Why Taylor Swift and Mel Robbins are so popular

Following yesterday’s tragic October 7 anniversary, let’s focus today on something more uplifting. Or at least very different.

I typically try to write on subjects about which I have at least some personal knowledge or expertise. Today, I’ll not do that—at least to begin. Instead, I want to reflect with you on the prolific output of Taylor Swift, who released her twelfth original studio album last week.

I am apparently unlike most of humanity in that I have heard only one of her songs one time (at my granddaughter’s urging), have never been to one of her concerts, and have never heard a podcast or seen a movie featuring her. The closest I have come to observing her in popular media has been those times when the TV cameras panned to her in the stands watching her now-fiancée Travis Kelce play tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs.

So, I’ll turn to an expert on the subject. Ari Perez is an associate professor at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, where she teaches a class called “Taylor Swift: Cultural Mirrorball.” She explains that Swift is so prolific because she genuinely likes what she does: “I think she enjoys keeping a strong, productive output so that putting music out on a continuous basis makes her happy and fulfilled.”

That was simple, wasn’t it? But there’s more to the story.

“Let them + let me”

Next, we’ll turn to another very popular media figure: Mel Robbins, the bestselling author and podcaster. Her latest book, The Let Them Theory, was the #1 selling book of 2025 and is on pace to have the best non-fiction book launch of all time. In reading it, I was impressed with the simplicity of its central formula:

Let them + let me.

“Let them” applies to people whose behavior bothers you. These two words are a way of admitting that we cannot control them and that they are going to do what they choose to do. “Let me” applies to us as we decide how we will respond proactively to what life brings us.

According to Robbins, allowing people to live their lives while taking control of our own is the key to flourishing. She complimented Taylor Swift for modeling this philosophy: “Let Them be wrong about you. Let Me get back to doing what I was put on this earth to do.”

So, how do we know what we were “put on this earth to do”? Ray Bradbury famously offered advice that aligns with the philosophies of Swift and Robbins: “Love what you do and do what you love.”

Here’s the catch: Doing what you love only leads to flourishing if what you love is worth doing.

When the police went on strike

In The Origin of Politics: How Evolution and Ideology Shape the Fate of Nations, Nicholas Wade reports:

On the morning of October 7, 1969, the entire police force of Montreal went on strike. Within a few hours, gathering crowds started to loot stores. Gangs of masked men arrived to rob banks. Citizens huddled indoors as looters swept through downtown Montreal, smashing the windows of restaurants, stores, and hotels. By the end of the day some $500,000 worth of merchandise had been looted. Not until the arrival of army troops shortly after midnight were the violence and disorder brought to an end.

Paul would not have been surprised. He listed the “works of the flesh,” the things fallen humans naturally do: “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” (Galatians 5:19–21). We can love doing them, but we see the brokenness they produce every day in the news.

Conversely, the apostle listed the “fruit of the Spirit,” the things Spirit-led humans naturally do: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (vv. 22–23). When we love doing them, our changed lives change the world.

The highest purpose in life

Yesterday morning, I spent time on my favorite bench beside my favorite lake just before the sun came up. The “Harvest Supermoon” was still iridescent in the predawn sky, though I could only see it in fragments through the trees that canopied overhead. However, its reflection on the lake before me was so clear as to mirror the moon itself.

This thought occurred: the source of the light (the sun) is most visible to me in the reflection of the reflection of the moon.

Jesus said of himself, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:5). Now that he is in heaven, you and I are “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:13), called to reflect his light in our darkened culture. Others cannot see his light in our hearts, however, but in the character we manifest through the circumstances of our lives. Our acts are a reflection of the reflection of our Source.

How does this work in practical terms? Jesus tells his followers, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit” (John 15:5). When we know Jesus personally and intimately, we will make him known publicly and powerfully.

Here’s why this matters: People need to know God more than they need anything else. They are made in his image and likeness, and their hearts are “restless until they rest in him” (St. Augustine). As a result, knowing the God of the universe and making him known is the highest purpose, privilege, and passion in life.

“We may never meet after today”

This purpose is urgent beyond any other in our fallen world.

On this day in 1871, the great evangelist Dwight Moody preached in Chicago to the largest congregation he had ever addressed in that city. In The Life of Dwight L. Moody, written by his son William R. Moody, we read that Moody paraphrased that evening the question of Pontius Pilate: “What shall you do then with Jesus which is called Christ?” (Matthew 27:22). He challenged the congregation to think about this question during the week and return to church the following Sunday, when “we will decide what to do with Jesus of Nazareth.”

But as he said later, “I have never seen that congregation since.”

The Great Chicago Fire began that night, killing hundreds of people, destroying thousands of buildings, and causing more than $4 billion in damages (in today’s dollars). Moody reflected later on the tragedy:

I want to tell you about one lesson I learned that night, which I have never forgotten, and that is, when I preach, to urge Christ upon the people then and there, and try to bring them to a decision on the spot. . . .

I have asked God many times to forgive me for telling people that night to take a week to think it over, and if he spares my life, I will never do it again. This audience will break up in a few moments.

We may never meet after today.

Is the same not true for everyone you meet this day?

Quote for the day:

“No one can sum up all God is able to accomplish through one solitary life, wholly yielded, adjusted, and obedient to him.” —Dwight L. Moody

Our latest website resources:

• Faith, science, and the call to hospitality with Dr. James Tour
• Who is Sean Feucht? Why the worship leader and conservative activist is facing financial misuse allegations
• Embracing the wonder after Forrest Frank’s miraculous healing
• Government shutdown, peace in Gaza, UFO video, Tim Allen, Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny & Ryder Cup Results
• Defeating temptation before it becomes sin