In what looks like a holiday tradition, Kanye West once again surprised fans when he released his new Christian album, "Emmanuel" on Christmas Day this year.
The Christian Post reported that the five-song album is a follow-up from last year's holiday release, "Jesus is Born" which took the No. 1 spot on gospel charts for weeks.
In the Bible, the name Emmanuel means "God with us."
Just like with West's first Christmas album, the songs in Emmanuel were performed by the Sunday Service Choir with their usual choral vibe, but with the addition of Latin-inspired and ancient music. Similar to the "Jesus is King" album, the new Christmas release is a "celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ."
Despite numerous delays with his other albums, West's latest album made it on time for Christmas as it hit streaming services on the afternoon of Dec. 25.
Apparently, the "Jesus Walks" singer has now taken his career to the next level to mix it with his newfound faith in God.
In 2019, everything changed for West when he recommitted himself to the LORD and openly spoke of his Christian faith. It was in the same year that he released his very first Christian album singing songs about his faith. At the time of its release, "Jesus is King" took the entire top 10 spot on the Christian song charts for weeks.
A year later, the 27-minute long album has topped charts from Christian Albums, Gospel Albums, and even Billboard's all-genre 200 charts.
With his successes in sharing Gospel music for two years in a row, Billboard named West as the Top Gospel Artist of 2020 in the male category.
Jason White, the Sunday Service choir director shared how he has "been in the company of Kanye West for the last 10 months" when he first thought that he would only be with the music producer for a week - or two.
White shared, "I've spent every Sunday riding with him."
The gospel choir has changed the way West worked with mainstream songs. This time, he makes reimagined songs in the light of Christian lyrics and has travelled the world with them to share his newfound faith to his fans all across the globe.
This is not the first time that the American rapper released a Christian album. Last year in 2019, Kanye released his ninth studio album which is also his very first Christian album "Jesus is King" saying that it is "an expression of the Gospel."
Audience reviews of his first album include leaving some "with many lessons" that included "standing in the faith" and that it inspired people to change and be better even as "corny as it sounds" to some.
Life is not without controversy for the Yeezy founder. Yet, despite the controversies, West considers his latest album performances to become part of his recording processes moving forward. Rolling Stone noted that the latest Christmas album Jesus Is Born is the first full-length recorded effort of the versatile rapper with the Sunday Service choir and is "something new" even for the popular American rapper.
