Selah (song)
"Selah" is a song by American rapper Kanye West from his ninth studio album, Jesus Is King (2019). The song contains additional vocals from Ant Clemons, BongoByTheWay, and the Sunday Service Choir. West co-wrote it with 11 others, while Jeffrey LaValley received songwriting credit due to the song sampling a rendition of the New Jerusalem Choir's work. A hip hop and gospel song, it instrumentally relies on military drums. The song includes samples of the Sunday Service Choir's rendition of "Revelations 19:1". Lyrically, it sees West asserting his Christian faith and referencing Bible verses. The song had originally been slated for release on Yandhi in November 2018 until the album was scrapped, though it later leaked the following year.
"Selah"
October 25, 2019
2018–2019
2:45
- Kanye West
- Cydel Young
- Dexter Mills, Jr.
- Federico Vindver
- Gene Thornton
- Jahmal Gwin
- Jeffrey LaValley
- Rennard East
- Terrence Thornton
- Evan Mast
- Matthew Leon
- John Boyd
- Adam Wright
- Kanye West
- E*vax
Ultimately released as the second track on Jesus Is King in October 2019, "Selah" received lukewarm reviews from music critics. They were often complementary towards the composition and a few praised the sampling of the Sunday Service Choir, though some critics expressed negative feelings of the song's lyrical content. It was among the Winning Gospel Songs at the 2021 ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Awards. The song charted at number 19 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and also reached the top 20 in Australia, Canada, Latvia, and the United Kingdom. It has been certified gold in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). West and the Sunday Service Choir performed the song live in November 2019. It was used for the Super Bowl LIV and Super Bowl LV trailers of the tenth Fast & Furious franchise film, F9 (2021). The album's accompanying film of the same name features an alternative version of the song.
A rendition of the New Jerusalem Choir's "Revelations 19:1" was released on the Sunday Service Choir's debut studio album, Jesus Is Born (2019). Despite being sampled within "Selah", the former was released two months later. A gospel song, the rendition includes a chorus that features praise for Jesus Christ being delivered by the Sunday Service Choir. It charted at number 17 on the US Billboard Gospel Songs chart in 2020. The rendition has been performed live by the Sunday Service Choir on multiple occasions.
Composition and lyrics[edit]
Musically, "Selah" is a hip hop and gospel track.[21][22] Instrumentation for the song consists primarily of military drums, which have been noted for conveying attitude.[17][18] The chord progression of it was compared to that of the track "Gerudo Valley", from the soundtrack of video game The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998).[23][24][25] The song features samples of a gospel rendition of the New Jerusalem Choir's "Revelations 19:1", as performed by the Sunday Service Choir.[19][26] Prior to the song's chorus, organ chords are featured alongside West rapping.[16] The chorus includes repeated "hallelujah" chants from the Sunday Service Choir, which are sampled from the rendition.[15][16][20] Percussion and sound effects of metal scraping accompany the chorus, while the octave of the vocals rises.[27][28] The group being sampled adds gospel vocals to the chorus and as it continues, the instrumentation is silenced.[19][20] A capella singing from the Sunday Service Choir follows, while the chorus ends with the line "He is wonderful" from the group.[20] After the chorus, West raps in time with the drums coming in.[20]
The lyrics of the song are used by West to assert his faith in Christianity, with it including verses of the Bible being referenced by him.[16][29] The song opens with West using his faith to boast, "God is king, we the soldiers," which alludes to West's past and how he has evolved over time.[17][30] Comparing himself to Noah before the story of the Genesis flood took place, West mentions that he is being judged.[31] West delivers Christian rapping, including him using the lyrics: "Everybody wanted Yandhi/Then Jesus Christ did the laundry."[20][31] The lyrics indicate that West scrapped Yandhi due to his religious beliefs after going through a new birth experience, since he vowed to no longer create secular music, providing fans with meaning of the album being shelved.[6][31][32] West uses certain lyrics to reference John 8:33 and John 8:36.[15] For the conclusion of the song, crys of "Woo" are heard.[33]
Release and promotion[edit]
"Selah" was released on October 25, 2019, as the second track on West's ninth studio album Jesus Is King.[34] On September 28, 2019, West played the song twice during a listening party for the album at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago.[35][36] Of the song's presence at the listening session, attendee Donald Lawrence recalled that watching "a crowd that was probably 25% African American, 75% caucasian — hip-hop kids from the suburbs — go bananas when the choir came in [was amazing]".[35] The following day, West previewed the song as part of the album's listening party at New York's United Palace.[9]
West and the Sunday Service Choir performed the song live at Bethany Church in Baton Rouge on November 3, 2019.[37] For West's Sunday Service Experience at Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church on November 17 of that year, the song was performed by him and the group.[38] During the performance, the line "He saved a wretch like me" was sung off-key by West.[38] West performed the song live during a Sunday Service concert at Pigeon Forge's LeConte Center on January 19, 2020.[39] On January 27, West held a midnight Sunday Service concert in tribute to American basketball player Kobe Bryant after the 2020 Calabasas helicopter crash killed 9 people including Bryant and his daughter.[40] West performed the song live during the concert, with his sister-in-law Kourtney Kardashian sharing videos of him performing it to her Instagram Stories.[40]
Commercial performance[edit]
Following the release of Jesus Is King, "Selah" debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 19.[48] The track remained on the Hot 100 for two weeks.[49] It entered at number three on the US Christian Songs chart, alongside charting identically on the Gospel Songs chart.[50] On the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, the track reached number 10.[51] "Selah" was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for amassing 500,000 certified units in the United States on July 9, 2021.[52]
The track entered the Canadian Hot 100 at number 19, charting identically to its debut on the Billboard Hot 100.[53] Similarly, "Selah" reached number 18 on the ARIA Singles Chart, standing as the album's second highest charting track in Australia.[54] The track was less successful on the New Zealand Singles Chart, debuting at number 24.[55] It charted identically on the Latvian Singles Chart and UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 19 on both of the charts.[56][57] Top 30 positions were attained by the track in Iceland, Ireland, Denmark, and Estonia.[58][59][60][61] In Slovakia, the track experienced lesser performance, peaking at number 31 on the country's Singles Digitál Top 100 chart.[62] It also reached the top 50 in Switzerland, Lithuania and Portugal.[63][64][65]
Appearances in media[edit]
West screened his concert film Jesus Is King at The Forum in the County of Los Angeles on October 23, 2019, revealing "Selah" as part of the soundtrack.[66] Two days later, Jesus Is King was released simultaneously with the album of the same name, including a special mix of the song that is listed in the film's credits.[67][68] American musician Louie Zong shared an edit of "Selah" that combined it with "Gerudo Valley" on the same day, which was met with generally positive responses from fans of West.[23][69] On November 14, 2019, LaValley recalled his niece calling him from Phoenix and "saying congratulations," with LaValley questioning in response: "Congratulations? Congratulations for what?"[13] LaValley's niece replied by telling that his "tune is on Kanye's album," with him responding with: "Girl, shut up," and laughing, while being amazed when seeing himself credit as a writer on the song.[a][13] According to LaValley, the song's popularity brought more attention to the New Jerusalem Choir version, which he labeled "an honor".[13] When questioned about West possibly performing the song in LaValley's hometown of Flint, he stated: "I don't know. I'd love for him to. I'd love to see him come to Flint," though LaValley acknowledged that an appearance from West "would be controversial".[13]
Kim Kardashian shared a video of her and Kanye's daughter Chicago West singing the "hallelujah" part of "Selah" via Instagram on January 28, 2020.[70] Kardashian captioned the video "Chi's favorite songs 🙏🏼✨" and fans praised Chicago's singing skills, while Kanye later stated that it is their daughter's favorite song.[70][71] On February 2, 2020, the Super Bowl LIV trailer for the tenth Fast & Furious franchise film F9 (2021) was released and included the song.[72][73] The song was later used in another trailer that premiered at the Super Bowl LV in February 2021.[74]