Sia vs. Swift: A Pop Battle for Our Hearts
by Steve McCoy October 15, 2014 I recently expressed my love for pop music despite being a bit of an indie music snob. I must also confess that I regularly listen to pop radio. You know, that thing with knobs on the dash of the car that deciphers audio waves rather than a wifi signal. Lately two voices familiar to most of us who enjoy pop music have been competing for radio time–and their messages couldn’t be more different. While Taylor points the finger outward at her critics and her bad boyfriends, Sia points the finger at herself. Words matter, and many of these artists are using them carefully. Like the Apostle Paul in Acts 17, we can use the words of our culture’s poets to connect and communicate with the world around us, especially regarding things true and beautiful accessible to us all. It may be easy to criticize pop music by throwing around the word “vapid”, but our critiques might be what are truly vapid. A...