It seems that the world is agog at the release of Taylor Swift's new album; the Sun newspaper devoted it's entire front page to the subject and it occupied the slot of Radio 4 immediately after "Thought for the Day". I admit that until I heard the latter, I had no idea who Taylor Swift was, and after hearing a few bars from one of her songs, I equally had no idea what it was about. To be fair, Taylor Swift will never had heard of me and would probably find my sermons incomprehensible...

Whilst Taylor's songs may not be entirely to my taste, she is popular because her music deals with serious emotions; her new album is called "The Tortured Poet's Department" and much of it focusses on her feelings about past relationships. Critics have said that she is popular because her songs allow so many of her followers to better work through their own emotions. This goes to the heart of what good music can achieve; it moves and addresses its listeners in ways that plain words cannot. In this respect, her music has a spiritual side. The link between Gregorian plainsong from monasteries and the records of best selling artists like Taylor is closer than many people might imagine.