Book Review for The Essential...Taylor Swift by Caroline Young

 

The Essential...Taylor Swift by Caroline Young

Published July 9, 2024 by Gemini Editions

Since signing her first recording contract at just sixteen, Taylor Swift has gone from a well-regarded country singer to a global pop phenomenon.

Dubbed the ‘world's biggest pop star,’ she is the first woman to have four albums in the Billboard chart’s top ten at the same time, and as of 2023, thanks to her Eras Tour, the first live music billionaire.

Beyond music, her cultural impact is vast, with her life dominating column inches like no other celebrity this century. The Taylor Swift factor’ influences everything from regional economies through her ticket sales and tours, to guitar sales to  women, and inspiring 65,000 people to register for voting ahead of the 2020 US elections.

With stunning images and insightful text, The Essential... Taylor Swift details the key to her phenomenal success; from her bestselling songwriting talent to her business acumen and ‘big sister’ personality, and how she shifted from country to pop and dominated the music industry, while facing down misogyny and the haters.

A must-have book for all Swifties.

 

The Essential... Celebrating the world’s best-loved popular icons and cultural luminaries, these are The Essential guidebooks, packed with facts, quotes, photos, and stories.

My Thoughts:  I would not consider myself a groupie or even a big fan of Taylor Swift but I am always intrigued by how the celebrities got to where they are today.   Taylor is the biggest of the big stars so I knew that I wanted to check out her story.   This book was not about her pre-stardom life so much but more about everything that she went through once she started to become a star.   I enjoyed knowing the background to her songs, seeing how other stars treated her, and how her personal life made such a huge effect on her writing and performing.  

Everything Taylor puts out to her fans is deliberate.  Every post, every song, every phrase has a reason.  I love that she is mystical but never so much that people give up on figuring it out.  Again, I do not stalk her social media pages but I did go look to see what was being talked about I truly enjoyed her pages and will be watching them more closely now. 

Taylor has quite to following and she deserves it!   I learned a lot about her music career and truly enjoyed the book.   Whether you are a Swiftie or fan of music this is a great fun book.  

Thank you Gemini Books for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review. 

Add to your MUST-READ list on Goodreads

Purchase your own copy on Amazon

Meet the AUTHOR and writer Caroline Young specializes in popular culture, fashion and film history. She has written a number of celebrated books, including Style Tribes: The Fashion of Subcultures, Living with Coco Chanel (Frances Lincoln), and Hitchcock’s Heroines (Insight Editions). This is her first book for Gemini Books Group.