As Burt moves relentlessly from one song to another, she is hard-pressed to avoid repeating the same points, leaving us to wonder if the book might have benefited from a more tightly curated selection of objects for study. Burt also stumbles when she ventures away from the particularities of these texts, seeking to pin down the Swift persona, often in an effort to glean some deeper cultural meaning from it.
Thorough and thoughtful ... Burt writes in a sober, ruminative fashion that departs from the overheated tone of so much Swift-related commentary. Rather than limit her comparisons to contemporary pop stars, she puts Swift in conversation with writers such as Alexander Pope and Willa Cather. Still, the book ultimately reinforces the consensus among critics, fans, and even haters that Swift’s extraordinary success stems from how ordinary she seems—a consensus that both underplays her achievement and insulates her from critique ... The search for a mote of relatability has led Burt to excuse-making. Any claim for Swift’s genius should reckon with her lapses into imprecision and pompousness. She has the chops to do better than she often does ... That criticism doesn’t hold Swift—who just announced her 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl—to an unfair standard. It recognizes the level she’s long aspired to and has often hit
Impressively detailed ... Burt’s close readings of individual songs draw on a host of surprising literary references...and her analyses of the singer’s artistry and success are perceptive. The result is an affectionate fan letter with unexpected depth.
