There's Nothing Like This

The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift

De: Kevin Evers

Narrado por: Candace Joice

Singer-songwriter. Trailblazer. Mastermind. The Beatles of her generation. From her genre-busting rise in country music as a teenager to the economic juggernaut that is the Eras Tour, Taylor Swift has blazed a path that is uniquely hers. But how exactly has she managed to scale her success—multiple times—while dominating an industry that cycles through artists and stars like fashion trends? How has she managed to make and remake herself time and again while remaining true to her artistic vision? And how has she managed to master the constant disruption in the music business that has made it so hard for others to adapt and endure?

In There's Nothing Like This, Kevin Evers, a senior editor at Harvard Business Review, answers these questions in riveting detail. With the same thoughtful analysis usually devoted to iconic founders, game-changing innovators, and pioneering brands, Evers chronicles the business and creative decisions that have defined each phase of Swift's career.

Mixing business and art, analysis and narrative, and pulling from research in innovation, creativity, psychology, and strategy, There's Nothing Like This presents Swift as the modern and multidimensional superstar that she is—a songwriting savant and a strategic genius.

©2025 Kevin Evers (P)2025 Ascent Audio

Familiar Business Leasons

She was the right person at the right time. I would not call this “Strategic Genius” there was timing and luck involved as well. Taylor Swift fans may feel different, but in general it’s all about knowing your customer, diversity revenue streams and controlling your product.

Solid book

I appreciated the analysis from a neutral perspective through a business and strategic lens. He showed both sides and that gives us a better view and understanding of Taylor’s meteoric rise.

Business Context

As a regular HBR reader, I loved how I cold share this story with music lovers to understand key concepts and decision making.

As a devout Swiftie with an MBA, I was surprised by how much I didn’t know!

The robust analysis and interconnection of Taylor Swift, the person/the genius/the emotional support pop star/the brand with facts and perspectives from multiple angles resulted in my learning a great amount about someone that I already greatly appreciate.

Repetitive and minimally insightful

The author gives too much airtime to Taylor’s detractors and critics and doesn’t deliver on the promised insights into her business savvy maneuvering. For example, he belabors past negatives like Kanye shenanigans, and only gives a quick nod to the decisions underlying the Eras tour. He falls victim to all the double-standards that could possibly arise when analyzing the success of a female vs male artist. And having a woman narrate this work, with all its male bias/blindness, is disingenuous and irritating.