Grammy nominated artist Shei Atkins has released three gospel albums and is gearing up to release her newest album Emotional. Although she has experienced success as a Christian artist, she is ready to leave the gospel world to embrace R&B because she finds the church to be too judgmental of her music.
In a time when Christian music is perhaps the most powerful it has ever been, hosting its own award shows, selling out stadiums, impressive record sales, old qualms of the church have Atkins headed towards the exit.
Atkins, has been celebrated in the gospel community for her songs “He Can Fix It” and “Lord I Love You” which garnered much radio play but received backlash for her songs that weren’t gospel radio friendly, such as “Temptation” that describes a woman almost giving into sexual sin.
“The messed up thing about the Christian community is that there is a religious and judgmental mentality inside of it that holds us back and keeps us from loving people when it comes to music” said Atkins in a recent interview with Dasouth.com
Known for including love songs on her gospel albums, many were confused about what category to place her music, but Atkins said she “wasn’t caught up into genres” and her aim was to help people.
She describes her music as not “traditional gospel”. Atkins explained that due to a difficult first year of marriage in that almost ended her marriage, she wanted to make music that spoke about relationships.
“I make songs to help instill love, honesty, faithfulness and communication back into relationships. The thing is that when some people heard R&B on my albums they were like, this is not gospel and the judgment began.”
Atkins describes her experience as having “fans who loved me on one side” and “people condemning on the other side”. She recalls receiving “mean” letters and getting pulled to the side at her shows because of her hair color.
“My tolerance level was getting low with the judgment.”
After taking three years away from music and seeking guidance, Atkins has decided the best thing for her to be categorized as a R&B artist. When asked why, she responded
“Because doing R&B allows me to make the music God put in me to make and be free without boundaries of what I can and what I can’t talk about.”
Atkins explained that this does not mean that she will never make another gospel song. She has taken to this category switch because of the “mentality a lot of Christians have about music.”
Her latest release “Headlines (Remix)” has already sparked controversy in the Christian community because of the lyrics
“Money over everything. Money on my mind.”
Their is a difference between judgement and accountability. Judgement has a heart that seeks to condemn, while accountability looks to lovingly point one in the right direction. Judgement may leave one more confused and hurt than in the beginning.
In the body of Christ, their has to be accountability with the motive of love in mind because without it healing nor correction takes place. The fruits of both are clear.
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