July 18, 2013

From Hollywood to Your Bookshelf: Taylor Swift

Estelle and I were having one of our random discussions about young celebrities (a.k.a.  Zac Efron), when we realized that his real life and the lives of other young celebrities would make the perfect material for a YA novel. Inspired by our idea, we've both decided to tackle the celebrity of our choice in our posts today! So after reading my post, pop on over and check out Estelle's post!

I chose to write about the unmatched Taylor Swift. I'm a fan, mostly because I think she writes really awesome and catchy songs, and has a personality that comes across as authentic and awkward and real in spite of her celebrity status. Basically, it's my theory that she and I would be instant BFFs if we ever met and hung out in real life. I've been following her life and relationships for a long time, and there's plenty of stuff that would be good material for a novel!

Taylor Swift

Generally, Swift's rise to fame is already pretty story-worthy. She was passionate about music at an incredibly young age, dabbling in learning instruments and writing songs. Her sheer determination brought her to Nashville and gave her the courage to go door-to-door with record labels until she found one that would take a chance on her. Her first album was moderately successful, with a vibe that was 3/4 country and 1/4 pop. But it was her second album, particularly the single Love Story, that shot her to fame! She's sold many records, won a ton of awards, played sold-out concerts in so many places since then, as well as dabbling in acting on the side. 

Then, on the other hand, there's Swift's relationships, which are a messy variety of affairs indeed. The sheer number of relationships is not surprising, honestly, as Swift is young and still in the phase of discovering what she wants from a relationship. Obviously, her experimentation is a little more public than most as she's a celebrity, but I consider her different relationships pretty normal. The variety makes for a great story though, since everyone loves a romance! 

There's Joe Jonas, who infamously broke up with her in a 27-second call. He was followed shortly by Taylor Lautner, who appeared to be a good match for her so it shocked everyone when she broke it off. Then there's John Mayer, the older bad boy who she connected with musically, followed by another older guy, Jake Gyllenhaal, whom she had a brief fling with. Then came Conor Kennedy, who was a nice, all-American boy and seemed to be a steadier relationship than the others. Eventually, they parted ways as well. Swift was last known to have dated Harry Styles, one of the members of boy band One Direction. And these are just the confirmed romances!

With the different boys she's been involved with (for different lengths of time, I might add), it's no surprise that I'd consider each relationship fodder for a good story, or even just a chapter in one. It totally makes sense that Swift would capitalize on them to write a song, as that's kind of a form of storytelling too.



While Swift's story has yet to inspire an actual novel, here are some suggestions for books that would be similar. Some of the similarities are fairly obvious, while others are more subtle. Still, each suggestion gives off the Taylor Swift vibe!

books that have a Taylor Swift vibe
The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway
The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart
Invisible by Marni Bates
Lovestruck Summer by Melissa C. Walker
The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg (my review)

YOUR TURN - Which celebrity lives or stories do you think would be inspiration for a YA novel? Do you have other thoughts on Taylor Swift's life + relationships as a novel? Any other Taylor Swift-vibed suggestions for books?

15 Comments:

  1. I love Taylor Swift as well <3 Eventhough I tend to think most of the relationships mentioned with various boys above might be for PR only, tee-hee
    I adore her songs too! The lyrics are beautiful and I could relate a lot.
    One of her songs that I'd really like to be a book might be.... You Belong With Me :D

    Tirta @ I Prefer Reading

    ReplyDelete
  2. I would totally pick Taylor too! And it looks like we're going to have to do some sharing because I've also claimed Taylor to be my BFF (once I meet her, of course)! :) Seriously though, I admire her so much and I feel like transforming her tale into a YA novel would be the best thing ever. And as for books I'd suggest, I would probably say Lola and the Boy Next Door. Only because I really couldn't get Taylor's song You Belong With Me out of my head while I was reading this. I mean, the similarities!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sadly, I am just not a Taylor Swift fan (never have been). I know tons of people are, but there's just something (ok a lot, but I don't want to be debbie downer in your post lol) that bugs me. I can see why you'd choose her. Her song lyrics are definitely full of story potential.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Taylor Swift sounds like a really good choice for YA books! She reminds me of a lot of the heroines in the contemporary YAs I read :)

    Kate @ Ex Libris

    ReplyDelete
  5. HA! I love how you did this. So so so smart. And the title is great. Maybe something you can write in the future? :)

    Thanks for doing this with me. It was so fun, and maybe we can do it again sometime? :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love this post idea! You and Estelle are geniuses :P Taylor Swift's life could TOTALLY make an awesome YA book! Like you said, what with her rise to fame, and then all her relationships, there is definitely some pretty amazing book material there!

    ReplyDelete
  7. So I rambled incoherently in Estelle's post and I'm basically going to do the same here. I'LL TRY TO CONTAIN THE EXCLAMATION MARKS, ALEXA!

    Reading these was an absolute blast; I can only imagine how much fun it was for you two to come up with this/make these posts!

    Haha, I had a silly grin on my face the ENTIRE TIME I read this and my brain was pretty much keysmash/flails galore. Seriously, this idea was SO creative and brilliant. I love it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm coming out with you- I'm a Swifty. And while I think a book about her would be a fun, interesting read, I think it would be neat if she actually WROTE a book. (Hilary Duff did it, why not Taylor Swift?) Though I know that the ability to write songs is different from the ability to write a good book, I'd be curious to see what she came up with. ^.^

    ReplyDelete
  9. I think Taylor and I would be BFFs too-she's a day older than me and we're both originally from Pennsylvania so I like to pretend that that is a good foundation for our friendship :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. This is such a cute idea! I like Taylor Swift's music too -- I'm always amazed at the profoundness of her lyrics despite her age. A musician who writes her own stuff is always a win for me!

    I've enjoyed all of your Taylor-esque picks that I've read, so I'll definitely check out the ones that I haven't read!!! (I'm halfway through the Ruby Oliver series and LOVING it!)

    ReplyDelete
  11. This is really fun and I read Estelle's post a little earlier today and it was really fun too - I hope you two do these again. Taylor Swift almost makes me giggle the way she bounces back and forth with all of these high-profile flings of hers, but they are fuel for some really catchy songs that I really enjoy singing while I'm driving or cleaning or whatever. Love her.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Ohhh this is really interesting! I think Jennifer Lawrence's life could inspire a good YA novel. After all, she did get famous by being discovered on spring break in New York. :)

    Julia @ That Hapa Chick

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love Taylor Swift. She writes awesome music and I have loved her since Tim Mcgraw and Teardrops on my guitar. Haters can continue to hate, but Taylor Swift is amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love Taylor Swift, and I think her songs lyrics really do read (hear?) like YA novels. They're little stories in itself, and that's exactly why I love listening to them so much. For example, Mary's Song is such a completely story! But so are all of the others, of course. I really would love to see these songs get turned into novels, tbh ;)

    ReplyDelete
  15. I totally love Taylor Swift, and like Judith, I absolutely think her songs sound like novels. There are SO many of her songs that I would love to see turned into books! I love your idea for how her life could inspire a book, and your suggestions of "similar to" are spot on! Love this fun feature - yay to you and Estelle!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for leaving a comment! I love seeing what you have to say, and will try to reply (here or on Twitter) as soon as I can :)