There's Nothing Like This: The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift

i'm a picky swiftie, and this book is SO good. it's such an entertaining read that stays close to Taylor, and thankfully is written like a story, NOT like a list of boring business lessons and terms. i loved reading what went into Taylor's decision-making in every single era of her career, and it helped clarify how she became the major superstar she is today. the author clearly respects Taylor and put a lot of time and effort into writing and researching this book. i didn't expect to learn as much as I did, and it was fun to see Taylor's decisions and accomplishments explained in new ways. If you love Taylor or are simply interested in finding out how and why this whole phenomenon happened, you should buy this book!

An informative analysis with one glaring flaw: After spending so many pages on the controversy around Taylor’s alleged approval of Kanye’s lyrics “I made that bitch famous,” not once does Evers clarify that it was subsequently proven that Taylor was not the liar and that the recorded “evidence” was edited to make her appear to be lying. He does say the recording was edited, but does not clarify or emphasize Taylor’s truthfulness, which is essential to the narrative. If you’re going to analyze Taylor’s strategic genius, you must include her integrity, which is foundational to her identity, not fake.

As an OG Swiftie, I have poured over many Taylor Swift stories outlining her life since I first heard “Tim McGraw” in 2006… but this book does a great job bringing in outside references within the music industry, business world & statistics that show how Taylor has continued to be successful through wins & losses! I was hooked the whole time reading and learned a lot of new perspectives. Highly recommend for anyone looking to learn about Taylor & her successful career strategy (whether you’re a Swiftie or not)!

Don’t judge a book by its cover (or the title, in this case). This book isn’t just for Swifties. It is equally valuable for anyone in business who works on go-to-market, marketing, or customer acquisition strategy. Kevin Evers has written a strategy book that takes the reader through the 20-year evolution of a brand, and Taylor Swift happens to be the case study. From exploring concepts like blue ocean strategy, to rebranding, to leveraging advances in digital technology, the savvy reader will recognize patterns and learn how to apply them to their own brand.Admittedly, I admire Taylor Swift as both a businesswoman and an artist. As I read through the book, I also took the time to listen to the songs referenced in each chapter, which made the experience feel multi-dimensional along the way. As a bonus, the author provides a rich section of additional readings. The reference materials and the thorough back matter of the book amount to a masterclass in sourcing concepts that can sharpen strategic thinking and guide brand decision-making.

Interesting stories of the business side of Taylor Swift management. I wonder how many teens will be inspired to pursue a career in business after reading this book?

My thoughts on this book as an elder Swiftie:The good: speaking as someone who has worked in research and marketing for 30+ years, from a business perspective, I really appreciated the insights into the recording industry as this is not my area of focus. The book is well-written and exhaustively researched as any HBR publication should be. I liked the way the author used album titles or song lyrics as section/chapter titles, and it was fun to learn more about some of her earlier career moves that I had not known as I joined the Swiftdom in the rep era.The meh: As others have noted, it is entirely secondarily sourced; i.e. based off previous articles/books/interviews/etc. with no apparent attempt made at comment from the subject of the book herself. If you're looking for something new, you aren't going to find it here.Even so, I thought the first half or so of the book was really good - up until the section where reputation started, and then it lost momentum. In total, almost 70% of the book is pre-reputation (157 pages) with only another 81 pages total on rep, Lover, folklore, evermore, Midnights, The Eras tour, and TTPD is relegated to a couple of pages in the epilogue. It felt like the author was rushing to finish it or he ran out of steam after the first half of her career. (To be fair: she is prolific! There's a lot of content there!) I would have been so much more interested to read more about the last 10 years of her career because IMO her most interesting growth and development has occurred in the last decade.The egregious: There are a number of absolutely inexcusable errors or oversights including:-He spent a lot of time on her 'downfall' resulting from the Kanye/Kim tape and only later barely touched on the fact that they had presented an edited version of it. He strongly reinforces the narrative that she was calculating in crafting her image and although he acknowledges that she was brilliant in her recovery, he doesn't address how the lies and the impact to her psyche fueled her. This is Taylor 101 stuff and is fundamental to understanding, in her words, "how much she will inconvenience herself to prove a point."-Zero pages discussing 13 Management ... how on earth HBR allowed this total oversight is beyond me. *That* is a business book I would really like to read; hope I don't have to wait for it to be declassified in 50 years.-Scooter Braun is probably perfectly happy with how he comes across in this book, enough said there-The Eras Tour - *the highest-grossing tour in history* - is relegated to a total of 7 (SEVEN) pages in the last chapter. He spent just one sentence talking about the halo effect on the local economies in the cities where she played; not a single word on her charitable donations.-TTPD is only mentioned in the epilogue, which is understandable given that the book had been more or less finished when it was released, but he attributes the inspiration of nearly the entire album as her breakup with Matty Healy with a brief nod to her (at the time) blossoming relationship with Travis - reinforcing the "all her songs are about her exes" narrative (and he didn't even get THAT right.)Overall: I wanted to love it ... but I just liked it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harvard Business Review Press for the eARC!This was a fun and informative book, maybe a tiny bit more focused on business than I was expecting. But that's on me entirely; it is published by Harvard Business Review.I think the author does a great job of unraveling Taylor's business moves. I liked the way he included short examples of other companies pulling similar moves (or trying to). And I also enjoyed the way he broke up the book - into her different albums and the Eras Tour. I also really appreciated that he didn't just focus on the positive elements of her career, but he also discussed (in more detail than I would have expected) the situation with Kanye and Kim, as well as the albums that did less well (I refuse to say they were flops): Reputation and Lover.