I try and keep up with what new music is coming out in the future. Unfortunately there aren't really any great resources for upcoming Christian albums. Jesus Freak Hideout and NewReleaseToday are the resources I usually check but unfortunately they don't usually have a very exhaustive list of upcoming releases, especially when it comes to rock and metal bands, the genres I tend to gravitate toward. However, I recently discovered that NewReleaseToday does an awards show to celebrate the Christian music they love, though sadly it's nothing to get very excited about. It's just as dull and predictable as the Dove Awards, and like the Dove Awards, they tend to gravitate toward adult contemporary and worship, with just a couple of categories geared toward the harder side of music. Even so, I would like to talk about the nominees and winners in a few of the categories, and for anyone interested, I'll put the full list following this discussion.
Rock/Alternative Album of the Year
Unfortunately there are only two categories dedicated to rock bands and artists. But why they chose to place NEEDTOBREATHE in this category is...truly bizarre. They are not a rock band. They may incorporate elements of southern rock in their music, but a band can incorporate eastern elements in their music by utilizing various types of chords without actually being an eastern band. Incorporating elements of rock in your music doesn't make you a rock band, and NEEDTOBREATHE is definitely not a rock band. And even more egregious, they actually won the category. This is one of the primary reasons I don't take this awards show very seriously. Where's Stryper? They released an album last year called Even the Devil Believes, and while it wasn't perfect it was a very good album.
Anchor & Braille also makes an appearance here. Anchor & Braille is Stephen Christian's modern band. Christian, of course, used to front alternative band Anberlin. I never really felt compelled to check out Anchor & Braille despite loving Anberlin, but listening to it now to talk about the music in this awards show, they are quite a bit more subdued and laid back than Anberlin was. But they definitely deserve to be in this category, even though I probably wouldn't have chosen them to win the category.
At any rate, I haven't listened to any of these albums. I love rock and alternative but like I said, some of the choices here are just strange. Stryper is a very noticeable absence, and Neal Morse released new music last year. But Hell would literally freeze over before progressive rock ever got recognized by the Christian music industry.
Rock Song of the Year
Rock Song of the Year was a little different. At least they managed to find five rock songs for the list. The winner in this category was Adrienne Camp for her song, I Can't Save Myself. Adrienne Camp was the frontwoman for a band called The Benjamin Gate, back when she was Adrienne Liesching before marrying Christian rock musician Jeremy Camp. I listened to the song but it's not very interesting. In fact, it's just a straight-ahead song about what God saved her from and how she couldn't save herself. The song is from the soundtrack to I Still Believe (a film I haven't seen), and I'm guessing that's the reason it won. This awards show is voted on by the listening community, and I doubt most of the listening community who cares about these awards shows even knows who these other bands and artists are. They heard this song on a movie, it was familiar to them, so they voted.
I'm a pretty big fan of Disciple, and I did enjoy the song that made the list of nominees, Darkness Dies, but the song that I think really should have won the category is The Decree by Lacey Sturm. Sturm, of course, was the lead singer for Flyleaf before going off on a solo career. To be honest, I could never get much into Flyleaf. They were a competent band but I just didn't care for Sturm's voice. And I don't usually go for bands/artists who scream in their songs (though there are some exceptions). But of the five nominees in this category, this was hands down the most interesting song musically. It was heavy in parts, and then really stripped down with a bass riff carrying the verses with sparse electric guitar (and none during the first verse). And it's not immediately obvious what the song is about. The song is about the end time but she doesn't spell it out for you. In fact, Sturm uses some pretty cool imagery to get the point of the song across: "She collects grey drops of rain inside the bottom of her glass/Till the world has gone from upside-down to right-side-up again...Five long months looking at trees that seem like they are dead/Blackened, twisted, broken still full bloom inside her head". It's just an overall great song and the song I believe should have won the category.
Music Video of the Year
The only video I've seen in this category is the Newsboys video, and I like the video quite a bit. I'm not interested in any of the other artists in this category but since I was familiar with the Newsboys, I wanted to see what they were up against.
Celebrate More by 116 (which is featuring Lecrae, Andy Mineo, and Hulvey, though that's not indicated in the nomination) is just really slow and plodding, a pretty boring song. The concept for the video is fine. Lecrae is celebrating his daughter's friend's birthday party, but tells Andy Mineo it's just a party. So his friends decide to come crash the party. But with a concept like that, you'd expect a song by MxPx or some other punk rock song to play over the video. Instead, you get Celebrate More, which has nothing going for it. I've said for a long time that Lecrae is heavily overrated as a rapper, and he shows it here, by using auto-tune over most of his lines. The only person in the world who should be using auto-tune is T-Pain, and that's because he can legitimately sing. T-Pain has a great voice but uses auto-tune as a gimmick. If a rapper/singer can't sing, they shouldn't be trying to make music.
Love One Another by Newsboys is more akin to what Celebrate More's video could have been with a better song over it. Incidentally, Love One Another is one of the only songs I actually like off this album, but the rise and decline of Newsboys is another discussion altogether. Needless to say, I really like this video.
I Don't Want to be Cool by Roy Tosh sounds fine, in theory. It has a good message, that we shouldn't try to gain acceptance by the world but should just seek acceptance by God. So we don't want to be "cool" by the world's standards, and the video reflects this by the singer rejecting his friend's suggestions for how to "deck himself out" for his music video. The only problem is this is a well-worn topic among Christian musicians and bands, and other artists, from Scott Krippayne to the O.C. Supertones, have tackled this issue and frankly done it much better.
Tauren Wells' Citizen of Heaven doesn't have much of a narrative structure to it. He and four backup dancers wake up in tubs which appear to be cryochambers, then they basically dance for the rest of the video, winding up dancing up in the clouds. The video looks great and is well choreographed, and the song is catchy and interesting. If I have one complaint, it seems Wells is trying a bit too hard to be Michael Jackson in his vocal inflections and some of his dance moves, but that's a minor gripe. I'd say this is a serious contender for best video among the five.
The fifth nominee is There Was Jesus by Zach Williams featuring Dolly Parton, which won the category. This is just your standard "Jesus is there in the hard times" song and the video isn't particularly creative. I imagine it won because it had Dolly Parton in it. Then again, a song that tugs at your heartstrings is probably more likely to win than a video that makes you think or is technically impressive.
Personally, even though it was new to me, I think Tauren Wells' video probably should have won, if not the Newsboys' video. Either one, in my view, was the most deserving video to win the category.
Nominees and winners:
The Hook Award (Pop Album of the Year)
David Dunn
Perspectives
Jordan Feliz
Say It
Sarah Reeves
Life Love & Madness
Tauren Wells
Citizen of Heaven
We Are Messengers
Power
Winner: Citizen of Heaven, Tauren Wells
The PopLITE Award (Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year)
Jason Gray
Order, Disorder, Reorder
Micah Tyler
New Today
Ryan Stevenson
Wildest Dreams
Sidewalk Prophets
The Things That Got Us Here
We The Kingdom
Holy Water
Winner: Holy Water by We The Kingdom
The Inspo Award (Inspirational Album of the Year)
Hope Darst
Peace Be Still
Jaime Jamgochian
All Things
Matt Hammitt
Treetop
Natalie Grant
No Stranger
Philippa Hanna
Stained Glass Stories
Winner: No Stranger by Natalie Grant
The Encounter Award (Worship Album of the Year)
Cody Carnes
Run To The Father
Kari Jobe
The Blessing (Live)
Mack Brock
Space
Matt Redman
Let There Be Wonder (Live)
Rend Collective
Reason
Winner: The Blessing (Live) by Kari Jobe
The Chorus Award (Church Worship Album of the Year)
Elevation Worship
Graves Into Gardens
Hillsong Young & Free
All Of My Best Friends
River Valley Worship
Altars
SEU Worship
A Thousand Generations
Vertical Worship
Grace Is On Our Side
Winner: Graves Into Gardens by Elevation Worship
The Hype Award (Urban/Rap Album of the Year)
GAWVI
Heathen
KB
His Glory Alone
Lecrae
Restoration
Parris Chariz
2045
Wande
Exit
Winner: Restoration by Lecrae
The Amp Award (Rock/Alternative Album of the Year)
Anchor & Braille
Tension
Fight The Fade
In Love, In Hope, In Peace
Fireflight
Who We Are: The Head And The Heart
NEEDTOBREATHE
Out of Body
RED
Declaration
Winner: Out of Body by NEEDTOBREATHE
Album of the Year
Jason Gray
Order, Disorder, Reorder
Jordan Feliz
Say It
Lecrae
Restoration
NEEDTOBREATHE
Out of Body
We The Kingdom
Holy Water
Winner: Holy Water by We The Kingdom
EP of the Year
Austin French
Wake Up Sleeper EP
Colton Dixon
Colton Dixon EP
Jonny Diaz
Hear That Story EP
Manic Drive
Vol. 1 EP
Roy Tosh
Beautiful Chaos EP
Winner: Colton Dixon EP by Colton Dixon
Song of the Year
"The Devil is a Liar"
Colton Dixon
"Graves Into Gardens"
Elevation Worship f/ Brandon Lake
"Together"
for KING & COUNTRY
"Armies"
KB
"Who Am I"
NEEDTOBREATHE
Winner: "Together" by for KING & COUNTRY
Contemporary Song of the Year
"Wake Up Sleeper"
Austin French
"Together"
for KING & COUNTRY
"Alive & Breathing"
Matt Maher
"My Weapon"
Natalie Grant
"Amadeo (Still My God)"
Ryan Stevenson
Winner: "My Weapon" by Natalie Grant
Worship Song of the Year
"God of Revival" (Live)
Bethel Music
"Run To The Father"
Cody Carnes
"The Father's House"
Cory Asbury
"The Blessing"
Elevation Worship f/Kari Jobe and Cody Carnes
"Battle Belongs"
Phil Wickham
Winner: "The Blessing" by Elevation Worship f/Kari Jobe and Cody Carnes
Pop Song of the Year
"Miracles"
Colton Dixon
"Not Too Far"
GAWVI
"Best Friends"
Hillsong Young & Free
"Glorify"
Jordan Feliz
"Who Am I"
NEEDTOBREATHE
Winner: "Miracles" by Colton Dixon
Dance/Remix Song of the Year (NEW CATEGORY FOR 2020)
"The Valley"
Cape Lions
"Infinity"
Jesus Loves Electro
"Thank God I'm Alive" (Remix)
Manic Drive
"Unshakeable"
Planetboom
"Fuego (R3HAB Remix)
Steven Malcolm
Winner: "Unshakeable" by Planetboom
Rock Song of the Year
"I Can't Save Myself"
Adrienne Camp
"Darkness Dies"
Disciple
"The Decree"
Lacey Sturm
"The War We Made"
RED
"Low"
Relent
Winner: "I Can't Save Myself" by Adrienne Camp
Rap/Hip-Hop Song of the Year
"Celebrate More"
116
"Armies"
KB
"Drown"
Lecrae feat. John Legend
"Willy"
nobigdyl. feat. Andy Mineo
"Paid For It"
Ty Brase feat. Jay-Way
Winner: "Drown" by Lecrae feat. John Legend
Music Video of the Year
"Celebrate More"
116
"Love One Another"
Newsboys UNITED
"I Don't Want To Be Cool"
Roy Tosh
"Citizen of Heaven"
Tauren Wells
"There Was Jesus"
Zach Williams f/Dolly Parton
Winner: "There Was Jesus" by Zach Williams f/Dolly Parton
Quarantine Music Video of the Year
"Together"
for KING & COUNTRY
"Another In The Fire"
Hillsong UNITED
"While I Wait"
Lincoln Brewster
"Quarantine Life"
Matthew West
"Hurry Up And Wait"
MercyMe
Winner: "Together" by for KING & COUNTRY
Male Artist of the Year
Cody Carnes
Jordan Feliz
Lecrae
Matthew West
Tauren Wells
Winner: Matthew West
Female Artist of the Year
Kari Jobe
Leanna Crawford
Natalie Grant
Sarah Reeves
Wande
Winner: Natalie Grant
Group of the Year
Elevation Worship
Hillsong Young & Free
NEEDTOBREATHE
Sidewalk Prophets
We The Kingdom
Winner: Elevation Worship
New Artist/Group of the Year
Brandon Lake
CAIN
Hope Darst
Hulvey
Zauntee
Winner: Hope Darst
The Next Big Thing (Undiscovered or Underground Talent)
Aaron David
Collington
Junior Garr
Melanie Penn
Miles Minnick
Winner: Collington
Mainstream Impact Award
Chris Tomlin
Colony House
Dolly Parton
Lecrae
Switchfoot
Winner: Chris Tomlin
