Heartbreak Is the National Anthem

I am at best a casual Taylor Swift fan, so I was hoping that Rolling Stone writer Rob Sheffield could help me understand her unprecedented, global superstardom. I get that she's a smart, talented songwriter and a brilliant businesswoman, but how does she inspire such fan frenzy that her Eras tour has earned almost $2 billion? Sheffield doesn't fully explain the Swift phenomena, but his brief, poppy chapters offer a more or less chronological history of her music, with asides for most notable songs and quirks. The focus is firmly on Swift's artistry, not her boyfriends or other gossip. I'm fascinated by middle-aged, white, cishet Sheffield's unabashed confession that the lyrics of “Archer” from 2019's Lover (“They see right through me/I see right through me!”) helped him process the grief of his mother's death.

Maybe we have a “vision-impaired person describing an elephant” phenomenon. Sheffield's connection to Swift is unique to him, and only by piecing together the impressions she has made on each one of her countless fans will we ever get to the core of her popularity. Perhaps she's just the right person at the right time, although the fact that “the right time” has now spanned more than 15 years is mindboggling. I suspect that Heartbreak Is the National Anthem will be too detailed for people who are only vaguely familiar with her work, and too basic for die-hard Swifties, but it was compelling enough to make me wonder what I'm missing by not having a Taylor Swift Spotify playlist.

This was a really good essay about Taylor Swift and how her music, style, and influence has changed and continues to change music of all genres. The perspective Rob Sheffield brings to this book is very interesting, due to his longstanding status as a Swiftie.
If you are a fan of Taylor Swift, or are interested in how her career has changed music, I would highly recommend this book!

The book is incredibly frustrating. I can't make sense of the disconnected chapters; there's no rhyme or reason to their organization. It's not linear—neither by her age, her album releases, nor her years in the music industry. It doesn't delve deeply into her lyricism or the lore surrounding her, nor does it explore her personal life or professional struggles in any meaningful way. The entire book feels like a scattershot approach—dabbling here and there without focus.

I expected more from a Rolling Stone journalist. The only way I managed to finish it was by switching to the audiobook version and treating each chapter as a standalone ramble. If you're looking for a deeper dive into the cultural phenomenon of Taylor Allison Swift, I recommend checking out Swiftologist or Evolution of Snake.

The reason my rating is somewhat generous is that I did learn new things about her musical influences, and I've discovered a trove of new music to explore further.