“False God” by Taylor Swift

There have been different theories put forth concerning the meaning of Taylor Swift’s “False God”, all pointing to real-life events or people in Swift’s life. And considering that it is indeed a love song, the prevailing one is that it is based on her love affair with actor Joe Alwyn. More specifically the idea is supposed to be that she is referring to him as the titular character.

However, it is made abundantly clear that the “false god” Taylor is referring to is actually the “love” she and her partner have for each other. In other words, she likens their commitment to this romance to that of a religious devotee to his deity. And apparently the reason for such symbolism is that the singer herself is to some extent concerned by how deeply they are in love, as in how much they revere the relationship and are into each other.

But for the most part, Swift seems to be using religious-based imagery to celebrate their union. For instance, she states that when they are physically intimate, it is like “heaven”. But she also acknowledges that when they fight, it is tantamount to her going through “hell”.

Another metaphor Swift uses is likening their decision to get involved, despite knowing that staying together would be a challenge, to being “led by blind faith”. In fact one of the premises of this track is that she and her lover took a big risk by committing themselves to this relationship in the first place.  Moreover it would appear that another reason she is now concerned is because his feelings are waning. But for the most part, considering that their romance is indeed their “religion”, she seems to be confident that it will persist.

Release Date

“False God” is the 13^th track on Taylor’s hit Lover album, which came out on 23 August 2019. The labels behind its publication are Republic Records and Swift’s own Taylor Swift Productions.

Writing Credits of “False God”

The song was written and produced by Taylor Swift. She did both the writing and producing with Jack Antonoff (who wrote and co-produced several songs on Lover).