Heartbreak Is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music

Music journalist Sheffield may be best known to teen Taylor Swift fans as the creator of the ongoing Rolling Stone list ranking all her songs in order. His nonfiction work about Swift is less a bio and more a chronological examination of how she got to where she is, highlighting her drive, creativity, and connection to fans, particularly her impact on girls and young women. Sheffield adds some memoir aspects and peppers the text with song lyrics as he looks at album campaigns, considers how songs may connect to her larger worldbuilding (think: “New Romantics” and “mirrorball” as two perspectives of the same night out), and more. Some of the ties are tenuous at times, such as comparing the reputation single rollout to that of Michael Jackson’s Thriller, which may not resonate. But overall, Sheffield’s writing style is appealing—his relay of the euphoria of the Eras Tour is a highpoint—and gives the feel of chatting with a cool uncle about music. Setting this apart from other books about Swift is Sheffield’s longtime fandom, his encyclopedic knowledge of her music, and his access—while not a focus, he includes short anecdotes of meeting Swift backstage at shows and hearing tracks in advance. For a look at how Red and 1989 era songs were created, pair this with the Max Martin sections of John Seabrook’s The Song Machine.