She’s Only Getting Started: Rob Sheffield on Taylor Swift
Every Swiftie has a moment they remember, frozen in time, when their ears perked up and they crossed the boundary from fan to die-hard. What is it about Taylor Swift that keeps fans coming back more than a decade after her debut? Is it the universe she’s carefully curated of sly winks, niche references, mind-boggling easter-eggs and mountains of lore? Maybe it’s the achingly personal lyrics that make us feel like we’re peeking into her diary and learning something new about ourselves that we never knew before. We don’t have all the answers, but Rolling Stone writer and author Rob Sheffield’s brand-new book, Heartbreak Is the National Anthem, breaks down the star’s momentous career, discography, and global impact, era by era. Read on for Rob’s exclusive guest post on the life, legend and legacy of Taylor Swift.
Hardcover $27.99
Heartbreak Is the National Anthem (Signed Book): How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music
Heartbreak Is the National Anthem (Signed Book): How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music
Hardcover $27.99
An unprecedented look into the life of Taylor Swift, told by the only journalist close enough to tell it. This is a must-have for any Swifties looking for the next great insight into her stardom.
An unprecedented look into the life of Taylor Swift, told by the only journalist close enough to tell it. This is a must-have for any Swifties looking for the next great insight into her stardom.
I’ve been madly in love with music my entire life. Ever since I was a little kid singing along with Fleetwood Mac and Abba and Donna Summer on the radio, I’ve been writing about the songs that invade my soul and soundtrack my life. I’m always on the prowl for my next new favorite tune. So it makes sense that I grew up to be a writer for Rolling Stone, where I’ve been covering music for many years, while writing books like Love Is a Mix Tape and Dreaming the Beatles.
But I’ve never heard anything like Taylor Swift before, and that’s because nothing like Taylor has ever happened before. So I knew I wanted to write Heartbreak Is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music. She’s the most fascinating cultural phenomenon of our times, a profoundly weird songwriter who also happens to be the world’s most famous person. How did this happen?
My last two books were about David Bowie and the Beatles. For me, Taylor is right up there with them in that all-time pantheon, and she got there by the time she turned 25. But she hasn’t slowed down since. She debuted as a Nashville teen prodigy from Nashville, but after 18 years at the top, she’s still hitting new peaks. The closest analogy you can find is Beatlemania—yet the Fab Four lasted half this long.
She’s the most divisive figure in pop culture, always a guaranteed argument starter—but she likes it that way. No other star has ever been so much fun to argue about. I’m not trying to solve the mystery of Taylor Swift, and I’m definitely not trying to settle any arguments. I just want to start more of them.
I’ve been a fan since the summer of 2007, when I was in the kitchen making a grilled cheese sandwich, until I heard “Our Song” in the next room and got knocked sideways. I loved the cocky arrogance of this song—the swagger in her voice. I’ve been writing about Taylor ever since. In Heartbreak Is the National Anthem, I wanted to explore everything that makes her a unique cultural phenomenon—her connection with her fans, her petty feuds, her surprise career swerves, her tortured poetry. But most of all, those songs that keep drawing stars around our scars.
If you’re a non-fan, I totally get that—I envy you, honestly, since you sleep soundly at night without worrying over questions like “did she announce Rep TV tonight?” or “what surprise song mash-up did they get in Miami?” or “did she write ‘Dorothea’ about the narrator of Middlemarch?’”
I’ve covered Taylor for years, and let me tell you, she’s exhausting. No artist has ever made it so maddening and unpredictable to be a fan. The toughest challenge in writing Heartbreak Is The National Anthem? The way Taylor can’t stop rewriting the story, day to day. It’s so much easier to write about artists who’ve passed away, or bands who’ve broken up. But for Taylor, some Captain Ahab-level obsession keeps driving her to keep taking crazy risks, whether she’s re-recording her life’s work in the Taylor’s Version project, or revisiting her past selves in her Eras Tour. But it’s all part of what makes her the most fascinating pop-culture story of this century—and why writing about her music in Heartbreak Is the National Anthem has been such a joy. And she’s only getting started. Long live.
