Stephanie Burt’s new books is a cerebral dive into the artistry superstar Taylor Swift. The book’s release coincides with the Oct. 14 of Swift’s 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl.

CHRIS AZZOPARDI | QSyndicate

When Harvard professor and celebrated poet Stephanie Burt listens to Taylor Swift’s “Fifteen,” she doesn’t just hear a bittersweet teenage memory wrapped in twangy chords and locker-lined hallways. She hears the sound of a girlhood she never got to live — but finally can.

“I have listened to ‘Fifteen’ over and over and over, of course,” says Burt, speaking about her new book examining Swift’s evolution as a songwriter and pop icon. “I am told not just by my friends who were relatively popular in high school who were cis girls that that’s what it’s like, but also, at this po

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