We come to the end of yet another Church Year with the beginning of Advent. One of the many great things this means is that it's time for another look back at meaningful and beautiful music from the past year. The annual Top 5 Songs Worth Learning To Listen To list has evolved a little bit each year, especially with my ongoing attempts to diversify it. However, this year (which may be the last - see here, if you don't know why), I am simply going back to the basics by not worrying about the diversity of the list or whether I've used that artist before. This year, I am going back to the original plan of just sharing five songs (and an honorable mention or two) that I've discovered within the past year (notice that some of them may have been released earlier than 2019, but the artist can't have released a new album since then), which struck me as both meaningful and beautiful in a manner I describe as "worth learning to listen to" (for a more detailed explanation, see here).
4: Perfect Love
3: Native Tongue
Honorable Mention: Anxious
by Sarah Reeves
Songs like this one make me grateful that the formation of this list has prompted me to spend a bit of time exploring Related/Similar Artist recommendations and seeking out new music, because otherwise I may not have stumbled upon Sarah Reeves, whose recent single "Anxious" is one that many people will find relatable and relevant. The song is really quite straight forward and speaks for itself, but it portrays a beautiful picture that many people in our society today understand quite vividly. It offers us the simple reminder that we weren't made for this crippling anxiety. We were made for more. It doesn't have to be this way.
Honorable Mention: Someone To Talk To
by Tenth Avenue North
This song is also fairly straight forward, but worthy of attention in its clarity and simplicity. Throughout their latest album, Tenth Avenue North addresses the problem of "toxic shame" (which they distinguish from "healthy shame"), which plagues many Christians. After a brief, spoken introduction, the album jumps straight into an upbeat anthem ("No Shame"), celebrating the joy of this life they are promoting of living free of toxic shame. By track three ("Heaven Is Now"), they are setting out on what it looks like for them to seek to live and promote this shame-free life among their fellow Christians, first by committing to live the eternal life given to them now, making heaven more recognizably present in this life. This sets the stage for the simple and honest "Someone To Talk To," which confronts the reality of shame head on, by speaking very candidly from the perspective of someone who comes to the Body of Christ simply needing "someone to hear about my shame." Instead, people who profess (and let's give them the benefit of the doubt, by presuming that we genuinely intend) to desire to help others to live the new life of grace, free from the slavery to sin, in the end, still sometimes (maybe even often) leave people nervously wondering "Can you handle my confusion?" The lyrics to this song are powerful in their raw honesty, and ought to give all people (but Christians, especially) pause to consider how we receive someone who is generally trying to rise above their shame. It becomes a powerful kind of stage-setter for the seriousness of the remainder of the album, as it leads directly into a kind of turning point, in the form of a spoken interlude which features someone reaching out to attempt to be a "safe space" for another who needs to know that they can still struggle, with the help of God's grace. This leads directly into discovering the Mercy of God, which is "Greater Than All My Regrets," which empowers the person to recall that "The Future" is still full of hope, and that they don't have to be held back even by things like "Paranoia." As the person struggling, yet striving to live this new life free of toxic shame, keeps "Reaching," and looking upward with the hope that their better days are still ahead, they begin to hear the Lord calling their name ("Call My Name") and choose to begin to give HIM "Space to Speak," which enables them to recognize that it has always been the Lord that they are seeking ("Always Been You") in looking for a safe space to bring their shame. Each of these songs is worthy of learning to listen to and they flow together with beautiful, artful intentionality. But, we should note that the spiritual maturity of the final tracks of the album is not arrived at easily and the possibility of it ever being reached may be compromised if the person does not first feel that they can approach the Body of Christ in the first place. So, "Someone To Talk To" is a fitting, representative of the whole album on this list, because it speaks so directly to all of our need to learn to listen.
5: Soon You'll Get Better
by Taylor Swift
In the time that I've been composing these annual lists, I have done a great deal of pastoral work with teenagers and young adults, in a few different places. I continue to be impressed how common it is to find young people - young ladies especially, but some young men as well - who identify strongly with Taylor on a level that is clearly very real and personal. Whenever I hear yet another person say something like "she just gets me," it strikes me as potentially a very clear example of what I was trying to articulate in my initial description of what it means for a song to be Worth Learning To Listen To. These are songs that draw the listener in, perhaps even gradually, as an apparent way of letting them know they are not alone on their journey. It is very clear that Taylor has a gift for speaking the language of the heart of a significant portion of an entire generation, in a musical context that ends up being quite appealing. I have enjoyed and even been impressed with her music before. However, the song that has grabbed me most is the deeply personal track on her latest album: "Soon You'll Get Better." Addressing a rather different topic from her usual offerings, this song shares her experience of dealing with the illness of her parents, especially her mother who she clearly loves very dearly. In her usual style of raw honesty and vulnerability, Taylor paints a beautiful picture of her own process of coping with this difficult trial in life. As it unfolds, it becomes a story of wrestling with acceptance, while looking desperately for hope. Of course, I find the lyric in the first verse about prayer interesting. In her search for hope, she speaks of "praying" to the "holy orange bottles" of medicine, yet immediately follows it by acknowledging that her desperation also leads her to pray to Jesus. Some Christians might have a negative interpretation of this, as if implying that praying to Jesus is something only desperate people do. However, I think of it as an illustration of how Christ makes His presence known to us in suffering. That is why the dynamic of wrestling with both hope and acceptance is so important. Christ is not absent when the hope of the sort of deliverance that simply takes our illnesses and troubles away seems to go unfulfilled. As Christians, this is why we look to Christ on the cross in the midst of suffering. It offers us a hint of the Resurrection and redemption, reminding us that this suffering is not the end of the story and that good can come even from the most horrible evils. But, at an even more basic level, it simply reminds us that we are not alone in our suffering, because Christ suffers with us. Songs such as this also have a way of reminding us that we are not alone in our suffering, particularly in that wrestling match between hope and acceptance. This is the kind of song that just makes me want to say "Thank you. Truly, thank you for sharing."
4: Perfect Love
by Josh Garrels
Not unlike "Someone To Talk To," the presence of this song on the list is not only due to the beauty of the song itself, but also to its fittingness as a representative of the masterful album of which it is a part. It has been quite interesting to watch Garrels's career unfold. Over time, his manner of communicating a depth of meaning with a refined simplicity has grown. This latest album contains a beautifully crafted progression and flow from one song to the next, but also is quite interesting when considering the flow from album to the next. While his last two albums were more different from one another, Chrysaline has an interesting way of feeling simultaneously like a long awaited follow up to both of these albums. On one hand, it might seem like the grounded simplicity of Home is now being revealed to be stage of quiet waiting for the new life to begin to break out of its cocoon. On the other hand, we can find definite reverberations of the apocalyptic tone of Love & War & The Sea In Between. While its place in the flow of Chrysaline itself is quite meaningful and appropriate, "Perfect Love" also plays a bit like a follow-up to "Revelator," while translating the more apocalyptic tone into a more earthy portrayal of how the Divine Rider who rides on in triumph persistently makes His way through our own lives, making our lives new. Drawing clearly on Psalm 45, the song speaks not only of the "Perfect Love" of Christ itself, but of how it perfects our own feeble and broken loves. It is quite an important and beautifully crafted linchpin in this album, which portrays the unfolding of the mystery of redemption in our lives, by which we begin to live the new life of the Resurrection, even in this broken world of death.
3: Native Tongue
by Switchfoot
We come to yet another returning artist, who has held a position on this list before. Yet, Switchfoot never ceases to produce solid music with thought-provoking lyrics. The title track of their new album Native Tongue invites us to rethink the question of what is most truly human. It is a common pitfall for people to refer to our brokenness as being "only human." In fact, the brokenness that results from original sin makes us less human, because our original nature was marked by original justice, purity, and holiness. What we usually mean when we speak of being "only human" is more rightly called the human condition (as in the state in which humanity finds itself, after the fall). Human nature is that deeper truth within us that is still present, although deeply broken, which reminds us that we were made for more and that our sinfulness and weaknesses are not actually natural. They are the damaged remains of our nature, in the aftermath of the fall. They are the evidence that "we forgot our sound." In truth, we were made for love, not the many distortions of it for which we settle. Love is our Native Tongue, the language we were made to speak. And as the song makes reference to, it is so because we were made in the image and likeness of "The same word from where the stars were flung." The God who is Love is the Word, the Truth, the Wisdom, who designed all of creation and we are made in His image. We should take this song seriously.
2: Seal My Eyes Shut
by Steven Joubert
This song is one that is actually older than 2019, but I just discovered it this year. I have had the privilege of getting to know Steven over two summers (2017 & 1019) that I took my parish youth to Alive in You camps, where he led the music. I was immediately impressed with his abilities (he is the one who introduced me to Hillsong Young & Free's "Only Wanna Sing" in 2017). But, in between those two encounters, he released a new album of original music that is a true work of art. Even the one cover on the album ("Leaning on the Everlasting Arms") is given new lyrics in the introduction, enabling it to serve as a more fitting transition, which only serves as evidence of Steven's commitment to the cohesiveness, progression, and flow within Pride and Joy. Throughout the album, Steven draws on influences ranging from Dante to Teresa of Avila to produce lyrics that are thoughtful and honest, as they both present the reality of his own struggles and the kind of spiritual wisdom that enables one to begin to move through and beyond them. The album truly moves from pride to joy, as it begins with an opening track that is as insightful as it is vulnerable, portraying the seven deadly sins as stubbornly taking up residence in the "Mansion" of his soul, leading all the way to the joyful optimism borne of a commitment to repentance in the closing track, "Start Again (The Glory Song)." But, the choice to put the old self to death and repent, rather than allowing himself to remain paralyzed in that broken state, began all the way back in the second track, with "Stand." That choice progresses to show how radical is his commitment to it in "Seal My Eyes Shut." This song courageously acknowledges what theologians and spiritual masters have long held: that the eyes can often be the window through which many of the deadly sins creep into our souls. We find ourselves losing sight of where our focus ought to be, as we look around and see things that move our hearts and minds to envy, gluttony, lust, greed, etc. The things that we are looking upon are not be blamed; it is our hearts that need to be corrected. That process takes time and commitment, supported by grace. While it is a stark image that is not meant to be taken literally, the request to "Seal My Eyes Shut" represents a commitment to whatever it takes to be set free and put the old self to death. This is indeed the path to true joy.
1: Maybe
by Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors
Have you ever newly discovered an artist you enjoy, well into their career (late to the party again), just in time for them to release another new album? Well, that happened to me this year with Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors. Dragons plays as a celebratory commitment to living a life of joy, which necessarily includes naming and slaying the "dragons" that seek to rob us of our joy. One such dragon is clearly identified midway through the album with "You Want What You Can't Have," and apparently delivered a deadly blow immediately after with "Maybe." This standout track invites the listener to join him on the important realization that "Everything is never enough, takes you away from what you love." This simply prompts him to ponder rhetorically: "Maybe we're not supposed to try everything." This honest and down to earth advice is joined to a peaceful and relaxing melody, that seems to beckon us to sit back and settle into the wisdom it offers, which promises also the freedom from the frantic seeking of self-gratification. That kind of freedom is what enables us to focus on living with a sense of purpose. This focus on that which we love is essential to true joy.
I suppose this little collection of songs comes together to offer us a simple word of encouragement: However difficult our struggles, it is still possible to live a life of love, hope and joy. May we keep our eyes on the cross, with the hope of the Resurrection in our hearts, as we receive whatever reminders He offers us that we are not alone.