"Selah" is a song by American rapper Kanye West from his ninth studio album, Jesus Is King (2019). The song contains additional vocals from Ant Clemons, BongoByTheWay, and the Sunday Service Choir. West co-wrote it with 11 others, while Jeffrey LaValley received songwriting credit due to the song sampling a rendition of the New Jerusalem Choir's work. A hip hop and gospel song, it instrumentally relies on military drums. The song includes samples of the Sunday Service Choir's rendition of "Revelations 19:1". Lyrically, it sees West asserting his Christian faith and referencing Bible verses. The song had originally been slated for release on Yandhi in November 2018 until the album was scrapped, though it later leaked the following year.
Ultimately released as the second track on Jesus Is King in October 2019, "Selah" received generally positive reviews from music critics. They were often complementary towards the composition and a few praised the sampling of the Sunday Service Choir, though some critics expressed negative feelings of the song's lyrical content. It was among the Winning Gospel Songs at the 2021 ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Awards. The song charted at number 19 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and also reached the top 20 in Australia, Canada, Latvia, and the United Kingdom. It has been certified gold in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). West and the Sunday Service Choir performed the song live in November 2019. It was used for the Super Bowl LIV and Super Bowl LV trailers of the tenth Fast & Furious franchise film, F9 (2021). The album's accompanying film of the same name features an alternative version of the song.
A rendition of the New Jerusalem Choir's "Revelations 19:1" was released on the Sunday Service Choir's debut studio album, Jesus Is Born (2019). Despite being sampled within "Selah", the former was released two months later. A gospel song, the rendition includes a chorus that features praise for Jesus Christ being delivered by the Sunday Service Choir. It charted at number 17 on the US Billboard Gospel Songs chart in 2020. The rendition has been performed live by the Sunday Service Choir on multiple occasions.
Background and development
American singer-songwriter Ant Clemons first became involved with West during the recording sessions for the rapper's eight studio album Ye (2018), with Clemons helping record the album's second single "All Mine" (2018). Following on from Clemons being involved with West as a songwriter for Teyana Taylor's second studio album K.T.S.E. in June 2018, the two of them didn't see each other again until the fall of that year. At that time, Clemons went to Chicago and found himself freestyling in front of others, including West. During the freestyle session, Clemons gave West a demo he worked on, off of which they built the skeleton of "Selah", originally called "Chakras". Alongside helping create the song and providing backing vocals for it, Clemons contributed vocals to fellow Jesus Is King tracks "Everything We Need" and "Water".
In 2019, West and vocal arranger Nikki Grier of gospel group the Sunday Service Choir re-wrote the lyrics of songs by him. While doing this, West took on the stance of wanting to create music related to God, setting out to make Christian music. Though some members of the Sunday Service Choir had been initially dismissive of ideas by West, the group ultimately warmed up to his ideas. Throughout 2019, the Sunday Service Choir's concerts were popular with numerous celebrities, including American actor Brad Pitt. The group ultimately worked on Jesus Is King, being heavily involved with it vocally. The first feature on the album is from the Sunday Service Choir on the track "Every Hour", while the group provided additional vocals for "Selah" as well as "Everything We Need" and "Water". Alongside the Sunday Service Choir and Clemons, the former of the three includes vocals from record producer Bongo ByTheWay.
West had originally planned to release "Selah" on Yandhi in November 2018 and recorded a demo for it, though the album was ultimately shelved. In August 2019, West's then-wife Kim Kardashian posted an image of a track list for Jesus Is King that showed the song slated for release on it. In the image, the Bible was open to Psalm 57:6, a passage that uses the word "Selah". By September 29, 2019, West had re-recorded certain lyrics for the song. It later leaked online on October 13 of that year after being played at 2019 listening sessions for the album in Detroit, Chicago and New York, with the leak being different from the version of the song played at the listening sessions. In response to the song and other tracks by GOOD Music rappers leaking in October 2019, the record label's president Pusha T branded the leaks "cute" but he stated that "if I find out who is leaking it, I will make a decent example out of you...and no one can stop it, no Kanye, nobody!" Def Jam Recordings shared a trailer for Jesus Is King that same month, featuring a preview of the song. Jeffrey LaValley, musical director of the New Jerusalem Choir, received writing credit on "Selah" due to having created and wrote the melody of the group's recording "Revelations 19:1" (1984), which the song samples a rendition of. With the original version having been released back in 1984, West only needed a mechanical license for usage because it could be classified as public domain. He also wrote the song, along with Cyhi the Prynce, Consequence, Federico Vindver, No Malice, BoogzDaBeast, Rennard East, Pusha T, E*vax, Sean Leon, John Boyd, and Adam Wright. The title "Selah" is a Hebrew term that appears throughout the Book of Psalms, which West defined as a term meaning "to look back and reflect upon".
Composition and lyrics
Musically, "Selah" is a hip hop and gospel track. Instrumentation for the song consists primarily of military drums, which have been noted for conveying attitude. The chord progression of it was compared to that of the track "Gerudo Valley", from the soundtrack of video game The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998). The song features samples of a gospel rendition of the New Jerusalem Choir's "Revelations 19:1", as performed by the Sunday Service Choir. Prior to the song's chorus, organ chords are featured alongside West rapping. The chorus includes repeated "hallelujah" chants from the Sunday Service Choir, which are sampled from the rendition. Percussion and sound effects of metal scraping accompany the chorus, while the octave of the vocals rises. The group being sampled adds gospel vocals to the chorus and as it continues, the instrumentation is silenced. A capella singing from the Sunday Service Choir follows, while the chorus ends with the line "He is wonderful" from the group. After the chorus, West raps in time with the drums coming in.
The lyrics of the song are used by West to assert his faith in Christianity, with it including verses of the Bible being referenced by him. The song opens with West using his faith to boast, "God is king, we the soldiers", which alludes to his past and how he has evolved over time. Comparing himself to Noah before the story of the Genesis flood took place, West mentions that he is being judged. West delivers Christian rapping, including him using the lyrics: "Everybody wanted Yandhi/Then Jesus Christ did the laundry." The lyrics indicate that West scrapped Yandhi due to his religious beliefs after going through a new birth experience, since he vowed to no longer create secular music, providing fans with meaning of the album being shelved. West uses certain lyrics to reference John 8:33 and John 8:36. For the conclusion of the song, crys of "Woo" are heard.
Release and promotion "Selah" was released on October 25, 2019, as the second track on West's ninth studio album Jesus Is King. On September 28, 2019, West played the song twice during a listening party for the album at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago. Of the song's presence at the listening session, attendee Donald Lawrence recalled that watching "a crowd that was probably 25% African American, 75% caucasian — hip-hop kids from the suburbs — go bananas when the choir came in [was amazing]". The following day, West previewed the song as part of the album's listening party at New York's United Palace.
West and the Sunday Service Choir performed the song live at Bethany Church in Baton Rouge on November 3, 2019. For West's Sunday Service Experience at Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church on November 17 of that year, the song was performed by him and the group. During the performance, the line "He saved a wretch like me" was sung off-key by West. West performed the song live during a Sunday Service concert at Pigeon Forge's LeConte Center on January 19, 2020. On January 27, West held a midnight Sunday Service concert in tribute to American basketball player Kobe Bryant after the 2020 Calabasas helicopter crash killed 9 people including Bryant and his daughter. West performed the song live during the concert, with his then-sister-in-law Kourtney Kardashian sharing videos of him performing it to her Instagram Stories.
Reception
"Selah" was met with generally positive reviews from music critics, with general praise for the composition. Rawiya Kameir of Pitchfork noted "the battle drums that propel" the song for echoing "the stark, confrontational attitude of" West's sixth studio album Yeezus (2013). Entertainment Weeklys Brian Josephs praised the song for the Sunday Service Choir going "to awe in the climax". Jordan Bassett from NME commented that the song features "dour organ" and "intermittent percussion". Sam C. Mac of Slant Magazine viewed the Sunday Service Choir as "on hand" for elevating the song, specifically with a "hallelujah" chant "that's augmented by dynamic leaps in octave and by Ye's colossal bursts of percussive, scraping-metal sound effects". Will Rosebury from Clash admitted that hearing West rap the lyrics, "Keeping perfect composure/When I scream at the chauffeur/I ain't mean I'm just focused" would mean the fans "fearing an ultra-positive Kanye will breathe a sigh of relief", while Rosebury questioned "who the fuck wants a reined-in Kanye West?" In a review for American Songwriter, Luke Levenson stated the song is where "West punctuates his bars with bible verses several times", which he called "punchy moments" that are "weighed down by the effeteness" of certain lyrics. Levenson elaborated, describing West as delivering the lyrics "with an exerted vocal effect, tensing up his throat as the track drives beneath his voice" and concluded by writing that this "amounts to heavy stuff", though is "less gripping" than West's previous works related to God. The New York Times critic Jon Caramanica opined that the song "swells until West cites Bible verses over door-slam percussion, suggesting an explosion of religious awakening", while noting his rapping sometimes being "tart".