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Good morning

For better or worse, my musical tastes were mainly fixed in the 1990s. Even then I was never trendy, though my enduring affection for vinyl proves that if you wait long enough everything comes back into fashion.

And yet, yesterday I couldn’t stop listening to Taylor Swift’s new album, ‘The Tortured Poet’s Department.’ In the longer ‘Anthology’ version, it is two hours of new music punctuated by sadness, humour, and defiance.

I was not alone: apparently over a hundred million individuals have listened to her in the last month alone. I am not a ‘Swiftie’ as her superfans are called, nor have I spent much time with her back catalogue: I’m more likely to quote Charles Wesley when it comes to song lyrics.

And yet, even I have heard enough over the years to be able to ‘shake it off’ and to know ‘..the players gonna play,’ and the ‘…haters gonna hate.’

There is a reason Taylor Swift is so popular. It is not all packaging. I recognise in her work some of the same themes that run all through the Psalms: ‘Why are you cast down, O my soul… why are you disquieted within me?’ And ‘Out of the depths I cry… hear my voice!’

Of course, her lyrics are not directed towards God, but towards a listener with whom she presumes shared experience.

Her music offers a collective lament, alongside defiance in the face of evil. There is a refusal to let betrayal or bad treatment be normal.

Talking about the extraordinary cultural power Swift now wields, a commentator on this programme yesterday referred to the ‘Taylor Swift industrial complex.’ This was a nod to President Eisenhower’s Farewell Address in 1961, in which he warned about a confluence of military and industrial interests coming to drive American foreign policy.

It is true, Taylor Swift is a global brand: she commodifies and sells back to us our loneliness, anger, and hope. And, her endorsement may swing elections, not least the United States Presidential race. Whether we like the music or not, we should be paying attention.

Personally I find it encouraging that Taylor Swift is so popular. It turns out that the themes the scriptures teach us have always been important are still important. Her songs are not scripture, yet as with the Psalms, we recognise ourselves and feel less alone. We still long for love. We still want companions with whom to face hard days, and something a bit like justice.

It seems to me that cultivating these longings and giving them voice is a good thing, and I will keep listening.

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