Kirk Franklin发行生涯首张双专辑：不再为跨界合作辩解
美国福音音乐代表人物 Kirk Franklin 10月30日发行新专辑《I Am What I Am》。这是他个人的第14张录音室专辑，也是他出道33年来第一张双专辑，由 Uptown Records 发行，现已在各音乐平台上线。
专辑共14首歌，分成两碟：第一碟是7首录音室作品，第二碟是7首在教会里与合唱团、乐队和现场观众一起录下的实况。发行方说，这样的结构是要呈现他的两面：一面是福音乐传奇，一面是不断跨界的音乐人。
合作名单横跨多个乐种。专辑开场曲《Free Me Tonight》由乡村与摇滚歌手 Jelly Roll 以口白朗诵开场，向 Phil Collins 的《In the Air Tonight》致意；主打歌《Hope In You》由尼日利亚 Afrobeats 明星 Davido 合唱；《It Gets Better》与说唱歌手 Tobe Nwigwe 合作，谈心理健康——Franklin 说，他自己走过焦虑与抑郁的路，想为这个话题留出空间。现场碟上，他与 Clark Sisters 的 Karen Clark Sheard 合唱《Thank You For Everything》，这首歌已成为福音电台成长最快的单曲，他还在第41届 Stellar 福音音乐奖上现场演唱了这首歌。
先行单曲《This Time》由他与孟菲斯说唱歌手 GloRilla 合作，9月25日发行，登上 Billboard 的 Hot Gospel Songs 榜首位——这是他在这张榜单上的第10首冠军单曲，刷新他自己保持的纪录。这首歌的官方音乐视频已在 KirkFranklinVEVO 频道发布。
Franklin 在接受美联社采访时说，他已经厌倦了为自己的音乐选择辩解。他曾因为应 Chris Brown 和 Usher 之请在演唱会前与他们一起祷告而在社交媒体上受到批评，也一直为与歌词尺度较大的 GloRilla 合作而辩护。「信徒有时会变成法官和陪审团。」他说。谈到与 GloRilla 的合作，他说：「你开始在别人的沙坑里玩，就得接受审视。」
「过去33年我一直在解释自己。」他在专辑试听会上说，这张专辑是想让人们知道，他听见了所有的声音——「这就是我的人性。」专辑名《I Am What I Am》正出自这层意思。
Franklin 今年56岁，是20次格莱美奖得主。他对美联社说，自己没有放慢脚步的打算：「我出身的那个深坑太深了，所以每当我身处光亮里，我从不厌倦感受阳光。」
Kirk Franklin Releases His First Double Album: Done Defending His Cross-Genre Collaborations
American gospel music icon Kirk Franklin released his new album "I Am What I Am" on October 30. It is his 14th studio album and the first double album of his 33-year career, released via Uptown Records and now available on streaming platforms.
The 14-track project is split across two discs: seven studio recordings on the first, and seven songs recorded live in a church with a choir, a band and a live audience on the second. The label says the structure presents two sides of Franklin: the gospel legend and the genre-bending musician.
The guest list crosses genres. Opener "Free Me Tonight" begins with a spoken-word passage by Jelly Roll that nods to Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight"; the focus track "Hope In You" features Nigerian Afrobeats star Davido; "It Gets Better," with rapper Tobe Nwigwe, addresses mental health — Franklin says he has had his own journey with anxiety and depression and wanted to make space to talk about it. On the live disc, he performs "Thank You For Everything" with Karen Clark Sheard of the Clark Sisters, a song that has become the fastest-growing record at Gospel radio and that he performed at the 41st Annual Stellar Gospel Music Awards.
The lead single "This Time," featuring Memphis rapper GloRilla, was released on September 25 and reached No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Gospel Songs chart — his record-extending 10th No. 1 on that chart. The song's official music video is out on the KirkFranklinVEVO channel.
Franklin told the Associated Press he is tired of defending his musical decisions. He drew criticism on social media for praying with Chris Brown and Usher before a concert because they asked him to, and he has stood by working with GloRilla despite her explicit lyrics. "We as believers sometimes become judge and jury," he said. On the GloRilla collaboration: "You start trying to play in other people's sandboxes, it is going to come with scrutiny."
"I've been trying to explain myself for the last 33 years," he said at the album listening party, adding that the record is meant to let people know he hears everything that is being said: "This is my humanity." The album's title comes from that idea.
Franklin, 56, is a 20-time Grammy winner. He told the AP he has no plans to slow down: "The hole that I came from was so deep that whenever I'm around light, I never get tired of feeling the sunlight."
来源：GSM·美国（原文链接）
图片来源：图：福音歌手 Kirk Franklin 2017 年在 JoyFest 音乐节舞台上演唱。CL Holly 摄，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Gospel singer Kirk Franklin performing at JoyFest in 2017. Photo by CL Holly, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
