Before we go on Thanksgiving break, a bit of religion…
[6.17]
Scott Mildenhall: An explicitly non-secular hit from Britain’s increasingly recognised cultural touchstone for The Youth of Today nonpareil? That is quite unusual. Even Cliff waited a few years before that, but when he got round to it, just like Stormzy, he successfully focused on Christmas. Just look at “Saviour’s Day” — people love a bit of wintry uplift, all the more with a hint of redemption and new beginnings. It’s a joyous line of cliché that “Blinded By Your Grace” finds itself in, but it’s the personal touches that make its celebration engaging.
[7]
Nellie Gayle: “‘If god is for us, who can be against us?’ Romans 8:31” is the first YouTube comment on this video. Modern gospel and evangelical music tangles longwinded metaphors with guilty admissions that always ring false to me (looking at you, Hillsong Youth United). But here, in a song plopped in the middle of an explosive, fierce grime album, is a simple and harmonious declaration of faith that probably wouldn’t even call itself one. Stormzy’s dry storytelling and triumphalism apply equally well to the amped “Too Big for Your Boots” and MNEK’s lovely vocal runs.
[10]
Alfred Soto: I’m sure somewhere in Paul’s letters I will find a warning not to turn a prayer of thanks into a self-valentine set to chorus and screech guitar.
[3]
Micha Cavaseno: Absurdly, the way of admitting to your modesty is apparently through screeching guitars, swells of drama and insisting upon one’s own miraculous sense of wonder at how one was saved. Because it’s not about gratitude, but razing all possible doubt that it was something you deserved, or that it could easily go back to the bad times in a moment. Fortune should be accepted with meekness but Stormzy rather cynically understands that people love the circus of insistent testimonial. Former “rough youth” turned “upright” sells a certain amount of papers, and subtlety is a gesture that seems rather unnecessary when you gotta feel good about things, doesn’t it?
[2]
Alex Clifton: This takes all the best parts of religion and puts them into a four-minute chunk: the feeling of something otherworldly with the spacious, echoey arrangement, a sense of community with the choral backing, and a sweeping sense of joy. To believe in something like religion takes a lot, and Stormzy and MNEK give a lot to this tune; it’s a pleasant listen that never feels preachy.
[5]
Nortey Dowuona: Powerful. Stormzy both perfectly sings this type of song and raps perfectly for this sweet nondenominational church spiritual; passionate, imperfect, honest. Also, anything with MNEK will get a [10], so….
[10]