Review by Booklist Review
"Nothing like Taylor Swift has ever happened before," music critic Sheffield writes at the outset, noting the way the fame of the biggest artist of her generation continues to grow long after other stars have peaked and faded. Sheffield has been a fan since Swift debuted on the music scene as a 16-year-old country singer in 2006, offering his personal reactions to her music as well as analysis of her albums and their impact. Rather than losing or even changing up her audience as she drifted more and more into pop, Swift's penchant for reinvention and experimentation--from country pop on Red to synth pop on 1989 to introspective ballads on sister albums Folklore and Evermore--has only gained her a greater following, and her love of codes and symbolism keeps her fans actively engaged. Die-hard Swifties will know the biographical details, but given their endless love for analyzing her music, there will be plenty here for long-time fans, newcomers, and those curious about Swift's appeal in this accessible, thoughtful, and entertaining tour of Swift's career, music, and impact.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Music journalist Sheffield (Turn Around Bright Eyes) offers a spirited tribute to "the messiest and most fascinating figure in pop music." A fan of Taylor Swift since hearing "Our Song" in the summer of 2007, Sheffield documents her entry into the music industry at 11, her move to Nashville at 13, her high school "outcast days," and the release of her eponymous debut album in 2006. Sheffield also charts Swift's stylistic shifts from 2012's Red ("the gaudiest mega-pop manifesto") to the "stark goth-folk sound" and "brooding ballads" of 2020's Folklore. He pins the key to Swift's fame on her ability to verbalize the "melodramatic love and explosive flings and rude interruptions" of teenage girlhood, even as she manages to keep "her deepest mysteries to herself." Readers will revel in the unrestrained delight with which Sheffield captures his subject, mixing a fan's exuberance with a music critic's nuanced analysis. Swifties won't be able to put this down. (Nov.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Who better than longtime Rolling Stone contributor Sheffield (Love Is a Mix Tape) to dive into the phenomenal career of Taylor Swift, who has managed to stay in the pop-music limelight for nearly two decades? Sheffield, an unabashed fan who doesn't mind mentioning that he first heard some of Swift's greatest hits in her very own apartment, sometimes seems as mystified as anyone as to how a singer-songwriter with a legendary capacity for being "extra" has managed not to flare out. But she has managed it, and he has a few ideas about why. She's a quintessential songwriter and storyteller who has inspired numerous women to follow in her footsteps, sometimes right onto the stage with her. Her sincerity is genuine, and her ability to swerve creatively without crashing through pop music's guardrails is unparalleled. How that all adds up to the reinvention of pop music is never conclusively answered, but does it matter? It's Swift's world; we just live in it. VERDICT Pop confectionery with surprising depth, much like its subject. For Swift fans and those who love them.--Genevieve Williams
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Tracking Taylor Swift from precocious teen to pop-music juggernaut. Why is Taylor Swift a cultural lightning rod? Why do people love--or hate--her and her music so much? Those are the questions that Sheffield, a music journalist and self-avowed Swiftie, seeks to answer in this zippy and engaging work. Swift has been in the public eye for almost 20 years. Even though she sells out stadiums around the world, she remains an enigma, says Sheffield. "To some," he writes, "Taylor is a creative genius, a cultural force, a feminist rebel crashing history with her girls-to-the-front energy." To others, she's "a symbol of capitalism, privilege, self-absorption, self-pity.…A factory of insipid tearjerkers." Perhaps it's because Swift is a shape-shifting mirror, reflecting her fans' emotional ups and downs. A fan since her country-music days, Sheffield reads her lyrics as if poring over tea leaves. What do they say about her? More importantly, what do they say about him? "When I hear myself in her songs, it's often the parts of me I try hardest to keep covered up and tied down. I'm threatened by the hairpin trigger in her songs, her constant edge of emotional danger." Curiously, one doesn't get much of a sense of what Swift's music actually sounds like. While Sheffield cites song lyric after song lyric, he describes her music sparingly: "seething electronic pulse…a stark goth-folk sound." The book is the most engaging when Sheffield shows what Swift means to him. After his mother's funeral, he found himself singing Swift's "The Archer" to give voice to his sadness. "Just another heartbroken son yelling Taylor Swift lyrics at four lanes of late-night truckers and bikers and speed freaks and streetlights, none of them impressed." An affectionate homage from an ardent fan. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
