The SAXOPHONE Is The Game Changer | Taylor Swift "False God" Live on SNL 2019 REACTION (Patreon)

We already knew "False God." We'd just come off the studio version before hitting play on this one. What we didn't know was how much one saxophone was going to change it.

Taylor Swift performed "False God" live for the very first time on Saturday Night Live, and from the intro onward she is sharing that stage. That's Lenny Pickett on tenor sax: SNL's musical director, the man behind the screaming high notes in the show's opening theme, and the guy who led the Tower of Power horn section through the '70s. He's in it from the first bars, right alongside her, and it turns a slow-burn album cut into something that breathes completely differently. When his solo lands, Taylor steps back and just lets it happen. Then at the end she throws her hand out to send the spotlight straight to him. Class.

🙏 Huge thank you to JADE for requesting this one over on Patreon. This is exactly the kind of deep cut we love getting sent.

🎷 ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE

Saturday Night Live, Season 45, Episode 2 — October 5, 2019, hosted by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Taylor's fifth time on that stage. She opened the night with a stripped-down "Lover" at a green piano, then came back in near-total darkness for the live debut of "False God," weaving between hanging filament bulbs with two backing vocalists, a drummer, a keyboardist, and Lenny Pickett on sax.

📀 ABOUT THE SONG

"False God" is track 13 on Lover, released August 23, 2019. Written and produced by Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff, recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York. It was never released as a single and only reached #77 on the Billboard Hot 100 — and yet it's one of the most beloved album cuts in her entire catalogue. She's performed it live only a handful of times, including four nights on the Eras Tour.

💬 Tell us in the comments what that saxophone did to you — and which live Taylor performance we need to watch next.

Peace and Love,

Kyle and Alanna