Stephanie Burt is the Donald P. and Katherine B. Loker Professor of English at Harvard University. She offered a course on Taylor Swift expecting about a dozen students to sign up. Instead, 200 students did!
Burt was a “Swiftie” before it became a Thing. In 2009, Burt became entranced by Taylor Swift and her music. And, of course, the seeds for this book were planted then. Burt describes how Swift talked her parents into moving from Pennsylvania to Nashville so she could pursue her dream. And they did!
It was a steep climb for a teenage girl to get airplay on Country Western radio stations (who mostly played male singers). It was a challenge to cross over from Country Western music to pop music. Taylor Swift made some mistakes due to her contract ignorance (she lost control of her songs–and had to buy them back years later) and dealing with the recording industry in general.
If you’re looking for a detailed analysis of each of Taylor Swift’s albums, Burt takes a Deep Dive into each one. She notes who Taylor Swift is singing about in her many Break-Up songs. Burt dissects Swift’s feud with Kanye West. But, more than all this tracing of Taylor Swift’s development as an artist, Burt shows how Swift became a billionaire. Are you a Taylor Swift fan? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Ready for it — 1
Debut — 17
Fearless — 39
Speak now — 59
Red — 83
1989 — 109
Reputation — 133
Lover — 161
Folklore — 187
Evermore — 203
Midnights — 221
The tortured poets department (the anthology) — 245
Eras — 271
Acknowledgements — 299
Notes — 303
Index — 327
I’m not the target market, to say the least. I know one Taylor Swift song, “Shake It Off”—which admittedly I do like—but I’ve never been overly curious about her music or her life.
Deb, I’m always curious about a woman who becomes a self-made billionaire.
What Deb said, as usual.
Not a Swiftie, but I do appreciate her talent, her work ethic, and the devotion she shows to her fans. She’s cute but I don’t like the way she slathers on bright red lipstick so she will never have the opportunity to write a breakup song about me. The only song of she recorded that I can name is THIS IS MY FIGHT SONG, and I do appreciate its defiant nature. Other than that, I’m drawing a blank. If I were 60+ years younger today, I would be hopelessly out of it.
Jerry, my favorite Taylor Swift song is “Willow.” TAYLOR’S VERSION shows how she built her audience over the years and managed her successful career…as a teenager!
Um, what Deb said. I do (generally, vaguely) like her, but do not listen to her music or follow stories about her in any way. There is zero interest in this book for me.
Well…another here who might prefer hearing her to Kanye West, but would prefer to hear Diane Monroe or Sara ATH or Sade Adu or Della Mae, to cast about rather widely…https://www.pbs.org/video/della-mae-performs-bourbon-hound-pqnr3d/
Todd, the success of Swift’s ERAS Tour proves her world-wide popularity…but it’s not universal.
I am a fan. I think she’s a great songwriter, and I really enjoyed the Eras concert on tv. Can’t imagine actually going to a live one, though.
Jeff, Katie has been to a couple Taylor Swift concerts. She flew to the Netherlands for one of them!
My sister was looking for tickets. She could only find local ones from resellers at exorbitant prices. She could get European ones (Belgium or Portugal, I forget) for cheaper and even the airfare wouldn’t bring them up to the American prices. There were passport issues, so the group didn’t go.
Jeff, Katie and her friends who when to see Taylor Swift in the Netherlands got better tickets than the U.S. concert they went to…and the air fares were reasonable. Katie also got to go to the Anne Frank House.
Hey, George. Thanks for this review. I went and bought this book, tossed it on my Kindle, and have read the first chapter and skimmed some of the rest (looking for her comments on some of my favorite songs). I really feel in tune with Stephanie Burt. Since she describes what I like about some songs, I trust her when she goes deeper into things that I haven’t thought about. It makes me admire Taylor Swift even more.
Jeff, I learned a lot about Taylor Swift and her music from Stephanie Burt’s brilliant book! Glad you feel the same way!
I like her, and shake it off is my favorite song of hers. I appreciate that she makes very generous donations to food banks where she performs.
A photographer friend of mine knew her when she just starting out & said she was very sweet and unassuming.
Maggie, I’m impressed by Taylor Swift’s drive and talent!
She’s cute but I know nothing about her music and probably wouldn’t care for it if I did! Mostly I know her for dancing in the VIP booth every time Kelce makes a reception!
Bob, don’t forget that Taylor Swift is a billionaire!