A Higher Power Ballad
b'The recorded version of Justin Bieber\\u2019s \\u201cPeaches\\u201d opens with a full-blast chorus alongside driving percussion and ringing guitars. But when he performed the song at this year\\u2019s Grammys, the song\\u2019s instrumentation was stripped down, with Bieber alone at a grand piano, crooning into the mic. Slowly, a band built up, and in came guest verses from Daniel Caesar and Giveon between seven repetitions of the chorus. Each time the chorus returned, the band got louder, the music pointing upward until a high-flying synth solo closed the song. It may have been a surprisingly churchy arrangement of Bieber\\u2019s hit, but it was the same sort of slow climb heard earlier in the night when Maverick City Music, the first Christian group to perform at the Grammys in 20 years, gave an uplifting performance of their song \\u201cJireh,\\u201d off their award winning album\\xa0Old Church Basement.\\xa0\\n\\nIn the church tradition, the slow build is a common feature, beginning as a quiet prayer that expands outward as more voices join in. Naomi Raine, one of Maverick City Music\\u2019s members, describes this kind of slow build\\xa0as a \\u201ccommon and underlying structure\\u201d that feels \\u201csupernatural and spiritual.\\u201d But it\\u2019s clearly not restricted to the church. \\u201cWe are called to blur the lines as far as what is Christian and what is gospel \\u2014 those two have been segregated for too long,\\u201d says the group\\u2019s leader, Chandler Moore. The expansiveness of the music is represented in Maverick City Music\\u2019s diverse makeup. The seven core members invite dozens of songwriters from countless backgrounds to songwriting camps to explore the traditions constraining boundaries. Having only started putting out music in 2019, Maverick City Music has since released more than 17 combined LPs and EPs in multiple genres, including worship, gospel, R&B, and Latin pop. Consistent across all those records is the transcendent slow build.\\n\\nAfter exploring the discography of Maverick City Music, one starts to hear the slow build all over pop music. In the case of Bieber, who is both friends with the group and has a religious background, previous hit songs like \\u201cHoly\\u201d and \\u201cAnyone\\u201d also use the technique. Even the reworked \\u201cPeaches\\u201d Bieber performed at the Grammys makes sense, given the chorus\\u2019s final line: \\u201cI get my life right from the source.\\u201d There has been a long history of stylistic exchange between the religious and secular world. There would be no rock and roll without gospel, and Christian Contemporary draws its sounds from the \\u201960s folk movement. Today, songs made for worship share qualities with power ballads, the former elevating the spirit, the latter coaxing out emotions. On the latest episode of\\xa0Switched on Pop, hosts Charlie Harding and Nate Sloan speak with Maverick City Music and listen to songs both religious and secular that lift us up.\\n\\nSongs Discussed\\n\\nJustin Bieber - Peaches (feat. Daniel Ceasar & Giveon), Holy (feat. Chance The Rapper), Anyone\\n\\nMaverick City Music - Old Church Basement, Jireh, Same Blood, Used To This, Nadie Como T\\xfa\\n\\nColdplay - Fix You\\n\\nC\\xe9line Dion - Because You Loved Me\\n\\nLuther Vandross - Endless Love (with Mariah Carey)\\n\\nBut, Honestly - Foo Fighters\\n\\n\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices'