Kirk Franklin's Double Album: Studio Meets Church
The album mixes studio tracks with live church recordings and includes collaborations with TobyMac, Davido and Jelly Roll.
Kirk Franklin has released his double album I Am What I Am, which combines studio tracks with songs recorded live in a church, according to RELEVANT Magazine. He presented it at a listening session in Atlanta on October 12.
The project arrives after decades of opinions about his work. At the listening session, Franklin said the album let him respond to the people who talk about him: "I've been trying to explain myself for the last 33 years" (translated by Sígueme). He added that he does the best he can with what he was given.
A Church That Also Records
The live songs lean traditional. "It Is Well," with Isaac Carree, was recorded in front of an audience and dedicated to someone Franklin knows who received a pancreatic cancer diagnosis.
«An album isn't made to silence critics; it's made before God»
Another piece draws on the worship of the Church of God in Christ and Pentecostal churches. He described it as his own COGIC and his first attempt at writing something like that. Jelly Roll opens the album with a track that pairs a fairly long spoken section with a soulful chorus.
"Thank You for Everything," with Karen Clark Sheard, is already out. "Hope in You," alongside afrobeats star Davido, is expected as a single accompanying the album.
Anxiety, Shame and Standards That Weigh
"It Gets Better," a piano-driven track with TobyMac, started as a space to talk about mental health. Franklin shared that he has had his own journey with anxiety and depression, and described music as essential to keeping his sanity.
He also argued that living up to religious standards can create psychological trauma. He recalled that in the church of his childhood, young women who got pregnant were shamed in public, while the men involved did not face the same accountability.
There is something here worth facing head-on. A church that hides the failures of some and exposes those of others does not reflect the God who forgives. Scripture does not ask us to cover up pain; it asks us to bring it to the One who can carry it: "casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7, ESV).
Craft Before Applause
To those just starting out, Franklin said authenticity matters more than playing it safe, and that you have to take risks on your own. He recommended building an audience slowly and not jumping on trends, because no one knows when they will arrive.
He also noted that the sound of Black church music changed while he was making the album: congregations got rid of their choirs, and the style took a direction that wasn't his strong suit.
An album isn't made to silence critics; it's made before God. "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men" (Colossians 3:23, ESV). That doesn't take away the exhaustion or the questions, but it changes the audience you answer to.
If you've carried anxiety this year, talk to a trusted adult, your pastor or a health professional. In an emergency, use your country's emergency services; at https://findahelpline.com you can find the helpline that works where you live.
And listen to the full album, slowly: sometimes a song says for us what we don't know how to say. What song has carried you through a hard year?
