The American (Christian) Idol
I just heard the new song by Carrie Underwood - yes, the American Idol. The song is called "Jesus Take the Wheel", and they're playing it on the local country station. Its a decent song, typical of a country song behind a great vocalist. The music is not really meant to be anything special - just standard country backup to highlight her singing. The lyrics, while not overly creative, are very clearly "Christian".
The song is about a woman, driving with her daughter in the backseat who hits a patch of black ice, starts spinning, lets go of the wheel and prays "Jesus, take the wheel". They wind up safe, and it gets her thinking about her life in relation to God. She's been living a life far from God, and goes on to pray the same thing about her life - that He would take the wheel.
Now anyone who watched American Idol probably suspected that Carrie (and Bo for that matter) was a Christian. Now she's a recording artist. But she's not a "Christian Music" artist. She's a "Country Music" artist. Country music is interesting in that a good number of the artists seem to be Christians. Many others, of course, are redneck hedonists...
So here is a place where artists are recording under a genre that is not overtly Christian, but it gives them a forum to speak Christian truth. I would imagine its a lot easier on them, since if they want to sing a plain old love song, they can do that too. I think its great that there's room for overtly Christian artists in the genre, but I don't necessarily think its how all Christians should be.
I think this ties in with the posts by Matt and Marilyn but I'm not sure what the conclusion is. Any thoughts from the rest of the crew?
The song is about a woman, driving with her daughter in the backseat who hits a patch of black ice, starts spinning, lets go of the wheel and prays "Jesus, take the wheel". They wind up safe, and it gets her thinking about her life in relation to God. She's been living a life far from God, and goes on to pray the same thing about her life - that He would take the wheel.
Now anyone who watched American Idol probably suspected that Carrie (and Bo for that matter) was a Christian. Now she's a recording artist. But she's not a "Christian Music" artist. She's a "Country Music" artist. Country music is interesting in that a good number of the artists seem to be Christians. Many others, of course, are redneck hedonists...
So here is a place where artists are recording under a genre that is not overtly Christian, but it gives them a forum to speak Christian truth. I would imagine its a lot easier on them, since if they want to sing a plain old love song, they can do that too. I think its great that there's room for overtly Christian artists in the genre, but I don't necessarily think its how all Christians should be.
I think this ties in with the posts by Matt and Marilyn but I'm not sure what the conclusion is. Any thoughts from the rest of the crew?
posted by | 12:40 PM
2 Comments:
Perhaps some genres of music are more welcoming of certain types of messages? For example, the following:
Pop: I want to be your lover.
Metal: I want to drive fast and party. Bring on the girls!
Rap: I have sex a lot, see how rich I am?
Alternative: I'm so depressed.
Industrial: I'm so depressed, and I have a sexual kink.
I suspect that the country genre is generally more welcoming of overtly Christian messages, as I suspect there's a greater proportion of Christians among its performers and audience; also, so much of the genre seems to be an appeal to the Middle American/Bible Belt lifestyle, so I suspect it's as much a cultural facet as it is a spiritual one.
As a side note, there seem to be a lot of American Idol contestants who have come out as Christians. I know that we've carried at least one or two CDs at the bookstore by American Idol singers (R. J. Helton comes to mind...). I never watch the show, so I don't really know who is who, but they make it one of their selling points.
Hey!
I'm so proud of you. Listening to country music all the way out there (I can't escape it living here in Nashville ;-).
I'm hoping to thank Carrie myself. She just bought a house in Brentwood (the city in which I live). And we're getting ready to welcome all the Southern Californians from Nissan and give them a nice 'country' welcome.
Sorry for not posting recently. The bottom fell out on the crazy barrell for me here lately.
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