Music Review: CeCe Winans, Thy Kingdom Come

By Steve Morley

We may not know what the music in Heaven sounds like, but it’s a safe bet no one’s telling Gabriel that his trumpet part is too cutting-edge for the format. Artists who work in Christian music must walk not only a straighter-and-narrower personal path but a professional tightrope as well, —made all the more taut by the exacting, almost contradictory specifications of their genre. Their music must be marketable, but not too “secular.” This is the balancing act required of singers even as accomplished and respected as gospel and R&B legend CeCe Winans. Despite a catalog of Christian music as credible as anyone’s, she’s been chastised for the smattering of mainstream success she’s had along the way. Her latest album, Thy Kingdom Come, is expertly assembled and thoroughly non-secular, though it’s not the original album she set out to make. Her record label rejected the first version, a broad stylistic mixture that even included hymns. (The hymns were removed to be used later for a proposed all-hymn project.) The finished product, while it bears the marks of excellence for which Winans has become known, also shows signs of the strain to create a varied but also unified package.

Winans uses five different producers on 14 tracks that exhort, encourage, praise and proclaim. Lush, orchestral numbers like “Oh, Holy Place” and “You’re the One” represent the most intimate, worshipful side of the continuum, nestled among rhythmically and lyrically more aggressive numbers. “Waging War” is about spiritual, not mortal, combat, and features Winans at her most forceful. “Thy Will Be Done,” the track from which the album’s title is drawn, is perhaps the most lyrically ambitious cut. Its convoluted narrative begins with a scenario of adultery and hatred and artfully transfers it from a movie screen to the real world, where the chorus’s prayer is directed. (“Most of us in pain, hurting for the victims/ But for some of us it’s more than just a moving scene/ As one by one, we become all too aware/ Of what that truly means/ And instead of taking guns/ We embrace the morning sun/ Let Thy will be done.”)

The most reflective tempos are reserved for the most reverent songs, while themes of discouragement and anxiety are given an upbeat, against-the-grain treatment that provides some of the disc’s most kinetic moments. “It Ain’t Ova’” is a shuffling slice of contemporary gospel, borrowing heavily from hip-hop and other urban pop styles.“The Coast is Clear,” though conspicuously out of sync with the rest of the album, is a high point with a breezy and buoyant Brazilian flair.

Those in search of quiet-time music may find more than they bargained for, but the key to appreciating the singer’s latest effort is embracing the extremes of devotion and exhortation it encompasses. The variety of moods and subjects are tempered by Winans’ well-modulated vocals, which bring power and passion to even the quietest moments on Thy Kingdom Come. 

Audio Clips

"We Welcome You"

"Forever"

"Thy Will Be Done"

"Worthy"