Page - 121 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 06/02

Music Review: Jesus Is King | 121www.jrfm.eu 2020, 6/2, 119–123 West is not Orthodox, the Kardashians have ties to Armenian Orthodox Chris- tianity. The song “Hands On”, featuring gospel legend Fred Hammond, is a unique track conceptually. Two minutes and 30 seconds into the track, Hammond makes a life-giving intervention in what is otherwise an exceptionally bland song. West’s verse sounds more appropriate for spoken word or slam poetry. Conceptually though, the song tells of West’s experience of the light of Jesus and the perceived Christian rejection of him and his renewed faith. West asks several times: “What have you been hearin’ from the Christians?” It seems that West is wrestling with having to navigate between two distinct spaces with distinct audiences, the gospel audience and his mainstream secular au- dience. I wonder if in his attempt to navigate this complicated space, lyrical and musical creativity is sacrificed for fear of alienating Christian or secular fans. West’s other projects birthed certain sounds, but in the end, this project does not push the boundaries musically or lyrically, and “Hands On” is an ex- ample of this failure. Jesus Is King did well commercially. It is West’s ninth con- secutive number one album. It reached the top of the Billboard 200 charts and stayed on the Billboard 200 charts for sixteen weeks.5 In addition, it topped the gospel charts. Controversial statements notwithstanding, the project was arguably West’s second subpar album in a row. Like Ye, Jesus Is King is short and lacks the musical and lyrical force displayed in My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy or College Dropout. The court of public opinion argued strongly about the project because of West’s relationship with Donald Trump as well as West’s comment about slav- ery being a choice.6 Many would not touch anything that he was involved in. Maybe all publicity is not good publicity. With the reinvigoration of his faith commitments, West has aligned him- self with a socially and politically conservative Protestant Evangelical wing within North American Christianity. Broadly speaking, this brand of Christian- ity tends to understand the Gospel a-politically and a-historically. The alliance between West and conservative Protestantism is reflected in the album to the degree that West fails to see or connect with the political and social impli- cations of his embrace of the Gospel. To me, the lack of political and social reflection, as it relates to Jesus, is the biggest shortcoming of the project. But 5 Each week, the Billboard charts record the relative popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. 6 Kaur 2018.