CECE WINANS IS BACK WITH A NEW ALBUM
After a nine year hiatus the gospel legend has returned…
Gospel legend Cece Winans is known for her contemporary take on the genre, but the award winning singer is back with a new album and a new retro sound. After an almost decade-long hiatus from recording, Winans hopes her vibrant, soul-stirring ten-track solo album titled, Let Them Fall In Love, will connect her to a whole new audience.
Recently, JET spoke with the gospel artist about her new project, her musical collaboration with her son, and why she waited so long to do another project.
Congratulations on your new album! We are so excited to hear new music from you! What can we expect?
CeCe Winans: You can expect a pleasant surprise! I think it’s a really really good project. It’s fun, it’s exciting. It’s bold, relevant and full of passion. I think it’s a really good piece of work! We’ve taken time to really think it out. It was a great vision my son gave me!
That sounds great. We’re used to seeing you team up with BeBe Winans on an album, but, this seems to be the first time that we have heard of you collaborating with one of your children.
CW: Yes! My son, who is now 32-years-old, came to me with the vision about four years ago. It sounded like it was going to be so different from anything that I’ve ever done before, so my first reply was, “Absolutely not!” But, he told me, “Mom, trust me. I know your voice…and a lot of what you think is out of style is actually back in style.” He kept encouraging me to trust him, and when I heard what he was writing and playing, his ideas blew me away.
I took a lot of chances on this album, but it’s really good. This project is something that I believe any of the previous fans or supporters that I have had before will enjoy. I believe I will be able to recapture them with this album. But, I believe this particular record will also win a lot of people who have never heard of who I am. The music is amazing! We did all live music, and it has a lot of different flavors, including a little country, but it’s all still very much gospel. I think everyone is really going to like it.
This is your first release in 9 years. You have taken breaks in-between your albums before, but this seems like a much longer break. Why the wait?
CW: First, I’ll just say that I didn’t realize all that time went by! I was like, what?! It’s been 9 years?! But, the reason it was so hard to realize is because it wasn’t like I wasn’t doing music at all. I was still traveling, doing concerts, tours and going overseas. I wasn’t in the studio, but I was still around music. During that time period, I was trying to get back in the studio, but then BeBe and I released our latest CD together. Then, about 5 years ago, my husband and I started a church called Nashville Life in Nashville, Tennessee. It wasn’t on our radar, but God birthed out an incredible body of believers in our home. We ended up pastoring about 250 people, mostly millennials who were on fire for God. So, I was just focused on making disciples. That of course, took up a lot of our time. Plus, I’ve never been one of those people who wanted to do a record because it was time to do a record. My son Alvin shared the vision for this record with me about four years ago, but it just wasn’t time. Releasing the album now works. We have the church in a place where it has it’s own rhythm and we have more people helping us, and God is just blessing it all!
The content in your songs is always piercing and life changing. What can you share with us about the theme of this project?
CW: Thank you! I’m blessed to hear you say that about the music being life changing; that’s always very important to me. I’ve always been so sincere and never wavered in asking the Holy Spirit to lead us. I’m always asking the Holy Spirit, “What do you want me to say?” “What do your people need to hear?” It’s not about entertainment for me. Of course you want people to enjoy it, because that’s really how they’re going to embrace it. But, I want it to say something. I want it to be full of substance and I want it to bring forth transformation.
The title of the record is Let Them Fall In Love with you… and that’s my prayer. I think this record will remind those who already know God of the power we possess, and my prayer for this record for those who don’t know him is that their hearts will be turned towards Him.
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