“I’m sorry, but the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now … Why? Oh, ‘cause she’s dead.”
In case you missed it, Taylor Swift released a new single titled “Look What You Made Me Do.” This song has raised a lot of controversies as her style and lyrics have taken on a whole new darker and harder spin. Long gone are the days of tear drops on guitars, or the nerd turned princess because apparently, the “old Taylor is dead.”
There is a lot of speculation on where all these new lyrics are coming from due to the various feuds that she has had in the past with different celebrities like Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, and Katy Perry. But one this is for sure, this is not the old Taylor who was just shaking things off.
Even if your teens are not huge fans of T Swift, they are sure to hear this song at least a thousand times over the weekend along with countless social media posts about it, so it will be well worth your time to take a look at this new song that is all the rage.
There is a lot you can discuss with you teens about the lyrics, attitude, and outlook of this song that will be sure to be a chart topper in no time. Here are a few things to point out to your teens as you start discussing this song and its lyrics:
- The main chorus lyrics say over and over “look what you made me do,” it is important for your teens to remember that they have complete control over their actions and how they react to the way that people treat them. No one can “make” them do anything.
- This song has very strong undertones of revenge – “I may have got mine, but you will all get yours” – and it is essential for your teens not to get wrapped up in the idea of getting others back, but rather to seek to be merciful (Luke 6:36) and to forgive (Matthew 18:22) no matter who has wronged them (Matthew 5:44).
- Life will get really lonely with the mentality of “I don’t trust nobody and nobody trusts me.” There is no way to have a friendship or relationship with anyone if you are not trustworthy, and you should always be leery of any friends that you cannot trust. True relationships are built on trust, honesty, and forgiveness and those are the ones that we should be glorifying.
Whether you like this song or not, it will bring up a lot of good conversations starters for you and your teens about things like revenge mentality, trust issues, and how the drama of this song is reflected in their own lives or schools. Be sure to also point your teens to this blog which is a direct response to the song and challenges them to consider why people get so wrapped up in the drama of the rich and famous.
Also as a heads up, the music video for this song will be premiering at the VMA’s Sunday August 27th.
Feature image by Paolo Villanueva, used under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0, logo added.
