It must be tough to be Steven Curtis Chapman.<\/p>\n
On the one hand, your latest album, This Moment<\/i>, marks your 20th<\/sup> year as a leader and hitmaker in the contemporary Christian music genre.<\/p>\n On the other hand, your latest album, This Moment<\/i>, marks your 20th<\/sup> year as a leader and hitmaker in the contemporary Christian music genre.<\/p>\n Wait. Umm. That\u2019s the same thing. <\/p>\n And that\u2019s Chapman\u2019s biggest problem. He has a track record and legions of fans who expect him to be \u201cSteven Curtis Chapman\u201d — whatever that means to them — each time he records a new disc. <\/p>\n Some are looking for those slightly goofy and playful songs like \u201cYou Know Better\u201d from For The Sake Of The Call <\/i>(1990),\u00a0 others are pining for another of those great love songs that tender, emotional, in-touch-with-their-feelings men write for their wives like \u201cGo There With You\u201d (1992) and, since this is CCM, others expect those deep spiritual insight songs that connect you in a very personal and intimate way with God, like \u201cHis Strength Is Perfect\u201d from Real Life Conversations <\/i>(1988).<\/p>\n But as you churn out these consistently high quality, though formulaic, releases for your audience, what do you do for yourself? For your own creativity? In 2003, Chapman released an album of love songs to his wife, All About Love<\/i>, which was a sort-of kind-of secular crossover attempt that fizzled. Then, in 2004, he stepped outside his normal musical boundaries with All Things New <\/i>and created what some critics view as his strongest offering yet — and watched it underperform his previous releases. <\/p>\n So here it is 2007. You need another album\u00a0— and if it could be a hit, that would sure be a nice bonus. What do you do? Back up and pick up those old tools that have always worked so well or move forward with the musical direction from the last record? <\/p>\n Simple answer? You do both. And that is precisely what Chapman has managed to do with This Moment<\/i>. This disc\u2019s crazy, zany song is \u201cSomething Crazy.\u201d For the smoochy love song, he turned for inspiration to his relationship with his daughters and came up with \u201cCinderella\u201d\u00a0— this year\u2019s \u201cButterfly Kisses.\u201d (Discussion question: Where is Bob Carlisle, anyway?) Lyrics are like so: \u201cSo I dance with Cinderella, while she is here in my arms \/ Cause I know something the Prince never knew \/ Oh I dance with Cinderella, I don\u2019t want to miss even one song \/ Because all too soon, the clock will strike midnight \/ And she\u2019ll be gone.\u201d <\/p>\n As usual, the spirituality is infused in all of the songs, but the \u201ca-ha!\u201d moment comes this time in the song \u201cYours\u201d: \u201cIt\u2019s all yours, God, yours God \/ Everything is yours \/ From the stars in the sky to the depths of the ocean floor \/ And it\u2019s all yours, God, yours God \/ Everything is yours \/ You\u2019re the maker and keeper, Father and ruler of everything \/ It\u2019s all yours.\u201d<\/p>\n Chapman walks a great balancing line, musically, hearkening back to his strengths: Great, guitar-driven, crescendo-based choruses and melodies that stick like a Mary Lou Retton dismount. But he continues to explore musically, as well. In \u201cChildren Of God,\u201d Chapman sounds like he may be channeling Ian Eskelin from All Star United, without the tongue-in-cheek attitude. And in \u201cYou Are Being Loved,\u201d Chapman roughs up his delivery, vocally, not taking his normal care to make sure each note is pristine. <\/p>\n For a veteran who\u2019s been in this business for 20 years, Chapman consistently refuses to let others define his music, even while delivering to his audience just what they want to hear. Maybe it\u2019s not so tough to be him. He just sticks to what he does — and does so well. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":29095,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7438],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-40615","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-steven-curtis-chapman","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40615"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}