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"Britt Nicole is one of my favorite female artists. She has an incredible heart for her ministry, is a wonderful role model for girls of all ages and has an excellent singing voice. She has an infectious and upbeat musical style, layering her strong and distinguished vocals over the top of one hooky melody after another. Britt really has emerged as one of the top female vocalists in any genre, and the messages of her songs are great for anyone struggling with identity issues as evidenced by her hit song "Gold."
Her excellent, Grammy-nominated album, Gold, was re-released earlier this year, and features the aforementioned hit title track, as well as "All This Time" and "Ready or Not." She's also a new mom with her baby daughter, Ella Brave Crosby, having been born this past year. She contributed to the WOW Christmas collection with a stunning rendition of the Christmas hymn, "O Come All Ye Faithful." I had the great opportunity to speak with Britt about her cover tune, and this is what she shared with me.
Please tell me about the story behind recording "O Come All Ye Faithful."
I love Christmas time. I have a big family and we all get together. I usually go home to North Carolina, but this will be the first year that I'm not going home. I'll be staying here in Nashville with my husband and baby daughter. We'll have our first Christmas together as new parents.
Normally when I go home, my grandfather has a big log house and we eat lots of food, read the Christmas story and open presents, and my grandfather loves to sing Christmas songs. We sit around the fireplace and he says that before we open any presents we need to take time to pray and sing and think about the meaning of Christmas songs, and read from the Bible. We would always sing "O Come All Ye Faithful," and I love how the song has a special place in my heart from singing it with my family.
I love so many songs, and chose this one for a couple of reasons. Mainly I love the song because it takes you to a place of worship. Honestly, we were looking at a lot of different songs to record for the WOW Christmas project. Every artist would choose a different song. I was so happy that this song was available, because it is traditional.
I've only released one other Christmas song, "Last Christmas," to Japan, which is kind of random. It's a fun, pop song, but not about the heart of Christmas. I was really thankful that I landed on a song that led me to a place of worship. I really didn't expect the song to do that as much as it did.
My husband produced the song, and I was singing it in the studio and words really spoke to me while I was singing them for the recording. It is a worship song—not just a Christmas song. I really felt the presence of God while I was recording it. Now when I listen to it, I go to a place of worship. I love that, because that's what Christmas is all about, the birth of Jesus and the worship of Him as our King and as our Lord. To be able to do that with my first ‘real' Christmas song that I've released was very cool. I really like how it turned out.
Which Bible verses connect to the message of the song?
Matthew 2:1-6 (The Voice): "Mary and Joseph name their baby Jesus, but sometimes He is referred to as 'Immanuel,' because by coming to dwell with us, living and dying among us, He would be able to save us from our sin. Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem, in the province of Judea, at the time when King Herod reigned. Not long after Jesus was born, magi, wise men or seers from the East, made their way from the East to Jerusalem. These wise men made inquiries. These men from the East come looking for the One who has been born who will save His people from sin. Wise Men: 'Where is this newborn, who is the King of the Jews? When we were far away in the East we saw His star, and we have followed its glisten and gleam all this way to worship Him.' King Herod began to hear rumors of the wise men's quest, and he, and all of his followers in Jerusalem, were worried. So Herod called all of the leading Jewish teachers, the chief priests and head scribes, and he asked them where Hebrew tradition claimed the long-awaited Anointed One would be born. Scribes and Priests: 'An ancient Hebrew prophet, Micah, said this: But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are no poor relation—For from your people will come a Ruler who will be the shepherd of My people Israel.'
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What's the takeaway message?
When you read that Scripture and the wise men ask, "Where is this newborn?" right away my mind went to my baby. I just had Ella a few months ago, and thinking of her as a tiny newborn—and she's really tiny—who can't do anything or say anything, to think at that moment the wise men were coming to see the Savior of the world as tiny little baby, that's amazing to me. Now that I've experienced having a baby, I keep thinking about how God came in that form.
He could have come so many different ways, as a King, riding on a horse, but He came in humility and it shows who Jesus is. That speaks a lot to me about the character of God. We want people to notice us, and we want to be recognized, but Jesus came as a baby. This time of year is a time to come and worship God. I'm thinking about shopping for gifts, and it is easy to get caught up in the distractions of the season. That's not what it is about at all. It is nice to give gifts, but we need to keep our focus on Jesus. I hope when people hear this song that they experience God's presence. God is here right now. He's with you wherever you are. He is alive. Go to that place of worship.
Lyrics:
O come all ye faithful
Joyful and triumphant
O come ye, o come ye to Bethlehem
Come and behold Him
Born the King of angels
O come, let us adore Him
O come, let us adore Him
O come, let us adore Him
Christ the Lord
Let us come
Let us come
Let us come
Let us come
Sing choirs of angels
Sing in exultation
Sing all ye citizens
Of Heaven above
Glory to God
Glory in the highest
Come and adore Him
Come, let us adore Him
O come, let us adore Him
Christ the Lord
Let us come
Let us come
Let us come and adore Him
Come and adore Him
Come, let us adore Him
O come, let us adore Him
Christ the Lord
That Matthew 2:1-6 Bible account in The Voice translation really sets the scene for the Christmas story. We are familiar with the story, but these words give some context about how God prophesied that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem, in Micah 5:2, and told us through His prophet Isaiah that His Son would be named Jesus, sometimes called Immanuel, "because by coming to dwell with us, living and dying among us, He would be able to save us from our sin." That's the Christmas story. Jesus came to live among us, not as royalty, but in poverty, "with no place for the Son of Man to lay His head."
Jesus lived the perfect life that we can't live and died the death that we all deserve so that we could live with Him forever. We know from Romans 10:9 (NKJV), "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." That's the ultimate reason that Christmas is such a celebration, and is the reason that Christians throughout the world worship with all of our hearts, minds and souls along with the words of this song.
As stated by the wise men in Matthew 2:4, "When we were far away in the East we saw His star, and we have followed its glisten and gleam all this way to worship Him." No matter how far away you are from Jesus, follow His star and worship Him. As Britt sings in the song, "let us come, let us come, let us come and adore Him…Christ the Lord." Amen. Merry Christmas!
Posted December 17, 2013 | NRT Lead Contributor Kevin Davis is a longtime fan of Christian music, an avid music collector and credits the message of Christian music for leading him to Christ. He lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and three daughters.
Credit goes to: http://www.newreleasetuesday.com/article.php?article_id=1243
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