The hidden story behind every song

A beautiful book to explore the repertoire of the American popstar song by song

2024 will definitely have been the year of the Eras Tour and Taylor Swift and the year when France finally succumbed to Taylor mania. The American popstar played 6 sold-out stadium dates and her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Departmentmet with great success, both publicly and critically. Faced with the phenomenon, French publishers wanted to catch up and increased their publications, whether original works (general) or translations of books published in English.

Among this myriad of quite varied and sometimes unequal titles, Taylor Swift: The Hidden Story Behind Every Song d’Annie Zaleski published by L’Imprévu, is worth the detour for fans of the artist. Journalist and music historian working in particular at New York Timesthe author explores, album after album, the entirety of Tay-Tay’s repertoire, at the rate of one sub-section per song, from her first eponymous album from 2006 until The Tortured Poets Department.

An accessible and relevant approach

The journalist devotes from 1 or 2 paragraphs to an entire page to each depending on the headlines. Beyond a small technical sheet (release date, possible co-authors, production and alternative versions available), it succinctly evokes the meaning of each title, but also its genesis, anecdotes around its production, sometimes accompanied by quotes from Taylor Swift or her collaborators. Beyond that, when she delves into it, Zaleski also provides musical analysis that is often brief but always relevant. The testimonies of collaborators on the production of titles are also often very interesting, especially since it is discussed in few books. This allows this work, despite its general public approach, to somewhat go beyond the simple status of a pretty illustrated index for fans.

The journalist draws parallels in particular with the music of more confidential artists (whether they are acknowledged influences of Taylor Swift or not) that we can discover for some, but also demonstrates real musicological knowledge which allows to underline the work of art at work within the artist’s music behind an apparent simplicity if, in the end, she gives much more space to the lyrics of the songs and their meaning and sticks to the minimum portion for the musical part itself. From this point of view, it is almost frustrating that the author does not look in this way, and even at greater length, on the music of more titles – some of which are only entitled to a brief summary of the theme of the songs. lyrics – but this is the very principle of this type of work in the form of an exhaustive repertoire, which you can read in the order you want and to which you can refer if you are looking for information on a title especially. Given the target of the work, we also imagine that the author did not want to appear too specific.

Obviously, the succinct nature of many sections means that Zaleski does not provide a complete and detailed analysis of the songs and that, from the point of view of the interpretation of their meaning, it often remains basic. However, this remains largely accurate and will allow Swifties who are not fully fluent in English to have a better overview of the themes explored within his work. A few short chapters also allow us to discuss collaborations on other artists’ albums (apart from the main and bonus tracks of each album, Zaleski also talks about film soundtracks, but has not included other collaborations in each era ) or even the guest stars from his concerts during the 1989 tour.

Finally, this work is also a beautiful object that we will enjoy leafing through. We will praise its elegant cover, its solid binding, but also a simple and pleasant design and a pretty iconography, with numerous images (mainly live photos, and a few red carpet photos), many of which are in full format.

In the end, Taylor Swift: The Hidden Story Behind Every Song by Annie Zaleski, while being a beautiful book for the general public, is one of the works to be placed at the top of the basket among the multitude of titles published this year on the American popstar. A nice gift to give to a Swiftie or to treat yourself.