Heartbreak Is the National Anthem: A Celebration of Taylor Swift's Musical Journey, Cultural Impact, and Reinvention of Pop Music for Swifties by a Swiftie

Red, Swift’s fourth album, was another key turning point in her discography. It embraced pop sounds, and hits like “We are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” had a cheeky, self-deprecating sense of humor that Swift would carry forward into her subsequent work. Sheffield asserts, “Red reached so far and wide, it made her previous albums sound like the straight country records they weren’t, drawing the line that made them ‘the early stuff’ (88). He remembers attending the Red Tour; as Swift theatrically drummed along to “Holy Ground,” a child seated behind him excitedly screamed about how she was “rocking out.”

Diving back into Swiftie fan culture, Sheffield explains the significance of Swift’s cryptology, a practice she is well-known for. She leaves hidden meanings in her lyrics, music videos, and almost all other promotional materials for fans to decode and interpret. Sheffield notes that this tendency can be traced back to a radio interview Swift gave in 2006, where she admitted that her dream job outside of being a pop star would be a crime detective, revealing her penchant for clues and puzzle-solving. The first example of her use of codes was in the CD booklet for her debut album, where seemingly random letters were capitalized in order to spell out words that revealed the songs’ true meanings, an artistic choice she said was inspired by The Beatles’ backwards records.