Alex Aster Listened to This Taylor Swift Song on Repeat While Writing Barbie: Dreamscape (Exclusive)

Alex Aster listened to this Taylor Swift song on repeat while writing ‘Barbie: Dreamscape,’ the first-ever Barbie young adult book, available now.

NEED TO KNOW

New York Times bestseller Alex Aster has released her tenth published book in partnership with Mattel titled Barbie: Dreamscape

Aster always listens to music while writing, sharing with PEOPLE “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” by Taylor Swift was on repeat for the first-ever Barbie novel

Barbie: Dreamscape is now available wherever books are sold

Alex Aster never writes in silence.

The New York Times bestselling author, recognized for her young adult romantasy series Lightlark, her enemies-to-lovers adult romance Summer in the City, and her adult romantasy Starside, is officially in her Barbie era — and has the perfect playlist to accompany it. Aster’s tenth published book and most recent release Barbie: Dreamscape (available now) is different from her previous titles in that it’s her first IP project — but the writing process followed many of her tried-and-true practices.

In an exclusive chat with PEOPLE ahead of Barbie: Dreamscape’s release, Aster shared she had specific music playing in the background while writing Mattel’s first-ever Barbie novel — something she’s done for her books in the past.

“I definitely listened to the Barbie soundtrack,” she says, referring to the 2023 Greta Gerwig live-action adaptation. “Those songs are so good. But I also listened a lot to ‘I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,’” otherwise known as the second single released on Taylor Swift’s 2024 album The Tortured Poets Department.

Widely regarded by Swift fans as an angsty, breakup album, “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” from The Tortured Poets Department may seem like a strange choice for Barbie, but Aster explains that the song especially relates to the heroic Barbie character in her book. “I do feel like that [song] is Barbie,” she says. “She’s smiling but has tears running down her face, and she’s trying to be perfect, but inside she’s like ‘Oh my gosh!”

“So that was really, really the song that I kept playing over and over,” she continues. “She’s trying so hard to be perfect that she doesn’t realize by doing that, she is actually making herself miserable.”

Aster’s newest young adult fantasy book follows Barbie as she leaves her home of Heartland on a quest to find her fate. She travels through various magical lands, meeting fantastical beings both good and bad and faces countless challenges that force her to come to terms with a reality she never could’ve imaged — all the while, putting on a brave face to achieve her goals.

“She very much does not want things to change,” explains Aster on the unexpected truths Barbie faces. “She likes them the way they are, but I think that she’s hiding a lot of feelings and it takes something very dramatic happening for her to actually see how strong she can be.”

Just like it takes a breakup for Swift to realize how strong she is (wink, wink).

Courtesy of Alex Aster

While this is the first time Aster has pegged “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” to one of her books, it’s not her first time listening to The Tortured Poets Department while writing. Back in March, Aster spoke to PEOPLE about her adult romantasy Starside, sharing that “Fortnight” and “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” was on repeat for that writing process.

“I love Taylor Swift,” Aster told PEOPLE. “Every single book that I write, there’s always a Taylor Swift song that kind of inspired it ... ‘Fortnight’ is a song I listened to every single day. Every time I listen to it, I find something different. It really calms me, but it also feels very emotional.”

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Aster is now on tour for Barbie: Dreamscape, having made her first stop in New York City on Aug. 18, followed by Los Angeles and Washington D.C. In a post on Instagram following her New York City event, she gave a shoutout to Mattel and her fans: “Thank you to Mattel for making this book release (for my 10th published book!!) one of the best yet! And thank you readers for all your support. Without you, none of this is possible 💖.”

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And to anyone who has picked up Barbie: Dreamscape,” she continued, “I hope you love it!!🫶”

Barbie: Dreamscape is now available wherever books are sold.

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