LISTEN TO THE PLUGGED IN SHOW, EPISODE 194
Taylor Swift is perhaps music’s most influential artist. She’s connected (often literally through social media) with fans in unprecedented ways. She changes musical genres more often than some people change clothes. It’s estimated that her current Eras tour will rake in $1.4 billion when all is said and done. And as her latest album—Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)—illustrates, she’s upended the entire music industry in her drive for total artistic control.
Yep, Swift is influential, all right. But how is she influencing your kids?
The Plugged In team tackles that very issue in our latest episode of The Plugged In Show, unpacking Swift’s recent performances, her power and her problems. You’ll definitely want to listen in.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were already fighting crime and eating pizza on television two years before Swift was even born. Now they have a new movie out—one that retraces their origins in Claymation style. Should families shell out cash to see these tenacious terrapins in action? We’ll unmask this movie for what it is and tell you all about it.
And once we’re through with our conversation, we invite you to take a tip from Taylor and speak now. Talk to us on Facebook, Instagram or send your thoughts to us at [email protected]. You can even recite your own soliloquy on our homepage (thepluggedinshow.com) via voicemail.
And why not join us for The Plugged In Show Aftercast, too? You can find it every Monday at 3 p.m. Mountain Time on Instagram, where we’ll be talking about this week’s show, next week’s show and the weekend’s biggest movies.
2 Responses
– While I was at Eras in May, I was thinking about this: Whether or not I’d allow my hypothetical daughters (and there were a lot of young girls at the show, which was five hours long including the opening acts and intermission and delved into a lot of adult subject matter and language* in Taylor’s later songs) to listen to Swift’s music would depend widely on how old the children were and on what increasingly specific parts of Swift’s discography were in question.
* One thing I genuinely don’t understand about Swift’s uses of profanity is that her edited versions of her songs don’t use “beeps” or silence to mask her more inappropriate word choices. She re-records the songs using words or phrases that still fit the context and have the same number of syllables. I’m surprised she didn’t just use the latter option to start with.
-I’m really disappointed in the reasons you all are giving for partaking in Taylor Swift’s music/concerts. I listened to the podcast knowing that my 6 year old granddaughter is already liking Taylor Swift. So I was hoping to get some good points to use in instructing her. What a disappointment as you apparently just fall in line with whatever is popular and are not teaching against sin. Since when is it okay to indulge the flesh in order to gain some sort of spiritual profit? That doesn’t even make any sense. I’m an older (not ancient) Christian woman who has watched standards being lowered by Christians, just going lower and lower. Saints from years ago would be mortified at the idea of watching this type of entertainment as a springboard for discussing right from wrong. The Word of God should be our springboard. If we are teaching our children from their young years the Word of God, then desiring to see inappropriate concerts, movies, etc., will become a non-issue for many as in their desires will be in the right places (I’m not saying, of course, that some teenagers won’t rebel). Children must be trained daily about what is worldly and what is, in fact, God-honoring, and how to make wise choices and say, No, to things that would not please the Lord. Maybe that’s not easy because of the pressure on kids today (Satanic pressure), but it can be done and must be done. Taylor Swift gets up on stage and gyrates to profane, unChristian words and worldly music and ideas, wearing very little, and you fathers on the program are saying, Yes, our preteen daughters can attend this concert. I do not understand this. Swift is far from the model that young girls should aspire to. It’s not okay that just because she’s popular and the whole world is going after her, that Christian young people should fall right in line. In fact, whenever something is excessively popular, there is your red flag right there. Preachers have quit preaching against sin, and you all are taking a very dangerous tack. You said, I believe, that Jesus ate with sinners. Please, that is not an apt comparison whatsoever. I could go on, but will close with the verse that says, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes (Psalm 101:3). I pray Taylor Swift will come to know the Lord. And if she does know Him already, that she will come to a deeper understanding of God’s holiness.