Heartbreak Is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music

Who better than longtime Rolling Stone contributor Sheffield (Love Is a Mix Tape) to dive into the phenomenal career of Taylor Swift, who has managed to stay in the pop-music limelight for nearly two decades? Sheffield, an unabashed fan who doesn’t mind mentioning that he first heard some of Swift’s greatest hits in her very own apartment, sometimes seems as mystified as anyone as to how a singer-songwriter with a legendary capacity for being “extra” has managed not to flare out. But she has managed it, and he has a few ideas about why. She’s a quintessential songwriter and storyteller who has inspired numerous women to follow in her footsteps, sometimes right onto the stage with her. Her sincerity is genuine, and her ability to swerve creatively without crashing through pop music’s guardrails is unparalleled. How that all adds up to the reinvention of pop music is never conclusively answered, but does it matter? It’s Swift’s world; we just live in it.