Here is a really well-researched article about false worship. It digs deeper into the elements that are at work.
“God, you come back with the head of my enemy”: Hillsong, Bethel and Emotional Manipulation in Worship Music By Valerie Hobbs. It was published on April 20, 2022 in her blog Religious Language-Scholarship, Discussion and Resources
From the article:
What are the precise mechanics of this manipulation? Talking about global megachurch movement Hillsong, Kelsey McKinney identifies some of these in the quote at the start of this post: the copying of contemporary music style which wields the power of familiarity and relevance, coupled with a fast-fashion approach to music production, which gives consumer-worshippers a fresh fix each week. Then there is of course the use of momentous chord progression to evoke powerful feelings. Scholar and Anglican Priest Anne Morris has written about her experience of this at a funeral, where a sudden deviation in tempo appeared to cause a wave of emotion across the congregation, pressing them towards joy, ready or not. Music psychologist John Sloboda breaks down this particularly popular technique, pointing to a specific musical device called an appoggiatura which creates tension and stirs emotions. The Grammy-winning UK singer Adele is particularly skilled at using this device (You can read about this and listen to it here).
But, as we know, in manipulative religious music, alongside musical instrumentation and vocal styling, there is also language at work. Linguistic features like heavy use of personal pronouns (you, I, me) can help to create a sense of God’s immediate presence and a focus on and care for the individual. In Hillsong’s case, such language facilitates a highly subjective, personal and emotional outpouring between God (often addressed directly as ‘you’) and me in the context of a vast crowd. This is what scholars refer to as simulated intimacy, the facade of intense personalization in a mass setting. Even the enemy is sometimes personal (and conveniently and disturbingly ambiguous) in this Discourse, as can be seen in the second image below, from the Bethel song ‘Defender.’
This is one of many articles on her blog that describe the impact of language and music on how our faith is shaped or even manipulated. I highly recommend checking it out. Without discernment, we can all fall into being careless with our worship. Learning how to guard your heart is important. It’s ok to enjoy music, but when you see the falseness of some songs, they will lose some of their sway over us. And beware, when we are emotionally swayed, our hearts are more vulnerable to accepting false doctrine that may follow in the sermon.