Introducing his highly anticipated sophomore album titled Citizen of Heaven is five-time Grammy nominee, four-time Dove award winner and New Artist of the Year, Tauren Wells. He goes beyond the music and melody to deliver a diverse, yet uplifting message. However, the core message speaks to that of identity, which is something that we all wrestle with.
In listening to this album, the essence that is projected is one that speaks to what it will actually be like to be a citizen of heaven, which simultaneously brings about the concept of unity. No matter the race, ethnicity, no matter the continent a person lives on, no matter which culture one adopts, being a citizen of heaven is just that, unification through Jesus Christ.
Following his debut album Hills and Valleys which saw multiple singles rise to top 5 and number 1 radio selections, Citizen of Heaven follows a similar formula in reference to his featured artists. This time, Wells boasts four collaborations that include Pastor Steven Furtick, Jenn Johnson, multiple Grammy Award winner Kirk Franklin and multiple American Country Music Award winner Rascal Flatts. These collaborations compliment the overall upbeat, uplifting sound of Wells album.
In typical Wells fashion, Citizen of Heaven also acts as a mixing pot of genres, such as pop, R&B, contemporary Christian, rock and country with the addition of Rascal Flatts. There’s a style for everyone which coincides with the diverse message of this album, unity. In reference to this project, unity has a dual nature in us being united together with Jesus as well as bringing a sense of unity to the totality of the sound of this project.
The opening of the album begins with the title song “Citizen of Heaven” and delivers an upbeat mix of the styles of pop and rock. It’s a song one can not only worship with but can dance to as well. Wells follows this style of upbeat pop and rock for a few more songs, until the song “Perfect Peace”. Here, he switches to more of a calm worship, contemporary Christian style of song which outlines no matter the obstacles we face, Jesus gives us a perfect peace.
Tauren reintroduces his uplifting style of pop-rock, this time joining him is Kirk Franklin on the song “Millionaire (Good Like That)”. The message carried out in this song is evident by the first lyric of the song, “If I had a dollar for every time they say God wouldn’t gonna come through, I’d be a Millionaire”. Essentially speaking to the fact that, God always comes through, even if it’s not on our time.
Citizen of Heaven releases everywhere on January 24th, 2020.
