Evangelist Shane Pruitt, the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) director of next gen evangelism for the North American Mission Board (NAMB), is once again sounding the warning bell on a new Taylor Swift album.
On Friday (Oct. 3), Swift released the followup to her 2024 “The Tortured Poets Department,” titled “The Life of a Showgirl.” Pruitt told his social media followers to be sure to “read through all of the lyrics of the 12 songs” because “8 of them carry an ‘explicit warning.’”
“First of all, it doesn’t carry as much of the dark undertones as ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ did,” Pruitt said. He then suggested this might be because the future Mrs. Travis Kelsey has found “love and feels happier.”
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“However,” he continued, “‘The Life of a Showgirl’ paints a picture of womanhood being shaped by performance, fame, self-definition, sensuality, sexuality…and embracing your emotional instability.”
“Yes, I know it’s not supposed to be a ‘Christian album’ and music is entertainment. I’m not even the ‘only-Christian music’ guy either,” Pruitt added. “But, I also know words have meaning and what we consume will often shape how we think, feel, and live.”
“Also, as Christian parents,” he said, “we have a duty to disciple our kids in what is true, lovely, and holy; and, to pay attention what we’re exposing our kids to.”
Pruitt warned that Swift “isn’t just selling songs. She’s selling a worldview.” He explained that the worldview is one in which “identity is self-created, love is ultimate but often fleeting, self-expression is sacred, critics are enemies, and the stage is the throne.”
Pruitt shared four main thoughts that came to his mind while he read Swift’s new lyrics.
The first is “Identity Rooted in Self-Expression, Not in God.” Pruitt said:
The album celebrates a self-made, constantly-shifting identity that is defined by image, sexuality, applause, and high emotions. But Scripture teaches that true identity isn’t something we perform into existence, but something received from God. The “showgirl” persona may be empowering for a moment, but it is ultimately exhausting, because self-worship always leads to burnout.
