Book Review | Into the Taylor-Verse: Taylor Swift's Song-Writing Eras

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This would be a great gift for the Swiftie in your life, or the new listener who wants to know more about one of the greatest music icons of all time.

The book gives an overview of both her life and her work, accompanied by illustrations from each era.

Time and again, those who are not fans are dismissive of her song-writing, claiming all Taylor writes about are her exes. This could not be further from the truth, and that's what makes her so universally appealing. Are there numerous break-up songs? Of course. But what artist doesn't use their personal life to make music? Taylor touches on so many more topics than that though, and this book showcases her talent beautifully. From Debut through Midnights, Taylor captures the feelings of growing up, young adulthood, and the real world - and all the highs and lows that come with each stage of life she's experienced thus far.

Beyond a detailed dive into Taylor's skills as a songwriter, the author looks at her discography as a whole (except for Tortured Poets, which must have come out after the book went through final editing or went to print?), the showmanship and creativity she pours into her tours and live performances, and so much more.

I'm not sure I can truly describe how much Taylor's music has impacted me. Prior to the Eras Tour, I only owned Fearless, which came out in 2008. But Eleanor was a massive fan and begged me to really listen to Taylor. I resisted for months, but finally gave in, and nothing has been the same since then. The emotion that Taylor puts into all her work is absolutely captivating. She can have me in tears as I scream-sing a song that has not been applicable to my life in twenty years. But that is her gift. She taps into these deep wells of emotion and truly heals, long after the cuts have scabbed over but never gone away.

Through her music, we see Taylor's personal growth as well and her development as a songwriter and performer. Her stories are universal, and that's why her music evokes such powerful responses from fans; she is just like us.

In addition to looking at the music, the author also drops in other content that I enjoyed. There's a playlist of songs that are not about exes, mini-bios of her beloved cats, and why the number thirteen matters so much in the Taylor-verse.

This was a thorough journey through Taylor's career, calling attention to the themes that flow from song to song, album to album. Each era is given its time to shine, from her beginnings as the darling of country music (she won her first Grammy awards for only her second album, Fearless - Best Female Country Vocal Performance, Best Country Album, Best Country Song [White Horse], and Album of the Year), through her complete genre shift and the dizzying heights she achieved with 1989 (one of the greatest pop albums of all time - and what's crazy is that it isn't even her best album), to her "comback" after disappearing in the aftermath and of Kim and Kanye's bullshit and lies, to her surprise Covid albums, to where she is now, the undisputed icon she is today.

Highly, highly recommended.