{"id":7052,"date":"2024-11-13T21:37:33","date_gmt":"2024-11-13T21:37:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=7052"},"modified":"2024-11-13T21:37:33","modified_gmt":"2024-11-13T21:37:33","slug":"taylor-swift-is-up-there-with-the-beatles-and-bob-dylan-says-rolling-stones-rob-sheffield-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=7052","title":{"rendered":"Taylor Swift is \u2018up there\u2019 with the Beatles and Bob Dylan, says Rolling Stone\u2019s Rob Sheffield"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cHeartbreak,\u201d out Tuesday \u2014 and likely an auto-buy for Swifties \u2014 is an eye-opener for non-Swifties Who Don\u2019t Get It. A decoder for her It Factor.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not a biography. Sheffield, 58, does for Swift what he did for David Bowie and the Beatles in previous books. It\u2019s an in-depth analysis of why the artist matters. Entire chapters devoted to analyzing tracks, lyric choices, and why he sees her as great.<\/p>\n

Swift is \u201cthe most public of artists, yet also the most deeply weird and mysterious,\u201d Sheffield writes. She\u2019s \u201ckept trying on different music and emotional identities all through her career. She leaves her Old Taylor behind \u2026 without losing any of her essential weirdness.\u201d She likes to confuse, \u201cto throw everybody off the trail.\u201d She likes to \u201cmess with fans\u2019 minds.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Get Starting Point<\/p>\n

A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

As he was getting ready to speak at Harvard Bookstore Nov. 15, and in Swift\u2019s part-time hometown in Westerly, R.I., Nov. 14, I called Sheffield at home in Brooklyn to talk about the book.<\/p>\n

Q.<\/b> So what captivated you as you were eating your grilled cheese that day in 2007 and first heard \u201cOur Song\u201d?<\/p>\n

\n
\"Taylor
Taylor Swift holds up a guitar while posing for photographers at the 75th Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony in New York in November 2007. TNICHOLAS ROBERTS\/AFP via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

A.<\/b> I loved the audacity. A teenage girl with a guitar singing about her own life \u2014 there wasn\u2019t a lot of that in 2007. It was almost a novelty. She\u2019s saying: I\u2019m a teenage girl, I love music, and I\u2019m an expert on it. But there isn\u2019t a song that does justice to how I feel. So I\u2019ll write it myself.<\/p>\n

I thought: What a cocky way to end a song [laughs]. There\u2019s swagger there. I thought \u201cThis is a prodigy. I hope she maybe has another couple of songs before she burns out.\u201d Little did I know.<\/p>\n

Q.<\/b> You don\u2019t draw this direct line, but the way you describe why you love Swift is just how I\u2019d describe why I love Bob Dylan: He\u2019s never not Dylan. He\u2019s mysterious. Creates his own myth. Unpredictable. He\u2019s \u201ca jigsaw puzzle that turns out to be a mirror.\u201d<\/p>\n

A.<\/b> Oh my gosh, that\u2019s such a great comparison. And it\u2019s right there. They love to be maddening. Dylan gets the Nobel Prize and doesn\u2019t show up. But on the other hand, he\u2019s tweeting about this barbecue place he went to years ago.<\/p>\n

Q.<\/b> Exactly. You\u2019ll never figure him out.<\/p>\n

A.<\/b> She has so much of that. I grew up in the \u201880s as a Dylan fan in Boston, hearing him on WBCN. It was a maddening fan experience, because every time you thought you knew what he should do next, he\u2019d do the opposite. Being a Swift fan is absolutely at that level.<\/p>\n

Q.<\/b> The way you explain her \u201cTaylors\u201d had me thinking of Dylans: Christian, folkie, \u201cNashville Skyline,\u201d Sinatra covers.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Taylor
The cover of \u201cHeartbreak Is the National Anthem\u201d and author Rob Sheffield.HarperCollins Publishers\/Marisa Bettencourt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

A.<\/b> Now you\u2019re making me wish we would get a Bob Dylan Eras tour.<\/p>\n

Q.<\/b> You liken her to Paul McCartney in her obsessiveness.<\/p>\n

A.<\/b> For Rolling Stone, Taylor interviewed Paul McCartney, and they talked about their obsession with numbers. I was like, \u201cOh my gosh, these two are unhinged in the same ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Q.<\/b> Why does she love Easter eggs so much?<\/p>\n

A.<\/b> Some of it comes from her love of the Beatles. When she was 16, an interviewer asked why she capitalized some letters in her CD booklet. She said, The capital letters spell a secret message. She explains she got the idea from the Beatles \u2014 you play the record backwards and hear: Paul is dead.<\/p>\n

Q.<\/b> She\u2019s always planting clues. Where would you place her in the rock pantheon?<\/p>\n

A.<\/b> One of the all-timers. My last two books were about David Bowie and the Beatles, and she\u2019s up there. I wanted to do justice to her music because people [typically] write about her fame, image, fashion, love life. But she\u2019s been at the top for 18 years and is just as weird as ever.<\/p>\n

Q.<\/b> What do you think appeals to her core demographic of young girls?<\/p>\n

A.<\/b> She invites them to hear their lives as a story. The first time I saw her, I loved how she introduced herself: \u201cMy name is Taylor, and I write songs about my feelings.\u201d She was telling, especially young girls, they each had a story worth telling. She demystified songwriting. I love how she explains: \u201cThis guitar is just a machine I used to write songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Q.<\/b> You wrote that around 2011, after you saw her audience, you told friends: \u201cTen years from now, my favorite music will be coming from these girls.\u201d<\/p>\n

A.<\/b> You look at pop music in 2024 and it\u2019s all Taylor Swifts \u2014 Sabrina, Chappell, Olivia, Billie. Taylor proved it could be done. We hear the results of her influence now in one hour of pop radio. That\u2019s the heart of why she matters so much.<\/p>\n

Q.<\/b> You write, she\u2019s \u201crelentlessly Taylor\u201d and some find her \u201cinfuriating and exhausting.\u201d<\/p>\n

A.<\/b> She\u2019s polarizing. Some of my friends say, \u201cI wish I could go to an island for a year where I wouldn\u2019t hear her name.\u201d That\u2019s not how I feel, but I get that \u2014 she\u2019s an extreme personality. Part of the fun of being a Swift fan is arguing about her. \u2026 With this book, I wasn\u2019t trying to settle any arguments. I just wanted to make them louder and livelier.<\/p>\n

Q.<\/b> Where do you see her going from here?<\/p>\n

A.<\/b> I\u2019ve been trying for 18 years to guess what Taylor Swift\u2019s next move might be. I\u2019m batting zero for a million. But I love being outfoxed.<\/p>\n

\n

Lauren Daley can be reached at ldaley33@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @laurendaley1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The author reads from his brand new book, \u201cHeartbreak Is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music\u201d at local bookstores.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7053,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-taylor-swifts"],"yoast_head":"\nTaylor Swift is \u2018up there\u2019 with the Beatles and Bob Dylan, says Rolling Stone\u2019s Rob Sheffield - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=7052\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Taylor Swift is \u2018up there\u2019 with the Beatles and Bob Dylan, says Rolling Stone\u2019s Rob Sheffield - News 365\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The author reads from his brand new book, \u201cHeartbreak Is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music\u201d at local bookstores.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=7052\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News 365\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-11-13T21:37:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/01-2024-11-14T043714.706.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MsHan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MsHan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=7052\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=7052\",\"name\":\"Taylor Swift is \u2018up there\u2019 with the Beatles and Bob Dylan, says Rolling Stone\u2019s Rob Sheffield - News 365\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=7052#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=7052#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/01-2024-11-14T043714.706.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-13T21:37:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-11-13T21:37:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f09359787389175562194e1ac16d5c2a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=7052#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=7052\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=7052#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/01-2024-11-14T043714.706.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/01-2024-11-14T043714.706.png\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":1080},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=7052#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Taylor Swift is \u2018up there\u2019 with the Beatles and Bob Dylan, says Rolling Stone\u2019s Rob Sheffield\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"News 365\",\"description\":\"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f09359787389175562194e1ac16d5c2a\",\"name\":\"MsHan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b5d5395174488a4ed6e967c89fcc43e593f72ab35b7650fb9fd4cfd4250bbe3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b5d5395174488a4ed6e967c89fcc43e593f72ab35b7650fb9fd4cfd4250bbe3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"MsHan\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?author=3\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Taylor Swift is \u2018up there\u2019 with the Beatles and Bob Dylan, says Rolling Stone\u2019s Rob Sheffield - News 365","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=7052","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Taylor Swift is \u2018up there\u2019 with the Beatles and Bob Dylan, says Rolling Stone\u2019s Rob Sheffield - News 365","og_description":"The author reads from his brand new book, \u201cHeartbreak Is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music\u201d at local bookstores.","og_url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=7052","og_site_name":"News 365","article_published_time":"2024-11-13T21:37:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1080,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/01-2024-11-14T043714.706.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"MsHan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"MsHan","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=7052","url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=7052","name":"Taylor Swift is \u2018up there\u2019 with the Beatles and Bob Dylan, says Rolling Stone\u2019s Rob Sheffield - News 365","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=7052#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=7052#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/01-2024-11-14T043714.706.png","datePublished":"2024-11-13T21:37:33+00:00","dateModified":"2024-11-13T21:37:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f09359787389175562194e1ac16d5c2a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=7052#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=7052"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=7052#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/01-2024-11-14T043714.706.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/01-2024-11-14T043714.706.png","width":1080,"height":1080},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=7052#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Taylor Swift is \u2018up there\u2019 with the Beatles and Bob Dylan, says Rolling Stone\u2019s Rob Sheffield"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/","name":"News 365","description":"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f09359787389175562194e1ac16d5c2a","name":"MsHan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b5d5395174488a4ed6e967c89fcc43e593f72ab35b7650fb9fd4cfd4250bbe3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b5d5395174488a4ed6e967c89fcc43e593f72ab35b7650fb9fd4cfd4250bbe3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"MsHan"},"url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?author=3"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7052"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7054,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7052\/revisions\/7054"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}