Page - 52 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 06/02

52 | Reinhard Kopanski www.jrfm.eu 2020, 6/2, 41–57 missionary-evangelistic approach do not jump out at listeners here; in fact, there is little evidence that the song relates to PCM at all. The lyrics, especially in the chorus, could be found in many songs focused on an interpersonal rela- tionship in which the lyrical “I” is rather unassertive or requires reassurance. The self-doubts of the lyrical “I” are evoked in the first verse through popular music tropes (“I keep fighting voices in my mind that say I’m not enough / Every single lie that tells me I will never measure up”48), whereby the counter- part to the lyrical “I” provides her / him with strength, as in the opposition in the chorus “You say I’m strong / When I think I’m weak”.49 In addition to being common tropes of secular popular music, such lyrics are in line with what we saw in the Koenige & Priester example. A difference from secular popular mu- sic songs utilizing similar lyrics becomes evident to a listener only in the third verse, which addresses God directly: “Taking all I have and now I’m laying it at Your feet / You have every failure, God, and You’ll have every victory”.50 That said, the booklet consistently capitalizes “You” and “your”, unambigu- ously suggesting the lyrical “I” is addressing God as the provider of strength, not a human counterpart in an implied (romantic) relationship. For a listener who first reads the booklet, the religious connotations are evident before the music begins.51 Moreover, a Christian background can be readily identified in the line “I believe”52 in the chorus, for the phrase “I believe” can be heard as a strong commitment by the lyrical “I” to transcendence. However, the phrase is open to interpretation: here the line is followed by the words “what you say of me”,53 and in popular music more generally, the words “I believe” form a common phrase that does not necessarily suggest a relationship to God. In English-language secular popular music the wording “I believe” is used to build emotionally affective metaphors: in one’s abilities (“I believe I can fly”54), in emotions (“I believe in a thing called love”55), in people (“I believe in you”56) and much more. 48 “You Say”, (Look Up Child, Lauren Daigle, US 2018a, Centricity), liner notes. 49 “You Say”, (Look Up Child, Lauren Daigle, US 2018a, Centricity), liner notes. 50 “You Say”, (Look Up Child, Lauren Daigle, US 2018a, Centricity), liner notes. 51 “You Say”, (Look Up Child, Lauren Daigle, US 2018a, Centricity), liner notes. 52 “You Say”, (Look Up Child, Lauren Daigle, US 2018a, Centricity), liner notes. 53 “You Say”, (Look Up Child, Lauren Daigle, US 2018a, Centricity), liner notes. 54 “I believe I can fly” (R., R. Kelly, US 1998, Jive). 55 “I believe in a thing called love” (Permission to Land, The Darkness, US/GB 2003, Atlantic/ Must … Destroy!). 56 “I believe in you” (Nobody but Me, Michael Bublé, US 2016, Reprise Records).