Three years in the making, Leann Rimes this week announced her newest album, ‘god’s work’ that gets down closer to her Christian roots. Though not an overtly Christian album, and though her faith is not where some Christians would want it to be, she’s none the less closer than she used to be.
“I kind of ran from the word God for a long time,” she told Forbes. “I was raised Southern Baptist and my frustration was we’re brought up with these messages of love, acceptance, community, and forgiveness, but no one’s living them to the fullest. It really makes us question how we’re allowing creation to work through us for a better world.”
The new album, titled, God’s work engages the audience, and invites people into a relationship with God as love, God as creator, according to Rimes.
“Even when people didn’t know the music they seemed to be connecting and jamming to it already,” she told Forbes. “When we played god’s work it’s like we turned the whole audience into a choir and by the end, they were all singing ‘We are God’s work’ then applauding afterward. I think it’s empowering.”
Rimes’ career began young, winning her first GRAMMY at just 14 years of age, setting the record for the youngest solo artist ever to win a GRAMMY. ‘god’s work’ is her 19th album in her 25 year career.
READ MORE: Faith and music stories from THRiVE!
Rimes doesn’t name Jesus in the work and acknowledges that all her fans are not believers in the God of the Bible, but none-the-less brings a God awareness into her music.
“God can mean different things to different people. To me, it’s insert the world ‘love,’ the word ‘creation’. I saw somewhere where people were saying it’s called god’s work, so it’s a religious record. It’s whatever it is to you. Art is so subjective, and we project upon what we hear through our own experience. Whatever it moves in you, whatever you hear, that’s what it is.”
OK, so Rimes is not there yet, but she’s getting closer to a relationship with Jesus.
