Cleo Sol and Kirk Franklin are Bringing Spirit to All Points East.
Is this the revolution?
On Friday 15th of August over 50,000 people will come to London’s Victoria Park for day 1 of All Points East Festival. This year, Cleo Sol is headlining accompanied by other homegrown talent like Sasha Keeble, Nao, Sault and Miss Dynamite. Setting the stage for a day with some of the best and upcoming UK talent.
Her lineup also includes a feature from Global Gospel artist, Kirk Franklin. Let’s talk about it.
We’re not surprised that Kirk Franklin is playing a mainstream festival.
And we’re not surprised that he’s in a lineup that has Cleo Sol as the front runner.
Cleo Sol has been singing about faith and spirituality in her music since her debut. In her Apple Music interview with Zane Lowe, she discussed her faith describing how she sees herself and her artistry as a ‘vessel for God to speak through’, a thread that is very evident in her music.
While songs like ‘Butterfly’, ‘Spirit’, ‘Heart Full of Love’ and ‘Love will Lead You There’ make references to her faith and God directly, Cleo Sol’s music stays firmly in the Soul and Alt R&B category.
However, we’re surprised to Kirk Franklin in this lineup because of the way Christian music is — or isn’t — placed in the UK music scene.
As Glastonbury showed us this year, the only Christian artists that have made it out of church circles and into the wider culture in the UK are the people that wrote ‘Shine Jesus Shine’, ‘Give Me Oil in My Lamp’ and other primary-school-assembly smash hits.
We’d struggle to name any modern UK artists, in the Christian Category, that have the reach and influence into mainstream culture to match that of US Christian music artists. In the UK, “Christian” music is targeted for the insiders, “the church goers”.
Over here, Christian artists make songs for worship or for personal enjoyment, but either way it’s personal, private and spiritual, and therefore something that wouldn’t normally make it to mainstream music charts.
In the UK music scene, you’re more likely to see mainstream music artists cross over into Christian genres through singles or one-off albums.
Christian Music vs Worship
Music is music. It isn’t sacred or secular inherently. We’ve discussed before that sound and music are an artistic expression that can be used to reflect the journey, tensions, joys and beauty that its maker sees.
But for those of us who grew up going to church, you might associate the word worship to the time of singing during a church meeting. Maybe you’ll go as far thinking of the slow songs as worship, and the fast songs as praise.
If you’re a music lover, you probably associate worship songs with the Christian Contemporary Music category (think Hillsong, Matt Redman, Elevation Worship, Jesus Culture, Planetshakers etc etc). Similarly, we often associate praise with the Gospel Music Category (think Commissioned, Mary Mary, Tasha Cobbs, Tye Tribbett, Yolanda Adams, The Walls Group and Kirk Franklin).
While these labels reference the cultural context that these worship expressions have come from, they are also terms used in the commercial music industry.
CCM giants, Maverick City Music, have faced some backlash, for existing in this exact grey area — somewhere between sacred and secular.
Following, Norman Gyamfi’s interview on The Isaac Carree Show, detailing the commercial strategy behind the group’s success, some supporters feel that Maverick City have undermined Gospel culture by treating Gospel vocals as a “marketable style”. Others feel like they’re commercialising worship for wider appeal, and in doing so have let go of its scared and spiritual roots.
The Commercialisation of Worship Music
Kirk Franklin is no stranger controversy around the commercialisation of his music how it’s marketed. Facing similar scrutiny in the 90s and early 00’s and more recently being featured on GloRilla’s self-titled studio album.
As the infamous intro into Kirk Franklin’s 1997 song “Stomp” goes:
“For those of you that think that gospel music has gone too far
You think we got too radical with our message
Well I got news for you
You ain't heard nothin yet
And if you don't know, now you know
Glory, glory”
In our opinion, the issue here lies less in what category people fit into, and more in the commercial pressure to be easily identifiable.
Here’s Why This Moment Is Significant
In the US, Christian music (whether it’s country, CCM, Gospel or something else) has had a much smoother integration into mainstream music culture. To see an artist from a distinctly christian category in the line-up of a mainstream UK festival signals a shift that could open doors for other faith-centered music artists.
Two things we know for sure are that:
a) Most gospel songs are repetitive, which make them easy to pick up
b) UK crowds have been primed for audience participation since primary school.
So if you go to All Points East not knowing Kirk Franklin, you might leave knowing one of his songs by heart.