“False God” is the thirteenth track on the seventh studio album ‘Lover’ by Taylor Swift.
The much-anticipated 2019 album ‘Lover’ contains 18 tracks on the standard edition including three singles “ME!” featuring Brendon Urie, “You Need to Calm Down” and the title track “Lover.” The new album is in complete contrast to Taylor’s previous album ‘Reputation’ released in 2017, which focused on speaking out her mind against her haters. In this era, however, Taylor Swift is in love, and that reflects throughout the album.
“False God” has an intertwined meaning bouncing back and forth between the topics of religion and sex, which sometimes do not go together.
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The first verse of “False God,” takes up the topic of a failing relationship. There seems to have been so many obstacles between them, which they turned a blind eye towards and jumped into the relationship. It did not take long for their ship to sink in the same ocean they jumped in to.
The chorus of the song binds religion with love. Taylor Swift sings that “religion is in your lips,” which alludes that Taylor feels blessed when his lips touch hers. She admits that this religion is of a ‘false god’ as she stays true to her Christian roots. There is a lot of controversy in pre-marital sex in religion in general. So how does Taylor suggest that they “might just get away with it”? Are they not having sex and just resorting to kissing each other? But the latter part of the song suggests differently. Taylor sings that her hips are the altar for him to worship at. This is a clear symbol of sex. So, Taylor might be suggesting that in the name of love, they might just get away with having sex before marriage.
The second verse of “False God,” piles up to the chorus. Taylor sings that she knows heaven is a real thing because of the feelings she gets when her lover touches her body. She knows hell is real from the feelings she gets when she fights with him. Hence, a clear bridge has been drawn from the spiritual world to the physical world in connection with the feelings of love and lust.
Taylor Swift also talks about ‘blind faith’ several times during the song. ‘Blind faith’ can also be tied up quite strongly with both love and religion. From a religious perspective, it would be a blind faith to save yourself from having pre-marital sex even when you have found your true love, in hopes of the pearly gates opening for you in the afterlife. When it comes to relationships, it also requires a certain degree of blind faith and trust in your partner for the relationship to cherish.
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The complete album released on August 23, 2019, through Republic Records.