Learning from Taylor Swift’s plausible language of lament

We need to talk about Taylor Swift. Much ink has been spilled as to how appropriate her music is for Christians; I am not getting into that debate here. Instead, my attention is on the incontrovertible fact that Swift’s music is beloved by a phenomenally large number of people.

In a culture that is hallmarked by individualism and fragmentation, Taylor Swift has garnered an unprecedented popularity and ubiquity. Her impact has been compared to that of the Beatles, an impact she has sustained for 18 years, eight years more (and counting) than the Fab Four. The New Yorker goes even further, saying that she is best compared to the likes of Napoleon or Julius Caesar.

Go to her concerts, as 4.3 million people have this year alone, and you will hear her fans screaming her lyrics verbatim for song after song (her recent concerts have averaged 45 songs an evening).

But what does her popularity say about the world that we are trying to reach with the gospel?

First, that the human soul is still stirred by the power of music. In a world that increasingly values financial, military and technological might, Swift reminds us that humanity’s God-given instinct to find deep expression in art, and music particularly, is still very much there. There is still a place for music in how we reach out our culture.

Second, it is striking how Taylor Swift, though having ascended to the highest cultural echelons, yet comes across as the relatable ‘girl next door’. She is distinctive in being herself and being vulnerable before her countless fans. One 2019 Rolling Stone article even goes as far as to say that ‘vulnerability has been [Taylor Swift’s] strength.’ It is perhaps no surprise that, in a culture still haunted by Christianity, that so many are drawn to one who is perceived as publicly ‘vulnerable.’ But how many of Taylor’s loyal fans are known to her by name? Rather, we proclaim the Good Shepherd who not only knows and calls his people by name, but lays down his life for them. What greater expression of vulnerability can there be? Take a closer look at Taylor Swift and you will find naught but marketing and public relations; take a closer look at Jesus and find life to the full.

Third and finally, Taylor Swift has given our culture a plausible language of lament. The themes of many of her songs, not least her most recent album The Tortured Poets Department, are undeniably gritty. She covers themes of delusion, anger, emotional violence, mourning and death. This should give us pause for thought. The fact that so many resonate with these themes reminds us that much of our world is hurting in one way or another.

Furthermore, what does it say about our church singing? Keith and Kristyn Getty ask provocatively in their book Sing!, ‘Do our songs present a veneer of happiness rather than a robust joy in the midst of pain?’ Why does our culture find an outlet for sorrow in Taylor Swift and not in the life of the church? Perhaps becoming better acquainted with the language of lament in our own churches might lay a path that our communities can follow back to Jesus.