Song: Change
Artiste: Nii Soul
Producer: Nii Soul
Author: Kwame Dadzie
Introduction: Have you ever wished you got yourself out of an act you considered sinful or wrong? Have you struggled to free yourself off the fetters of a pleasurable sin? This is exactly what Nii Soul sings about in his latest single, ‘Change.’
Instrumentation and Production: Sung in Key B Flat Major, ‘Change’ was produced by Nii Soul in the iMakeMusic Lab.
‘Change’ has a powerful instrumentation hewn from rock and zouk, with a tinge of R&B. Nii experiments with rhythms to bring a soothing feel to the song.
I personally like the bass line even though I think it ‘all over the place.’ It sounds too pronounced in the song so much that it drowns all the other musical components.
Vocal Strength: From his days at TV3 Mentor to Project Fame West Africa, Nii has always exhibited exceptional vocal abilities in his delivery and his performance on ‘Change’ is no different. Adept as he is in singing, he finds his key and stays comfortably within his range.
Song Arrangement: The singer starts by talking about how addicted he is to masturbation. He also tells how he is so engrossed in the search for money than church activities and even basks in the woes of others.
It follows with the chorus where he asks God to change him from fornication, stealing and drunkenness. The chorus is catchy and easy to song along.
In the second verse the Nii takes on the character of a young woman who has resorted to fornication and sleeps with people’s husbands to make a living.
The chorus comes again and the third verse follows.
The song gets into a final part where he sings in Ewe, that as hard as he tries to change, he keeps committing the same old sins.
The song gets into coda till it fades.
Message: ‘Change’ is a form of supplication to God to deliver one from sin or any unpleasant act they have been entangled in.
Content Appreciation: The Bible in Romans 12:2 says: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
One of the biggest challenges in Christianity and the quest to do what is right before God is the fact that the WORD is contained in the WORLD. Because of this, people of the word are easily derailed and distracted by the many eye-pleasing sins that have inundated the world.
The Christian instead of transforming the world has rather been conformed to the wiles of world. This is evident in the many social vices plaguing our society. Even though most sins are personal, the effects of some of them extend to others. ‘Change,’ therefore has both vertical and horizontal implications.
The vertical sins (ones that affect the individual and their relationship with God) are usually difficult to judge.
The horizontal sins (those that have direct effect on others) are basically those that constitute the mores, norms and laws of society. There are punishments attached to them by society. So even before God takes action on, society may have already dealt with such wrongdoings.
However, change of behaviour sometimes is not caused by punishment, reproach and personal decision. For those who believe in the power of God, it is also necessary to invite God in the change process.
Nii, in ‘Change’ clearly portrays how powerful God is in changing what seems unchangeable. The song admonishes people to surrender their sins to God any time they want to change from bad to good.
I rate the song 80%.
Listen to ‘Change’ below:
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By: Kwame Dadzie/citinewsroom.com/Ghana
(e-mail: [email protected])
