Posted by on December 27, 2019 4:41 am
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Categories: µ Newsjones

Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Getty

Pay no attention to the mind behind the curtain.

Kanye West’s latest offering seems to be a counter to the chaotic whirlwind that surrounds almost every West release. Jesus Is Born arrived at Christmas, and though it isn’t quite a manger, it’s presented as the closest we could possibly get to a low-key West-related project in 2019. Though he’s been hinting at the project since at least October, Kanye delivered his newly-announced second direct foray into gospel music without the circus that accompanied Jesus Is King in the fall—and the project is solely billed to the Sunday Service Choir, the collective of vocalists he’s been touring and recording with all year. This particular album, it seems, doesn’t want you to be preoccupied with Kanye West.

If Jesus Is Born isn’t trying to distance itself from the persona of Kanye West, at the very least it’s attempting to de-emphasize the Yeeziness of the proceedings this time around. With a cover of West’s “Ultralight Beam” and an interpretation of “Balm In Gilead,” as well as nods to trap and ‘90s R&B, the 19-track release doesn’t do much that West hasn’t already showcased at churches, colleges, and his own Calabasas digs; the album soars, sags, and shouts through biblical references, praise and worship, and West’s own catalog over the course of an hour and 24 minutes. This is closer to the actual gospel album some pundits (and anticipatory buzz) seemed to believe Jesus Is King to be, as it centers the mass Sunday Service choir and features West’s sound outside of its typical contemporary trappings.

Read more at The Daily Beast.