Heartbreak Is the National Anthem

October 15, 2024
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.

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November 1, 2024
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(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 1, 2024

Music journalist Sheffield (Dreaming the Beatles) considers pop icon Taylor Swift's life and the cultural impact of her music. As a Rolling Stone contributor, Sheffield has covered Swift's career from the beginning, giving him unique insight into her history, songs, and fans. With a 100K-copy first printing. Prepub Alert.

Copyright 2024 Library Journal

Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 23, 2024
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.

April 1, 2025

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. VERDICT A fun read recommended for collections with Taylor Swift fans who want to learn more about the folklore of their favorite artist.-Amanda Mastrull

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