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Gospel recording artists Jekalyn Carr and Todd Dulaney are set to co-host the 2024 Impact SOAR Awards, which will air on the Impact Network on June 17 at 8 p.m. ET. The show will honor top artists in contemporary gospel music, including Marvin Sapp, Ricky Dillard, Travis Greene and Kim Burrell.
Performers and special guests on the show, who will pay tribute to the honorees, include Brian Courtney Wilson, Ms. Anita Wilson, Mali Music, Kelontae Gavin, Maranda Curtis, Titus Showers and Tim Bowman, Jr.
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The SOAR Awards are executive produced by Royal W. Jackson, executive vice president, Impact Network. The show is presented in partnership with SOAR Radio, which originated the SOAR Awards in 2017.
“As the creator of SOAR Radio and the SOAR Awards, I am immensely proud of the incredible journey we’ve embarked on since our inaugural show in 2017,” Justin Francis, SOAR Radio and Awards founder and CEO, said in a statement. “We are thrilled to partner with the Impact Network, a collaboration that elevates the SOAR Awards to new heights.”
This is the first music honors special for The Impact Network, a Black-founded and operated cable network based in Detroit. The show is set to premiere two days after Juneteenth, which is celebrated on June 19, and right in the heart of Black Music Month.
“Honoring gospel legends through heartfelt tributes not only preserves their contributions but also inspires future generations,” Impact Network Founder and CEO Wayne T. Jackson said in a statement. “We are excited to share this moving event with our viewers and continue to champion the enduring power of gospel music.”
In addition to the SOAR Awards, Impact Network is creating 30-second vignettes that celebrate influential Black music figures and musical moments across various genres.
Impact Network recently aired its first tentpole special, The 5th Annual Pink Awards, which recognizes achievements in the fight against breast cancer.
Monday night’s (April 29) live episode of American Idol will include a tribute to Mandisa, the season 5 finalist who died April 19 at age 47.
Melinda Doolittle (season 6), Danny Gokey (season 8) and Colton Dixon (season 11) — who were all personal friends and professional colleagues of the late Grammy-winning artist — will return to the Idol stage in Hollywood to honor the late singer with the song “Shackles (Praise You),” a 2000 top 10 hit by Mary Mary.
Doolittle and Mandisa became friends before either one competed on Idol. “I met Mandisa in the studio,” Doolittle told Billboard while waiting for her flight to Los Angeles to appear on the show. “We were both singing background for a project produced by our good friend Chance Scoggins. Mandisa was singing soprano, of course, and I was definitely singing alto, and we hit it off. She told me she was going to compete on American Idol and I said, ‘That couldn’t be me. You have a great time.’
“I remember watching Simon Cowell say some words to her that weren’t kind, but she was so resilient. She was willing to forgive him while I was thinking: ‘What kind of human being is he?’”
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Melinda Doolittle
The following week, Cowell made a rare on-air apology to the singer he insulted. “I’ve been learning from her ever since how to navigate life and treat people well,” says Doolittle. A year later, she told Mandisa she was going to audition for Idol after all.
“She immediately said, ‘What’s going to be hard is Hollywood Week. That almost broke me, so I made myself a Bible study and I’m going to give you that so every day you have something to read.’ She gave me this pink bedazzled folder of Bible studies to go through. Her other advice was, ‘Take snacks.’ Those were the two best things she could have told me about Hollywood Week.”
The two singers stayed in touch during Doolittle’s season. “She was the biggest cheerleader anyone could ever have. After my performances, she would message or call me and tell me everything that was good. If I brought up something that went wrong, she would say, ‘That’s not what we’re here to talk about.’ She remained a cheerleader for the rest of her life. She would buy front-row seats to my concerts and be the loudest audience member ever.”
Their friendship continued to grow as the years passed by. “We would go to dinner together. We both got mistaken for the other all the time. I would just say, ‘Thank you.’ And when I was by myself, people would come up to me and tell me how the song ‘Overcomer’ [which spent 10 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs chart in 2013] changed their lives. I couldn’t wait to pass that along to her.”
With her flight delayed, Doolittle talked about returning to Idol 16 seasons after her run on the show. “I’m petrified every time. That stage holds such a beautiful pace for me and a scary place, all at the same time. I am so beyond grateful that they’ve chosen to honor Mandisa and to be a part of it with my buddies Danny and Colton. We’re good friends and we go to church together. I’m glad to have them with me. But I would be lying if I didn’t tell you I still get extremely nervous about that stage.”
Colton Dixon
Jimmy Fontaine
Billboard also reached out to Dixon, who was in Alabama on his final stop in a four-show tour, before flying to Los Angeles on Monday morning. Like Mandisa, Dixon was signed to Capitol, which led to his own very successful career in Contemporary Christian music.
“I remember when I met Mandisa the first time, discovering how much of a fan she was. She was so supportive of what I was doing. Not only did our industry lose a really big voice and a powerhouse of a person, but Christian music lost its No. 1 cheerleader. She was that for everyone.”
Asked about Mandisa’s hit single “Overcomer,” Dixon said, “It was a massive song with so much truth. Everyone needs to hear that. Buckle up, keep going, and you can do it. And that’s who she was too. I loved all of her songs. There’s so much joy in her music.”
Dixon recalled that he toured with Mandisa one time. “We were out with TobyMac. Mandisa and I were on a bus together. Every morning, I would beat her to the front lounge, and when she came up, I would sing her song ‘Good Morning’ to her. I’m pretty sure she hated that song by the end of the tour. But we had so much fun together. What I’m going to miss the most are those Mandisa talks, those hugs. I believe I’m going to get those again one day, but I’m going to miss it while I’m here.”
Billboard also asked Dixon about his thoughts on returning to Idol. “Anytime American Idol reaches out, it’s an honor for me to be a part of that stage. I wish it was under different circumstances. But as both a fan of the show and a friend and colleague of Mandisa, when I get there today, I’m going to say, ‘Thank you for paying tribute to her,’ because she was a big voice on the show and a big voice in our industry off the show. It means a lot to those close to her that they would recognize that. So I’m humbled and honored to be a part of that tribute.”
Danny Gokey
Rachel & Connor Dwyer
On Sunday, Gokey was singing at an evening worship service on Maui to offer hope to the survivors of the devastating Lahaina fire of August 2023. He sent Billboard a written statement about participating in Idol’s tribute to Mandisa.
“Mandisa was not only a fellow Idol, but a true friend and a huge part of the CCM music community. I had the privilege of touring with her several times and it was always fun to sing together. Her joy was infectious and she encouraged people on and off stage! When I made my debut in Christian music, she was my greatest supporter. It wasn’t easy coming off a failed record deal after the show, but she was the one who welcomed me first and loudest and rallied everyone to support me. She loved to cheer people on, to help them see the God-given purpose they had in the world. It’s an honor to be the one cheering her on this time and highlighting the impact she had in so many people’s lives.”
Showrunner and executive producer Megan Michaels Wolflick, who has been with Idol since season 2, tells Billboard, “Mandisa was a bright light who brought joy to the millions who fell in love with her on American Idol back in 2006. She continued to have a storied career, always showing her dedication to her fans and her faith. She will be missed on an immense level. It is with a depth of gratitude that we are able to celebrate her life on our show.”
American Idol airs live Monday night at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on ABC.
In 2021, with nearly four decades of recording under her belt, 15-time Grammy winner CeCe Winans released her first live album, Believe for It. However, with the world still reeling from COVID, she and her team were forced to shift the dynamics of making the album, recording the project in an intimate setting of about 50 people in Nashville.
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For her new album, More Than This, out April 26 via PureSprings Gospel/Fair Trade Services, Winans knew she wanted another shot at doing a live album. This time, the project was recorded at downtown Nashville venue Rocketown, with an audience of around 1,200 members.
“I wanted to experience the live audience,” Winans tells Billboard. “The last record was powerful, and God blessed it. But to hear the live audience on this one, it takes it to a whole other place for me.”
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As with her previous album, Winans sets classic worship songs alongside modern ones. On More Than This, classics such as “Sanctuary” and “Oh the Blood of Jesus” are tucked alongside modern worship fare — such as Chris Tomlin’s recent hit “Holy Forever,” Elevation Worship’s “Worthy” and Maverick City Music’s “Refiner,” as well as two songs Winans co-wrote, the title track (which features musician Todd Dulaney) and “Be Still and Know.”
Winans reunited with producer Kyle Lee, as well as co-producers Thomas Hardin, Jr. and Tyrone Jackson, for the new album. She notes that they carefully selected the dozen songs that make up the tracklist, with the intent of weaving an upbeat, joyful message throughout the project.
“We got the chance to create a worship service more than a record, a time of worship that would tie the old with the new,” Winans says. “I know a lot of people don’t listen to whole albums nowadays, but I like to create a piece of work that you can listen from the beginning to the end, and you connect that thread all the way through.”
Both performing live and performing cover songs presented its own unique challenges in the recording process of the album.
“You have to rehearse with the band and singers, and learn the songs,” says Winans, who is managed by MWS Group, which also manages CCM pioneer Michael W. Smith. “If I had my preference I would learn the songs, tour the songs, then do the record — because then you’re very familiar with the songs and the performance, you have a tight feel to it. But I went in with a lot of prayer, asking God to help me remember everything and spent a lot of time with my producer and rehearsing so that when you get in front of that live audience, you’re just able to flow with the songs.”
Music has been a mainstay for Winans’ entire life, as she began singing as part of the larger Winans family group, before CeCe joined her brother BeBe to form a duo. They released their first album, Lord Lift Us Up, in 1984. A few years later, they signed with Capitol Records and issued their 1987 project BeBe & CeCe Winans. The duo issued numerous Gospel hits such as “Lost Without You” and “I’ll Take You There” (featuring Mavis Staples), before they launched solo careers. In 1995, CeCe released the debut solo album, Alone in His Presence, which went on to be certified Platinum by the RIAA. To date, she has released 11 solo studio albums.
The title track to Believe For It brought another hit for Winans, reaching the top 10 on the Christian Airplay chart in 2021 and becoming a 12-week No. 1 on the Hot Gospel Songs chart in 2022. She followed with her rendition of Bethel Music’s “Goodness of God.” In 2023, Winans also notched other Billboard year-end accolades including top gospel artist, female; as well as top gospel song (“Goodness of God”).
Where “Believe For It” and “Goodness of God” were ballads, “That’s My King,” the current single from her new album, frames worship lyrics with a danceable groove.
“Kyle brought me this song and when I heard it, I was like, ‘This is incredible,’” Winans relates of the song, which is currently at No. 25 on the Christian Airplay chart. “It’s fun, and it’s upbeat, not just in tempo but in its message.
“I think sometimes we forget because we do associate church and God with being in a solemn assembly. He is to be reverenced, but He said in his presence, there’s fullness of joy,” she continues. “That’s not something to keep quiet, but that’s something to proclaim and to share so that other people can have hope too. And I think this song embodies all of it. ‘That’s My King’ reminds us that we have hope.”
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That joyous spirit in the song gets amplified when she performs it each night on her current The Goodness Tour, which runs through May.
“In our live show, we’ve added pompoms. I’m like, ‘This is a cheer. We got to cheer this. It’s a party,’” she explains. “It’s one of those songs that is contagious, so full of joy. It’s like cooking a good meal. You put all of the ingredients in there, then you stir it up and you get the full benefit of the flavor.”
The album closes with “In a Little While,” a song written by Winans’ son Alvin Love III.
“It’s a great, powerful message to end the album with,” Winans says. “It’s another song that makes you want to dance, is joyful. That’s one of the songs I played for Kyle because it’s been years since [Winans’ home church choir] Nashville Life recorded it, and it has an older, retro sound. That was a song that he was like, ‘I don’t know about this,’ but I was like, ‘This is one we have to do.’ That night when we recorded it, everybody was jumping around, singing, nobody wanted to leave. He came back to me and said, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re so right.”
Songs from More Than This will likely be included in the setlist when Winans brings her third annual Generations Live conference to Nashville’s Belmont University on May 10-11. The conference will feature guests Joyce Meyer, Jackie Hill Perry, Dr. Anita Phillips, Sheryl Brady, Ashley Phillips, Andrea Mellini and Nashville Life Music.
“I think last year we saw four generations of women attend,” Winans says. ‘My family will be there. I’m so grateful I still have my mom. She’s 87, and my daughter will be speaking this year. I’m so proud of her. I am looking forward to laughing. I’m looking forward to crying, to seeing generations come together.”
Contemporary Christian music singer-songwriter and two-time Grammy winner Lauren Daigle brought her Kaleidoscope Tour to Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Saturday (April 6), as the Lafayette, Louisiana-born Daigle ushered in a cavalcade of sounds, a tight-knit horn section, superb backing vocalists, a full band, and a brightly-hued, joyous production for the roughly two-hour show.
Daigle, who has notched six pinnacle reachers on Billboard‘s Hot Christian Songs chart, has long approached her music with a free-flowing, genreless mindset, one that positions melodies and lyrics as leaning into a vast spectrum of sounds, each a capable vessel of hope, healing and flourishing. As she has amassed success both in Contemporary Christian Music and pop music (most notably, her 2018 album Look Up Child, which debuted at No. 3 on the all-genre Billboard 200, while her song “You Say” reached the top 30 on the all-genre Hot 100), Daigle has made the natural step up to headlining arenas — and with it has constructed a show filled with colors, sights and sounds meant to capture and hold the audience’s attention from the first, uptempo moments of “These Are the Days.”
Helming uptempo anthems such as “Look Up Child,” as well as soaring ballads such as “Valuable” was Daigle’s soaring vocal, which has often drawn comparisons to both Adele and Joss Stone, as well as her joyous, easygoing performance style as she and her crew of musicians danced and shimmied around the mainstage and catwalk stretching into the middle of Bridgestone Arena. The full band resided aloft an elevated platform, placing them visually in the center of the massive video wall that shone an array of colors and images throughout the evening, while Daigle and her crew of vocalists/musicians/dancers took up residence on the mainstage.
“This song is my favorite,” was a refrain of regular occurrence from Daigle throughout the set, as she punctuated the evening with stories behind some of her songs. Her fourth, eponymous studio album — which released last year via Atlantic Records/Centricity Music — saw Daigle further embrace mainstream pop, welcoming artists including Gary Clark Jr., and Jon Batiste, as well as songwriting prowess from songwriters including Shane McAnally and Natalie Hemby.
As a companion to her song “Kaleidoscope Jesus,” she spoke of the soul-connecting power of touring and live concerts, comparing each concert to looking through a kaleidoscope and knowing that each turn of the instrument brings a new collage of shapes and colors unique to that moment.
She noted that the song nods to a memory of playing with kaleidoscopes at her aunt’s house as a child.
“When you look inside of a kaleidoscope, and put it up to the light, there are different shapes and colors, some have rough edges and some have smooth edges,” Daigle told the crowd at one point. “Then you put them up to the light and they make this beautiful image… you bring all of your different stories to this show; some of you are struggling, some are having the time of your lives, but we bring those stories to God and put them up to the light and ask, ‘God what are you going to do through all of this?’ and it becomes a beautiful moment.”
Daigle’s hope-giving work extends beyond song and stage; during the concert, attendees were encouraged to sponsor a child through an organization Daigle works closely with, ChildFund, which aims to provide children around the world with food, clean water, education, healthcare and more. Daigle, who also sponsors a child through the program, noted that more than 700 children were sponsored by attendees at Bridgestone that evening.
Opening the show was Nigerian-born singer-songwriter Blessing Offor, known for his 2023 hit “Brighter Days” and his feature on TobyMac’s song “The Goodness.“ “This show means the world to me because this is my hometown,” Offor told the crowd.
Seated at a keyboard at the front of the main stage, he offered a Sterling display of his soulful, octave-leaping tenor vocal. He sang songs aimed at elevating his fellow musicians, particularly those struggling in the early days of their careers in “Don’t We All.” He sang “Believe,” and Tin Roof,” which Offor wrote with songwriter Natalie Hemby. CCM mainstay Chris Tomlin later recorded the song with Offor and included it on his country-leaning album Chris Tomlin & Friends. He followed with “My Tribe,” the title track to his 2023 album, and concluded with his breakthrough song “Brighter Days,” which drew the audience to appropriately light up three arena with a sea of cell phone lights.
Below, we highlight five top moments from Daigle’s set:
“Rescue”
Kirk Franklin, Travis Greene and Tamela Mann tied for BMI’s Gospel Songwriter of the Year at the 2024 BMI Trailblazers of Gospel Music Awards, which were held at Flourish in Atlanta on Thursday March 28. Each songwriter wrote two of the most performed gospel songs of the year. Franklin was honored for “Bless Me” and “Kingdom,” Greene for “Finished” and “Tent Revival,” and Mann for “Finished” and “He Did It for Me.”
Franklin won a second award for “Kingdom,” which was named the BMI Gospel Song of the Year. Franklin cowrote the song with Jonathan Jay, Chandler Moore and Jacob Poole. The song, which was recorded by Maverick City Music X Kirk Franklin, won a Grammy for best gospel performance/song at the 65th annual Grammy Awards in February 2023.
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BMI’s Gospel Publisher of the Year went to Essential Music Publishing for the second year in a row.
Throughout the luncheon event, BMI saluted the Top 25 most-performed gospel songs of the previous year. The private ceremony was hosted by Mike O’Neill, BMI’s president & CEO, and Catherine Brewton, vice president, creative, Atlanta.
As previously announced, gospel legend and evangelist Dorinda Clark-Cole, of the acclaimed Clark Sisters, was honored as a Trailblazer of Gospel Music. Upon receiving the honor, Clark-Cole offered this advice for songwriters: “When you are at your lowest, that’s when God can get your greatest… keep writing, keep getting inspired by God because somebody is being blessed.”
Crystal Aikin, Tasha Page-Lockhart, Yolanda Adams, Lisa Knowles-Smith and Clark-Cole’s niece Kierra Sheard performed songs to fete Clark-Cole.
Jonathan McReynolds received the BMI Champion Award, the first time this accolade was presented at this ceremony. DOE, Tyree Miller, Darrel Walls and Jason Nelson sang tributes to McReynolds.
Tim Bowman, Jr., Kim Burrell and Faith City Music and Zacardi Cortez also performed at the event.
Sandra Crouch, the late Andraé Crouch’s twin sister who co-wrote “Jesus Is the Answer,” has died. She was 81.
Sandra Crouch passed away on Sunday, March 17 at Northridge Hospital in Northridge, California, following complications from radiation for a non-cancerous brain lesion, Billboard has learned.
Sandra and Andraé were born on July 1, 1942, in Los Angeles to parents who went into ministry and founded Christ Memorial Church C.O.G.I.C. in 1951. The siblings began performing music together around 1960 as The COGICS, alongside friends who were active at church.
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Andraé went on to form the group Andraé Crouch & The Disciples, and Sandra worked as a percussionist in Hollywood. As a percussionist, Sandra’s credits included playing on notable projects like The Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back,” Neil Diamond’s Tap Root Manuscript and Janis Joplin’s Pearl album.
In the 1970s, Crouch joined her brother with The Disciples, singing, playing and co-writing songs including “Jesus Is the Answer,” which became a mainstay on gospel radio.
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Among the twins’ musical accomplishments together was backing Michael Jackson on several songs on History – Past, Present and Future Book 1, and on “Man in the Mirror” when Jackson performed it live at the Grammys in 1988. Both Andraé and Sandra also worked on film soundtracks for 1985’s The Color Purple, 1993’s Free Willy and 1994’s The Lion King.
Sandra released three of her own albums in the 1980s, all of which resulted in Grammy nominations — and collected a Grammy for one of them.
Her first solo album, We Sing Praises — featuring singles “He’s Worthy,” “There’s Power in the Blood” and “We Need to Hear From You” — was released in 1983. The set earned Crouch three nominations and won the award for best soul gospel performance, female at the 26th annual Grammy Awards.
We’re Waiting, Crouch’s sophomore solo album, arrived in 1985 with the song “Completely Yes.” The album and track were nominated for best soul gospel performance by a duo, group, choir or chorus at the 28th annual Grammy Awards, though Crouch did not take home an award this time around.
Crouch’s third and final solo album, With All of My Heart, was released in 1992. It received a nomination, but did not win, for best gospel album by a choir or chorus at the 35th annual Grammy Awards. She went on the road in support of the album with Daryl Coley and the Richard Smallwood Singers on the Gospel: Good for the Soul Tour.
Sandra won two GMA Dove Awards for traditional gospel album, first for We Sing Praises in 1984, and then for With All of My Heart in 1993.
Andraé Crouch had taken over their parents’ church, Christ Memorial COGIC in San Fernando, California, in 1998 and ordained Sandra as a co-pastor, which defied the COGIC denomination’s policy against female preachers. They gave the church a new name: New Chris Memorial Church.
Sandra assumed the role of senior pastor beginning in 2015, when her brother passed.
The church’s assistant pastor, Kenneth J. Cook, released a statement about Sandra’s death last week via social media, writing, “It’s with a heavy heart that I announce that at 12pm today, March 17, 2024, our beloved Senior Pastor Sandra Elaine Crouch transitioned into the arms of the Lord. We as believers know that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. We will forever cherish the memories and teachings we received from her.”
Crouch’s life will be celebrated with an April 16 viewing and musical tribute at New Christ Memorial Church, followed by a homegoing service on April 17.
In 2025, the Gospel Music Association will open the Dove Center and Gospel Music Museum in downtown Nashville.
The Dove Center and Gospel Music Museum will be located at 147 Fourth Ave. N., at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Commerce Street, one block from the historic Ryman Auditorium.
“Developed to preserve the legacy of our historic past, support the impact of today’s artists, and plant seeds for the future, we believe the Dove Center will be a beacon of light for the kingdom of God,” Gospel Music Association president/executive director Jackie Patillo said in a video revealing details about the timeline for the upcoming Dove Center. “It will also be a key part of the GMA’s mission to expose, promote, and celebrate the Gospel through music.”
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The video also featured a rendering of the Dove Center, with plans including the Dove Awards Theater, a timeline of the history of the gospel music industry, exhibits highlighting artists’ stories, a Hall of Fame area spotlighting plaques for each member of the Gospel Music Hall of Fame’s approximately 200 members, and exhibits allowing visitors to create and mix their own song. The center will feature exhibit areas with titles including Lift Your Voice, Moving Up The Charts and Created to Worship.
The Gospel Music Association, which puts on the annual GMA Dove Awards, was founded in 1964. The Dove Awards were conceptualized by singer-songwriter Bill Gaither in 1968. The inaugural Dove Awards were held in 1969 in Memphis, Tennessee, before the awards moved to Nashville in 1971. The Awards were held in Atlanta in 2011 and 2012, before returning to Nashville in 2013.
The building that will house the Dove Center is also home to Lipscomb University’s Spark Center. Since 2013, the Gospel Music Association and Lipscomb University have had a partnership, where the annual GMA Dove Awards have been held at Lipscomb University’s Allen Arena, while the Gospel Music Association operates from its headquarters at 4012 Granny White Pike in Nashville, on Lipscomb University’s campus.
This 54th annual GMA Dove Awards winners this year included artist of the year winner Brandon Lake (who picked up four total awards during the evening), while Tasha Cobbs Leonard, Toby Mac, Blessing Offor and Jeff Pardo each won two awards.
The Dove Center will join several other music-focused museums in Music City, including the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum, the National Museum of African American Music, the Johnny Cash Museum, the Patsy Cline Museum, and the Willie Nelson and Friends museum.
From Barbie: The Album to Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, soundtracks tied to blockbuster films have dominated much of the year. As 2023 draws to a close, Quincy Jones, Scott Sanders and Larry Jackson hope their new expanded soundtrack, released last Friday (Dec. 15) for the forthcoming Color Purple movie musical (which hits theaters Dec. 25), marks a new era for R&B soundtracks and continues the healing Alice Walker sparked with her paramount novel 41 years ago.
Walker’s story has undergone countless iterations over the past four decades: an Oscar-nominated Steven Spielberg-helmed film in 1985, a Tony-winning Broadway musical in 2005, a Grammy-winning Broadway revival in 2015, and now a new movie musical directed by Grammy nominee Blitz Bazawule. Led by Fantasia, Danielle Brooks, Taraji P. Henson, Colman Domingo and Halle Bailey, the new film offers a fresh perspective on the timeless narrative, as evidenced by its accompanying star-studded, globe-traversing Inspired By soundtrack. The new set is comprised of 21 new songs inspired by the film, in addition to 16 tracks taken from the Broadway musical. The genre-spanning set is heavily rooted in R&B — a conscious decision given the way R&B has been counted out by major labels over the past decade.
According to Sanders, who produced the 2005 Broadway musical and serves as executive producer on both the 2023 film and its soundtrack (released through Warner Bros. Pictures/WaterTower Music/gamma), Warner Bros. was always planning to do a soundtrack. “We knew it would be an opportune moment for them to add another dimension to The Color Purple brand extension,” he remarks.
And that’s precisely what the new soundtrack is. As cinematic universes continue to dominate mainstream media, The Color Purple has been crafting its own interconnected web of stories for 40 years — and the new soundtrack became a holy site for reunions and healing among the producers, artists, and cast.
The idea of a proper Inspired By soundtrack started to take form during an April lunch between Sanders and Jackson after the gamma. CEO had seen the film and felt its impact on early audiences. “Whatever veneer of impenetrable stoicism I had at that time, [the film] pierced it,” Jackson reflects. “To me, the great Black films are the ones [where] people are talking back to the screen, they’re applauding, there’s conversations going on, and whooping and hollering. It’s an interactive spirit, and this film has that.”
For Jackson, it was Fantasia’s performance that most moved him. The Billboard Hot 100-topping R&B star leads the film as Celie Harris-Johnson, a role for which she has already earned a Golden Globe nomination. Almost 20 years ago, Fantasia captivated America’s hearts and won the fourth season of American Idol. Shortly after her victory, she headed to the studio to record her debut LP, a Grammy-nominated effort on which Jackson would serve as A&R. That album featured singles such as “Truth Is” and the Missy Elliott-assisted “Free Yourself,” a collaboration that now has a three-way connection to The Color Purple universe.
“That was a lot for me at that time of my life — [Fantasia and I] were basically the same age and really related to what needed to be achieved,” Jackson reflects. “I was saying to Missy Elliott last night, she really helped me craft the sound for Fantasia’s first album.”
On the soundtrack, Elliott appears on two remixes: the Shenseea-featuring “Hell No,” a song from the original musical, and “Keep It Movin’,” a new addition to the musical co-written by Bailey. Like most of the artists involved in the soundtrack, Jackson says that the “Work It” rapper decided to join the project after a private screening of the film. It’s the same way he landed Alicia Keys, who co-wrote and co-produced the soundtrack’s lead single (“Lifeline”), Johntá Austin, whose “When I Can’t Do Better” marks his first collaboration with Mary J. Blige since their iconic “Be Without You,” and The-Dream. Fresh off a Grammy win for his work on Beyoncé’s Renaissance, The-Dream could be headed down to the Oscars thanks to “Superpower,” a new song he penned for the Color Purple end credits.
Often, end-credit songs are performed by artists who don’t appear in the film — but in the case of The Color Purple, everyone was in early agreement that Fantasia was the only correct choice to belt the closing ballad. For one, both the song and the movie are Fantasia’s formal re-entry into the public eye as a performer, but her specific voice and story were the best vehicle for The-Dream’s lyrics. “This is older Celie singing to her younger self — it is a quintessential ‘it gets better’ song,” Sanders gushes. “It’s so f—king moving. I can’t stop listening to it. I cry when I listen to Fantasia’s rendition.” For “Superpower,” Jackson told The-Dream, “I just want a spiritual, a song that will move on far past our time. Something that will be sung in high school graduations.”
Although the SAG-AFTRA strike almost prevented Fantasia from recording the song, the timing worked out and she was able to cut her vocal in time. Given that Fantasia played Celie on Broadway for eight months during the Broadway show’s original run, her rendition of the end-credits song is the kind of full-circle moment that most artists dream of. “Superpower” is a rousing song – one in which she deftly displays the expanse of vocal range and control – and a potential comeback vehicle for not just Fantasia, but the R&B soundtrack in general. In crafting The Color Purple (Music From and Inspired By), Sanders, Jackson and film director Blitz Bazawule drew inspiration from iconic R&B film soundtracks of decades past, including Sparkle, The Bodyguard, Boomerang and Waiting to Exhale.
“It had always been on my bucket list to do a soundtrack that felt like the great soundtracks of the 1970s, or the ones in the ‘90s,” Jackson says. “I’ve been involved in a few of them, but Clive [Davis] was always the one who was leading it. It never was something that I was driving with my own personal taste and sensibility, and this was an opportunity for that.”
The Color Purple soundtrack bookmarks a year that began with troubling layoffs for one of the most storied labels in Black music history. In the middle of Black History Month (Feb. 16), Billboard reported that Motown was set to be reintegrated under Capitol Music Group – hence the layoffs – making for a less-than-preferable outcome after the company attempted a run as a standalone label back in 2021. Despite a precarious start to the year, R&B artists have once again forged a spot at the forefront of the mainstream, thanks to acts such as SZA, Victoria Monét, Usher, Coco Jones and more. It’s a level of momentum, Sanders and Jackson hope to continue with their generation-bridging Color Purple tracklist.
In addition to the cast, The Color Purple soundtrack features contributions from Jennifer Hudson, Keyshia Cole, Mary J. Blige, Mary Mary, H.E.R., Ludmilla, Megan Thee Stallion and more. Like Fantasia, Jennifer Hudson’s track marks another full-circle moment for The Color Purple universe. Hudson took home the 2017 Grammy Award for best musical theater album thanks to the Broadway revival, and, of course, she was a contestant on the same season of American Idol as Fantasia. In another connection, Hudson herself also starred in a blockbuster Black movie musical that hit theaters on Christmas Day: 2006’s Dreamgirls, for which she won the Academy Award for best supporting actress.
Although Walker’s novel specifically highlights the stories of Black American women in the American South during the early 20th century, the new Color Purple soundtrack both globalizes those narratives and translates them to contemporary times. Megan Thee Stallion’s remix of “Hell No” — a selection from the original musical – carries a special weight given the way she has refused to let misogynoir drown out her voice over the past few years. Jamaican cross-genre star Shenseea appears on a different “Hell No” remix, and her inclusion on the tracklist – alongside Brazilian singer-songwriter Ludmilla – highlights how The Color Purple’s narrative resonates with Black women around the world.
“Every day was meeting to reaffirm why I’m doing this, to remind myself the importance of this work,” explains director Blitz Bazawule. “It’s daunting. You’re talking about a legacy that you don’t approach if you don’t have anything real to contribute.” Bazawule aimed to contribute new perspectives of childhood and Celie’s inner dialogue in his version of The Color Purple. In translating a Broadway play to the silver screen, Bazawule was pushed to think about which characters and moments in the plot needed songs. “Keep It Movin’,” co-written by Bailey and Grammy-winning songwriting duo Nova Wav, was one of those songs. “Nettie’s character, as I saw it, needed to impart to Celie some level of confidence that will stay with her sister before they reconnect at the very end,” Bazawule says. “[The song] shows a young girl’s innocence which will very soon be snatched away quite violently. I need that moment to be memorable and really reflect the love the sisters have for each other.”
Bailey, who starred as the titular Little Mermaid earlier this year, is, of course, one-half of the Grammy-nominated sister duo Chloe x Halle. The “Angel” singer drew from her relationship with her sister for “Keep It Movin’,” a dynamic that exemplifies the symbiotic healing nature of The Color Purple soundtrack. As artists completed their contributions to the project, they experienced moments of healing themselves. According to Bazawule, those moments occurred throughout filming, spurred by the omnipresence of faith and gospel music on set. Gospel music is a clear throughline between the original music, the Inspired By soundtrack, and the way the musical’s songs were reworked for the film.
“Gospel is the foundation. When you think about how our version of The Color Purple functions, which is the oscillation between joy and pain and turning our pain into power, it’s the definition of gospel,” remarks Bazawule. “You don’t have anything without gospel, so, for us, it was central to how we advanced everything. I also was very clear that I’d have to split my musical journey into 3 three parts: gospel, blues and jazz.” To bring a more cinematic, gospel-infused feel to the original Broadway music, Bazawule tagged in Billboard chart-topping gospel star Ricky Dillard; He also recruited Keb’ Mo’ to bring in the blues, and Christian McBride for jazz. He even made sure his DP (Dan Lausten) and production designer (Paul D. Austerberry) got an authentic Black church experience. With both Fantasia and Domingo regularly leading the cast and crew in prayer, The Color Purple transformed into “spiritual work that shows up in the amount of healing that a lot of us went through making this film,” says Bazawule.
“You cannot work on The Color Purple without understanding what anointing looks like,” Bazawule asserts. “When those singers open their mouths, that’s church talking. That was very clear and it stayed critical up until the end.”
Just days before The Color Purple is set to open in theatres, a Hollywood Reporter piece exploring the hesitancy of studios to promote movie musicals as musicals started to make the rounds online. Black movie musicals are few and far between, especially when holiday films and biopics are removed, and The Color Purple is hoping to dispel the notion that audiences aren’t interested in seeing musicals on the big screen.
“I hope [The Color Purple] opens the door to many more and I hope directors and studios take more chances with Black movie musicals,” muses Bazawule. “Again, when it comes to music, we are unmatched, so you just have to find the narratives. I hope and pray our movie will move the needle.”
Bobbi Storm came under fire this past weekend after she shared a video of herself performing on a Delta flight after finding out that she is nominated for two Grammy Awards. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news In the clip posted to Instagram on Friday (Nov. 10), […]
Think of it as three chords and the gospel truth.
The most interesting, and most under-recognized, thread among finalists for the 57th annual Country Music Association Awards, airing tonight (Nov. 8) on ABC, is the sound of gospel choirs. For the first time in history, the single of the year category features two such groups: The historic Fisk Jubilee Singers appear in the background of Jelly Roll’s song about a spiritual crossroads, “Need a Favor,” and a makeshift choir arranged by Nashville soul singer Jason Eskridge underscores the power of redemption in the back half of HARDY’s murder ballad “wait in the truck,” featuring Lainey Wilson.
In addition, The War and Treaty, whose sound is loaded with church-y timbre, picked up their first nomination for vocal duo of the year. The genre, it appears, is circling back to its unbroken origins and reclaiming the sound of gospel at a time when society is particularly divided.
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“I think most people inside their hearts are crying out for something to ease all of the anger,” says producer Brent Maher (The Judds, Dottie West). “How it all lined up for this [awards] show — that could be coincidence. But I don’t think there’s any doubt that there is a need for that.”
Maher has had a hand in country’s gospel trend. As producer of A Tribute to the Judds, he enlisted BMI executive/arranger Shannon Sanders to assemble the Fisk Singers for Jelly Roll’s closing duet with K. Michelle, “Love Can Build a Bridge.”
But there’s plenty more spiritual sound to go around. Miko Marks and the Resurrectors employ the Fisk ensemble on “Jubilee”; Elle King’s album Come Get Your Wife features a pair of songs with an Eskridge-led choir, “Try Jesus” and “Love Go By”; Cody Jinks’ “Outlaws and Mustangs” slides a choir into its final minute; and producer Tony Brown (George Strait, Reba McEntire) compiled a Gaither Tribute album, paying homage to late Southern gospel icon Bill Gaither in a 10-track project that has Ronnie Dunn leading a choir on “Because He Lives.” For extra emphasis, The Oak Ridge Boys have launched their farewell tour, preparing to cap a successful country career that hinged on harmonies founded in their gospel origins.
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In country’s formative years, the genre’s artists tended to include gospel segments in their shows, or record entire faith-filled albums. That approach offset the drinking and cheating themes that were also prominent in the format’s lexicon, demonstrating the push and pull at work in its creative soul. “Country music and R&B have never shied away from the fact that the dark and the light always run close to each other,” Brown says.
That’s apparent in both “Need a Favor” and “wait in the truck,” which feature desperate characters dealing with addiction and murder, respectively. It’s appropriate that the Fisk Singers are part of this moment: the group was established over 150 years ago to raise money and awareness for the historically Black Fisk University, established during Reconstruction. The Fisk group existed decades before the country format coalesced, and its foundational role in Nashville’s development as a music center is one of the reasons why Jelly Roll chose to perform with them on the single, as well as on “Love Can Build a Bridge.”
“He really wanted that to happen,” says Sanders. “It meant something to him to be a son of Music City, to have the Fisk Jubilee Singers — that was on his creative bucket list. That’s what made it that much more satisfactory.”
Adding to the satisfaction of the moment is the subtle message rendered by the nominations. Morgan Wallen’s 2021 incident in which he used a racial slur, and Jason Aldean’s current single, “Try That in a Small Town,” with a video that led many to view the song’s vigilante message as bigoted, contributed to a widespread belief that country is unwelcoming. Mickey Guyton, Kane Brown and Darius Rucker have all fielded racist attacks on social media, and in 11 Minutes, a Paramount+ documentary about the massacre at Las Vegas’ Route 91 Harvest festival, Black concertgoer Jonathan Smith recalled another attendee dismissing him: “I didn’t know your kind liked this music.”
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But that message runs counter to the stated interests of the industry at large, which has signed more artists of color and developed several programs to more quickly boost minority creators and executives. The choirs provide aural support for that position. “Country’s evolving to this more inclusive place,” Sanders says.
Eskridge — who has toured with the likes of Lyle Lovett, Zac Brown Band and blues artist Jonny Lang — agrees. “I’ve been the only Black dude in a group of 60,000 people, and those groupings of people are not indicative of the negativity that you’re seeing. It’s always been primarily a very loving and a very accepting atmosphere,” he says. “The negativity always gets the loudest voice, but I don’t necessarily believe that that’s the norm.”
The recording industry marketed country and the blues separately beginning in the 1920s, but the two forms grew out of the same Southern soil. Black performers — particularly Country Music Hall of Fame member DeFord Bailey — helped create the informal, back-porch sound of early country, and country artists such as Hank Williams, Bill Monroe and Johnny Cash were trained by Black musicians. The late Carl Perkins, who can be heard singing and playing on the Judds tribute album, recalled gospel figuring into life as a sharecropper in racially blended West Tennessee.
“It wasn’t a whole bunch of white people picking cotton together in one field and all kinds of Black people in another field,” Maher says. “They were all mixed together. And, he said, when [they] would take a quick lunch break, it’s not like ‘I’m going to my house, you go to your house.’ They would just congregate somewhere, and pretty soon, somebody started singing a tune. They’d all be singing, and most of them were gospel songs.”
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The gospel story is one of transformation, and the return of gospel’s sound to country is a natural reaction to division, outward evidence of a desire to heal long-held grievances and to bolster community. Gospel allows people to hear pain from the past, asserts The War and Treaty’s Michael Trotter Jr., “in the voices that [have] long been gatekeepers of the soul.”
But, he adds, it also helps them “remember the feeling of surety, peace, love — and that feeling, above all, that encourages us to drive on, which is hope! Hope belongs in country music, and that’s what Tanya and I are here for.”
It’s not a mistake that the sound of gospel is most evident in quartets or full-blown choirs. The message seeks out harmony, and harmony only comes through multiple voices working together.
“Our world is a crazy place these days,” says Eskridge. “I think anytime something promotes or echoes unity, I think people are probably drawn to it a little more.”
That’s enough to explain the current rise of gospel. “Need a Favor,” “wait in the truck” and “Love Can Build a Bridge” all represent individuals aspiring to a higher calling, and the choirs bring that home. “Putting a gospel choir on something is like putting strings on a song to make it sound bigger,” Brown says. “It represents something bigger than you.”
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