You know the songs by heart. You’ve traded the friendship bracelets. You’ve worn the cowboy boots and the bejewelled bodysuits.Now, get the inside track on this generation’s biggest super star – Taylor Swift. An intimate look at the life and music of modern pop's most legendary figure, Taylor Swift, from leading music journalist Rob Sheffield. A cultural phenomenon. A worldwide obsession. An agent of emotional chaos. There's no parallel to Taylor Swift in history: a teenage girl who turns into the world's favorite pop star, songwriter, storyteller, guitar hero, live performer, changing how music is made and heard. An all-time great on the level of The Beatles, Prince, or David Bowie.Heartbreak Is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music is the first book that goes deep on the musical and cultural impact of Taylor Swift. Nobody can tell the story like Rob Sheffield, the bestselling and award-winning author of Dreaming the Beatles, On Bowie, and Love Is a Mix Tape. The legendary Rolling Stone journalist is the writer who has chronicled Taylor for every step of her long career, from her early days to the Eras Tour. Sheffield gets right to the heart of Swift and her music, her lyrics, her fan connection, her raw power.At once one of the most beloved music figures of the past two decades and one of the most criticized, Taylor Swift is known as much for her life beyond her music as she is for her hits–the most public of stars, yet also the weirdest and most mysterious. In the tradition of Sheffield's Dreaming the Beatles, Heartbreak Is the National Anthem will inform and delight a legion of fans who hang on every word from Taylor and every word Rob writes on her.This non-fiction biography delves into the life of Taylor Swift, exploring her journey as an individual and her impact on social and cultural norms. It's a deep dive into the genres and styles she has mastered, and the feminist undertones that resonate in her work.For fans of Haruki Murakami (What I Talk About When I Talk About Running), Jay Rubin (Absolutely on Music), Chuck Klosterman (Killing Yourself to Live), Truman Capote (Portraits and Observations), and Elizabeth Goodman (Cat Power).HarperCollins 2024
