-songwriter gave a moving speech to the university's graduates, reminding everyone that it's okay to make mistakes and to never be ashamed of trying. 

"I’d like to say that I’m a big advocate for not hiding your enthusiasm for things. It seems to me that there is a false stigma around eagerness in our culture of 'unbothered ambivalence'. This outlook perpetuates the idea that it’s not cool to 'want it', that people who don’t try hard are fundamentally more chic than people who do," the 'cardigan' hitmaker said. 

"I wouldn’t know because I have been a lot of things but I’ve never been an expert on “chic.” But I’m the one who’s up here so you have to listen to me when I say this: Never be ashamed of trying, effortlessness is a myth."

 

 

 

 

 

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In her speech, Swift shared her experiences of growing up in the public eye, remembering how her mistakes have led to some of the best things in her life. 

"My experience has been that my mistakes led to the best things in my life," she said. "I’m trying to tell you that losing things doesn’t just mean losing. A lot of the time, when we lose things, we gain things too... Hard things will happen to us. We will recover. We will learn from it. We will grow more resilient because of it."

The multi-GRAMMY award winner is one of three recipients of honorary degrees from NYU. Earlier this year, the university launched a course all about Taylor Swift and discourse around women in pop music. 

Swift recently released a re-recorded version of her track 'This Love' from her album 1989, as part of the soundtrack of Amazon Prime's new title The Summer I Turned Pretty.