Gene Simmons has compared Taylor Swift to Jesus Christ by declaring the pop star's following is similar to a religion.
The KISS rocker gave his thoughts on the current state of the music industry in an interview with with Tom Cridland on the 'Greatest Music Of All Time' podcast and admitted he believes Taylor's fans -known as Swifties - see her "as the Jesus" of their movement.
Gene explained: "If you have a fanbase that feels like they're connected and they have the flag, like in soccer. That is tribalism.
"It doesn't have to be mean-spirited. It's an identity. 'Swiftie' is a culture. They're not just fans. She stands for something.
"When you think about it, above and beyond the music and the lyrics and so on - 'This guy broke my heart' - and these songs that Swifties love, above that is her as the Jesus of the movement, if you see what I mean.
"I mean, what's Christianity as a movement, religion, without Jesus, right? So you need these leaders, these apostles at the top to encapsulate what the culture and that thing is about. So the thing that Taylor has is Swifties … "
Gene went on to lavish praise on another pop star - Lady Gaga - insisting she's "more talented than all the others".
He said: "Gaga, I think, is more talented than all the others because her songs and her are, 'I was born this way.' And so the music is not just — and I don't mean 'fluff' in a bad way, because there's some wonderful fluff stuff ...
"If you have a body of work that's about something, you get the beginnings of tribalism. And if you're the embodiment of that tribe, now you've got something.
"Yes, Gaga's fanbase is about that. And of course, she's widened her thing by doing pop, Tony Bennett, and all this stuff. She's the real deal. She's got the musical chops. She can play, sing; [she is a] chanteuse."
