Sophomore Tarabeth Looney is president of Junior Jewels, which is UGA’s Taylor Swift club.

Q: How did you get involved with Junior Jewels?

Junior Jewels is a club that actually me and my freshman roommate started. We get together usually every other week and, we just do like fun stuff. Everybody asks like what the commitment is to it, and it’s not huge at all. If you want to come to one meeting a semester, that’s totally fine.

Q: What has been your favorite event so far?

Definitely the “1989” release. That was awesome. We booked out a whole venue downtown and sold tickets so that way we could use it as a fundraiser, and we had over 150 people show up. And it was awesome because I felt like I had done so much and like taken up so much of my time because I could see the reward.

Q: How have you seen the club grow over the year?

That’s been the most rewarding part for sure. We started out with me and my roommate and then our neighbors, and then now it’s grown into our largest meeting had 50 people. 

Q: What do you see in the future for Junior Jewels?

We have to start thinking of like passing it down because we want this club to survive past us. And I hope it just continues to still kind of bring people together and just kind of give them a safe space. 

Q: Have you seen the recent scandal on X involving searching Taylor Swift (with deepfake AI images)?

I have, yes. That was absolutely horrible. 

Q: How do you think the media could possibly better protect against future scandals like this?

I think it happens to a lot of celebrities, but unfortunately with Taylor Swift because the Eras Tour and just everything over the past year being like absolutely just in the media. I just feel like attention away from just one singular person would definitely help. Every football game she’s at, everybody’s mad that she’s there. I mean there’s plenty of other things going on in the world that people could talk about and that people could worry about.

Q: How would you say that her work has changed the industry and maybe even affected life here at UGA?

Goodness, it’s definitely changed the industry for sure. I mean, going from country to pop is something not many people have done or can do. I do think she’s constantly just like, ever-changing her style, and I think that alone and the concept of Eras is now something we use in our daily lives, like, “Oh, I’m in my study era, my business student era,” so maybe in that way it’s affected UGA.

Comments trimmed for length and clarity.

Molly Kate Paris is a journalism major covering local music.