American Idol sings Shout To The Lord

This whole American Idol singing Shout To The Loft is still bothering me. And I was right – this topic now floods the results page when googgling it. I am not totally sure if I am bothered by the lyric changes that were made for the show or if it was the way the contestants were staged and performed the song or just the fact that all the Christians on the internet are so thankful a show like that would do a Christian song.

Music is art. Art is free for interpretation of the one interacting with the art –rather it’s the interpretation the artist meant for it to be or not. The words that were changed in the song did not change the song’s ‘Christian’ status. In fact, I wonder if the original author of the song would have used the new lyrics if this song would still be as timeless as we all believe it to be. There is some thought that the lyric change is watering down the message to make it more palatable for the wide audience American Idol reaches. Is that right or just politically correct for our current culture? I serve in a church that uses music and media to open minds of those in attendance. Often this music is secular and based on the message the song can communicate. We do our share of worship music too, but don’t change to lyrics to make it more appealing to those in attendance.

I always appreciate when music or media has a message that is morally correct. Whether it comes out of the secular culture or Christian culture. So I love the fact that American Idol took on a worship song. I’m not sure what they were trying to achieve with a song like this and why they decided to change the lyrics. If it was to beefing up the audience base would a song like this do it? If was to beefing up the audience base then why in the world did the follow the song with Ben Stiller coming out and having every other work bleeped as he rants while the credits roll.

So I guess what really is bugging me is how this song was performed. Backed by a choir of faces familiar to the dancers on the show, the contestants wearing all white did a side step sway to the mid tempo ballad. It was disappointing to see talent and a show like this stoop low for the production of this song. For me, it was all but worshipful - the staging, lighting and the confetti….yes, confetti. Is this really what people think Christian music looks like? The cheese factor made me shake my head and laugh.

Sorry American Idol. If this was your attempt to get me to watch your show more consistently I think you blew it.

So, here’s to a good laugh….