Taylor Swift may be the world's biggest musical artist, but her new song sounds like she wants to be like God.
Swift's new song "Guilty as Sin" was leaked on Thursday, according to Parade.
The entire 31-song mega double album known as “The Tortured Poets Department” was then released early Friday morning, according to CNN.
The lyrics of "Guilty as Sin" contain some distinct Christ imagery, such as references to being crucified, rolling away the stone from the tomb, and portraying the romantic longings of the 14-time Grammy winner in quasi-religious, even blasphemous terms.
In the song, Swift expresses overwhelming desire and fantasies about a lover, despite never physically consummating the relationship.
"I've screamed his name/ Buildin' up like waves crashin' over my grave/ Without ever touchin' his skin/ How can I be guilty as sin?" the lyrics say.
"What if I roll the stone away?/They're gonna crucify me anyway/ What if the way you hold me is actually what's holy?" the song goes on.
The song seems to connect Swift's "holiness" -- not getting into a physical relationship, except for a "messy top lip kiss," with this unnamed lover -- to the holiness of Christ.
She ponders whether it would be wrong to "roll the stone away," since "they" were going to "crucify her anyway."
"If long-suffering propriety is what they want from me/ They don't know how you've haunted me so stunningly/ I choose you and me, religiously," the song says.
Taylor Swift - Guilty as Sin? (Leaked DEMO from her upcoming album: ‘THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT’) pic.twitter.com/SG6vF3Y2ET
— Andrés (@andresstien) April 17, 2024
The Bible tells us that original sin came into this world because Eve was told that eating the fruit of the tree of good and evil would make her "like God." Gen 3.4
Not a lot has changed since then.
The desire to be like God -- to usurp His place -- stems from a desire to be in control of everything around us, especially our own lives.
But the difference between what Swift is "preaching" in her song versus what Christ did is exactly the reason we need a savior.
Swift's idea of rolling away the stone is to give in to her desires and allow herself to be chained to sin.
When the stone was rolled away from Christ's tomb, it was to free us from the bondage of sin.
"What if the way you hold me is actually what's holy?" the song asks, even though it clearly implies that that is not the case.
In contrast, Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane cried out, 'Not my will but Yours be done." Luke 22: 42
Ultimately, the song uses spiritual metaphors to glamorize the internal battle with desire and equates Swift's inner turmoil over her unfulfilled sexual desires to Christ's own suffering for the sake of the world.
In doing so, the song doesn't just glamorize the battle with lust, but elevates Swift's own experience with unrequited passions to a place of divine suffering in a perversion of the scriptures seen through the lens of base human appetite.
Swift is not the first person to attempt to take control and make herself the god of her own life, justifying immediate self-gratification as "holy."
However, her (at least) 12 broken relationships with some of the most well-known and "desirable" men on earth, according to Page Six, would suggest that this strategy hasn't exactly worked.
According to Forbes, around 53 percent of American adults consider themselves fans of Swift -- that's a big platform.
When someone with that level of influence starts to spout lyrics suggesting they are comparable to Christ, it's important to take notice.
If you're a parent of a teen or pre-teen, it may be time to have a little talk with your child.
