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Background/summary:
Taylor Swift, pop star and darling of kids young and old alike, released her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, on October 3rd, 2025. The upbeat 12-track album is said to reflect Swift’s happy mood since developing a highly publicized and much-watched relationship with NFL player, Travis Kelce. Swift announced the upcoming release of this album on a mid-August 2025 episode of the Kelce brothers’ New Heights Podcast. The popularity of the singer and her football-playing boyfriend and now fiancée secured a large enough audience that the podcast episode pulled in 1.3 million live viewers, which set the Guinness World Record for most live podcast viewers at one time. The song “Wood”, the catchy 9th track on the album which was also revealed on the same New Heights Podcast episode, has been labeled by listeners and critics as the most sexually provocative and suggestive song ever from Swift. At present, the song has not yet seen a video version released.
(D)iscover: What is the message/worldview?
- Listeners familiar with the Taylor Swift catalog of songs referring to her past broken romantic relationships will hear an energetic and upbeat Swift singing about moving beyond her history of past relational hurt, while celebrating her current boyfriend and now fiancée, Travis Kelce.
- The song begins with reflections backwards on her failed romances, with “Daisy” and “Penny” serving as names for her past bad-luck self: Daisy’s bare naked, I was distraught/He loves me not, He loves me not/Penny’s unlucky, I took him back/And then stepped on a crack/And the black cat laughed. Swift refers to the superstitions many believe lead to bad luck, which she says has been her lot in life relationally and romantically.
- She then addresses Kelce, admitting her hesitancy but then proclaiming her joy over their relationship: And baby, I’ll admit I’ve been a little superstitious/Fingers crossed until you put your hand in mine/Seems to be that you and me, we make our own luck/A bad sign is all good/I ain’t gonna knock on wood. . . all of that bitchin’, wishing on a falling star/Never did me any good, I ain’t got to knock on wood/it’s you and me forever dancing in the dark/All over me, it’s understood/I ain’t got to knock on wood.
- Now that she’s in a relationship with Kelce, she proceeds to address her audience with obvious innuendo about their sexual relationship and the attributes of Kelce’s genitals: Forgive me, it sounds cocky/He ah-matized me and opened my eyes/Redwood tree, it ain’t hard to see/His love was the key that opened my thighs. . . the curse on me was broken by your magic wand. . . New Heights of manhood, I ain’t gotta knock on wood. If you’re confused by the term “ah-matized”, it’s a censored version of the slang term “dick-matized”, which refers to someone who is hypnotized by a man’s genitals and the sexual pleasure he provides.
(D)iscErn: how does it stand in light of the biblical message/worldview?
- In his letter to the young Timothy, the Apostle Paul says that “in the last days” (the time between the ascension of Christ and Christ’s coming return), there will be times of difficulty. Among the marks of people in these times will be love of self, pride, arrogance, lack of self-control, love of evil rather than good, recklessness, conceit, and love of pleasure rather than love of God (2 Timothy 3:1-5). We are to “avoid such people, for among them are those who creep into households”, leading those who are weak astray (2 Timothy 3:6-7). With Swift’s huge and devoted following of vulnerable young and old alike, this warning serves as helpful wisdom regarding how to process her music, and certainly this song.
- Jesus tells us that “the good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). A tree is judged by its fruit (Luke 6:43-44). Therefore, anyone who teaches, speaks, or sings messages contrary to God’s good will and way for life can and must be named as evil based on their words and fruit.
- The song’s lyrics offer a perspective on sexuality that is both clearly reflective of current cultural standards and serves to teach and affirm these current cultural standards. In his letter to the Ephesians, the Apostle Paul tells us that we are to be “imitators of God.” He continues, “But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness or foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not associate with them” (Ephesians 5:1-7). Taylor Swift is a pied piper leading kids down the wide road that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13-14).
- The lesson we must teach our kids is that the only place to exercise God’s good gift of sex is within the context of a covenantal, life-long, one-flesh, monogamous, heterosexual marriage between one man and one woman (Genesis 1&2; Matthew 19:4-6). Sexual pleasure is a gift from God, but it is not an end in and of itself. Rather, it is given as a way for a married man and woman to express covenantal love and intimacy one to another.
- The word pornography is rooted in the Greek porneia, which means to practice prostitution, sexual immorality, or fornication (sex outside of marriage). In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul uses the word in reference to any kind of sinful and illegitimate sexual activity. Swift is practicing and preaching a pornographic lifestyle.
(D)ecide: what do i do with it?
- Understand that the lyrical themes in “Wood” are not anything unusual or out of the ordinary in the world of today’s popular music. As social critic Aaron Renn has written, we are now living in a world where “Christian morality is expressly repudiated and seen as a threat to the public good and the new public moral order.” “Wood” reflects and promotes this new moral order, which requires us to see it for what it is, call it out to our kids, and offer the corrective from the Scriptures.
- Wake up! For parents who enthusiastically or ignorantly offer their kids a pathway to Taylor Swift’s music, there needs to be awareness, discernment, and the exercise of parental wisdom and authority, explaining why and how these themes conflict with and undermine God’s good design for our kids’ human flourishing. Even Swift’s own mother missed the most obvious messages in this song, believing it was purely about superstitions.
- We live in a world where authority has been handed to whoever has the stage, microphone, and audience, rather than those who teach that which is good, true, right, and honorable. This requires increased ongoing efforts to think with our kids about who they will follow and how to discern between that which furthers God’s kingdom, and that which furthers the kingdoms of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Use CPYU’s How to Use Your Head to Guard Your Heart: A 3(D) Guide to Making Wise Media Choices tool for teaching wisdom and discernment, regularly practicing what it means to think biblically and critically about the media they consume. We must train them in ways that will reverse the current culture of ho-hum apathy and ignorance, leading them into becoming wise and faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.
Download the full 3(D) Review here.