Kanye West debuted his new single, “Wash Us in the Blood” on Tuesday, instantly shooting to the top of the music charts and quickly becoming the #1 trending video on Youtube.
Kaye announced the song the day before, also informing that it was the first single from his upcoming new album God’s Country, which will serve as a followup and companion to his 2019’s Jesus is King. There is no release date yet for the new album, but Kanye said the set list is being worked through.
Lyrically, “Wash Us in the Blood” is repetitive, with multiple hooks, bridges, and verses comprising of the same words and phrases over and over.
The music video is a cacophony of differing scenes, a jumble of video clips of people fighting, a woman twerking for an extended period at a party, people reenacting ‘I cant’ breathe’, videos of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, video games scenes, protesters burning down buildings, street racers hitting bystanders, and a bevy of other pop-cultural references, all the white Kanye West raps over frenetic scene You can read the full lyrics here, but this is a small sample.
Rain down on the pain/ Rain down on the slain/ Rain down for my mom/ Rain down on the farm/ Shower us with your love/ Wash us in the blood/
Is there anybody here/ Is there anybody here/ That can say, no matter how much you playa hate/ It was the blood, that, ouh/ It was the blood, that, ouh/ It was the blood that cleansed me/ It was the, ouh/ Shower down on us/ Wash us in the blood/ Wash us in the blo
Rain down on us / Rain down on us/ Wash us in the blood/ Wash us in the blood/ Holy spirit come down/ Holy spirit come down
Holy Spirit, come down (Come take)/ Holy Spirit, come down (Come down)/ Holy Spirit, help now (Way down)/ Holy Spirit, help now (Uh, uh)/ Holy Spirit, come down (Spirit) Holy Spirit, come down (Ayy)/ Holy Spirit, help now (Come down)/ Holy Spirit, help now (Yeah)
Some on social media are calling it the best worship song of 2020, with the meaning seemingly being Kanye repeatedly asking for Christ’s blood to be rained down on everyone featured in his video.
The song may not be unobjectionable, but the music video for it is. It’s one thing to speak of people engaging in sinful, sexual activity such as twerking for the cameras to be needing the Holy Spirit and the salvific work of Christ (Wash us in the blood) in their life. It’s another to broadcast that twerking to the world, and therefore partaking in the sin. Showing it is not cool, and it’s an artistic choice that is not in keeping with repentance.
The song ends with a scene from a choir rehearsal, with Kanye telling his young daughter “Wash us in the blood of Jesus. Holy Spirit come down. We need you now. Wash us in the blood” as she dances and smiles along.
