Scholarship examining Taylor Swift and her fans is still relatively new for studies in popular culture. In Blank Space: Taylor Swift and Contingent Identities, Keith Nainby presents a multi-layered look that juxtaposes his own experiences as a Swiftie with others who have found solace in Taylor Swift’s music. It is a noteworthy addition to the gender and pop music genre.

Adrienne Trier-Bieniek, Ph.D. editor of the forthcoming book In the Swifte Era

“Keith Nainby creates a mosaic of how we can understand the construction of the self and the other in relationship to larger social discourses, this time embedded in a pop culture phenomenon. Blank Space reifies how identities are contingent, in flux, enabled, and constrained by the boundaries that are outlined in social discourses. Aca-Swifties (Swiftie-demics?) can find refuge in Nainby’s analysis of the musical communities we are allowed to be a part of and what that means for rhetoric, pop culture, and cultural studies. Drawing from a range of scholarship from interpersonal communication to critical rhetoric, to musicology, Nainby, demonstrates how Swift’s narrators recognize how identities unfold over time, always contingent on context, culture, and community.”

Brandi Lawless, University of San Francisco

Expertly blending textual analysis of songs and qualitative analysis of fan interviews, Blank Space: Taylor Swift and Contingent Identities answers the question so many are asking: How should we understand the Taylor Swift phenomenon? Rejecting simplified notions of pop music fans, Keith Nainby locates the power of Taylor Swift in a complex intersection of communication, identity, and ethics. In Blank Space, Taylor Swift fans will find a book that centers their voices, and in doing so, takes Taylor Swift and her fan community seriously. Scholars of popular culture and fandom will find a rich study of Taylor Swift’s song-writing, public image, and fans.

Ashley Hinck, Xavier University