I just posted this in another thread about Kanye West, then noticed yours on the sidebar. I'm not sure if I'm permitted to post here to share my thoughts, or if all are welcome so long as we are respectful of the faith of this section (I am
) I'll copy and paste it and then edit it out if I'm told I need to pack up and leave, haha.
I haven't invested extensive thought into Kanye West or Kim Kardashian beyond my own glimpse when they came to my hometown church for Easter services last year, though I have listened to his newest album. The paparazzi arrived to set up well before they actually arrived, making it obvious that it was an orchestrated event. It's not uncommon for celebrities to come to our church, and for advance notice to be given ---- to the church itself. There's a security staff, plus CHP is there to direct traffic, and they have a protocol in place for ushering in famous people discreetly so they are able to worship with privacy and peace, and not generate chaos for everyone else there for church. But staff had not been notified about Kanye and Kim coming for that service. They found out due to the paparazzi.
When photos were released people were critical of the paparazzi, viewing it as intrusive that they had followed the family to church, but the opposite was the case. They did not follow the family, they were directed as to where the family would be, and even where they'd park. I felt like they used one of the most sacred worship services of the year for us as a photo op for them.
Similarly, in Kanye's new album I feel like he's hawking faith in it. That it is exploitative, a commodification of the splendor and resonance of spiritual music. It has some of the beauty of it clashing jarringly with the narcissism of Kanye's lyrics. The songs on it are strikingly different, much more shallow, self-absorbed, and kitschy, from the ones about Jesus I listened to when I was tiny. My kindergarten Sunday school class danced along to Jesus Walks. We loved it, we bopped around to it all the time, even if we didn't understand many of the lyrics then; the refrain of it resonated with us. Kanye circa the mid-2000s was a reasonable role model, but I wouldn't play his current music to my little sisters. Listening to that album brought me sadness instead of fortifying my faith in any way. Even if I didn't know about Kanye's public meltdowns I would suspect bipolar was a factor in his newest album due to the self-grandiosity of it. I feel it was an album made for followers of Kanye more than one made for followers of Christ. It's also a lyrical disaster. It's not much of an album or very Christian, despite being marketed as a Christian album.