Culture is both reflective and directive. It is both a mirror and a map. Looking critically and Christianly at cultural artifacts gives us insights into a worldview we may not yet understand. Ultimately, those artifacts tell us what our culture holds near and dear, and what our culture is telling our kids to hold near and dear.
This is important stuff. You see, if I want to serve as a mouthpiece for the Gospel and a Christian worldview, I need to know what road the kids I love and lead are on. . . so that I might be able to affirm those things in their culture that are good, right, true, and honorable. . . while out-of-love help them see where the culture is misleading them and putting them on the wide road that leads to destruction.
One of the tools for cultivating this kind of wisdom and discernment in parents, youth workers, and ultimately our kids is our How to Use Your Head to Guard Your Heart: 3(D) Guide to Making Wise Media Choices (available from CPYU). It’s a tool that helps us develop those skills of thinking critically and Christianly about everything we encounter in culture. . . skills that with practice become second-nature as a part of our sanctification process.
A couple of weeks ago, one of our world’s current “directors and reflectors” of our kids, Oliva Rodrigo, released the first single, “drop dead”, off her upcoming album. Have you listened? Have you watched? (see below). And if you have, have you noticed her basic assumptions about the world? The way the world is? The way the world should be?
We think that “drop dead” deserves our attention. . . and it warrants our response. I want to invite you to check out and use the free download of our 3(D) review of “drop dead.” Use it to raise your awareness of the beliefs and behaviors that have just become a part of growing up in today’s world. And use it to spark conversations with your kids that not only lead them to the truth of God’s Word, but teach them how to be wise and discerning. . . both now and for the rest of their lives.
You can download the “drop dead” 3(D) review here. And, here’s a little background on the song. . .
Debuting at #1 on the Billboard chart upon it’s release on April 17, 2026, this single from 23-year-old singer/songwriter/actress Olivia Rodrigo is off her upcoming studio album, You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love. Known for her thematic connection with a younger demographic of primarily teen and pre-teen females, Rodrigo steps away in this synth pop rock tune from her normal subject matter of teen breakups and heartbreak to offer up a bouncy happy song about the desired start of a new relationship. In an interview with Vogue, she says the song “makes me wanna skip around and roll the windows down and make out.” The video garnered over 25 million views in its first two weeks of release.