<\/p>\n
Big Freedia – Credit: Hunter Holder*<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The Baptist preacher and blues musician, Rev. Robert Jones, Sr. once told an interviewer that \u201cthe sacred and the secular grew up right next to each other,\u201d backing his claim with Psalms 30:5, \u201cweeping endures for a night but joy comes in the morning.\u201d Such is the sentiment behind Pressing Onward,<\/em> the first gospel record from bounce artist Big Freedia.<\/p>\n The 14-track project opens with \u201cRevival,\u201d a bluesy piece in which a handpicked choir chants to its audience \u2013 whom they deem their \u201csisters and brothers\u201d \u2013 to \u201clove one another,\u201d followed by a declaration to \u201cget up.\u201d The sentiment \u201cget up,\u201d has a double meaning for Big Freedia \u2014 who grew up attending the New Orleans\u2019 Pressing Onward Baptist Church, which she named her album after. It\u2019s a literal call to physically stand up in praise and worship but also to persevere through unexpected hard times. For Freedia \u2014 who lost her partner Devon Hurst this past May, as the project was being promoted \u2014 the lyrics and title of this album take on a deeper meaning.<\/p>\n More from Rolling Stone<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cTake My Hand,\u201d starts off as a spiritual call and response, originally from the 1988 song \u201cTake Hold Of My Hand,\u201d by gospel artist Dr. C.J. Johnson, from his album My Father\u2019s Work<\/em>. On Pressing Forward<\/em>, Big Freedia reintroduces the song in true Bounce fashion, blending contemporary sounds with older music by repurposing the original with a funkier\u00a0danceable beat. Yet again, the anointing lies between its lyrics, as the queer artist tells her \u201cdivas\u201d and \u201cnon-believers\u201d to \u201ccome as you are.\u201d In a time when transgender rights are under threat via a backlash spurred on by harmful theology within church spaces, the call for inclusion \u2014 despite one\u2019s gender identity, expression, or sexuality \u2014 is both a rarity and necessity within the traditional gospel and Christian world.<\/p>\n Freedia clearly expresses her perspective on religion in the song \u201cChurch,\u201d in which the chorus tell us, \u201cwe don\u2019t need a preacher to go to church,\u201d reinforcing the idea that one\u2019s connection with God is first found within oneself and that the physical church \u2014 while historically important to Black communities enduring racism \u2014 is an extension of that internal relationship. \u201cLet it Rain,\u201d which puts one in mind of gospel legend Kirk Franklin\u2019s \u201cMelodies From Heaven,\u201d has the potential to make its rounds in the dance scene, with techno elements that would be perfect for a Tik-Tok challenge.<\/p>\n Pressing Onward<\/em> only has two features \u2013\u00a0 \u201cHoly Shuffle,\u201d featuring Pose\u2019s <\/em>Billy Porter, and \u201cSunday Best,\u201d featuring Tamar Braxton. And yet, the album is notable in the chances it takes, as Freedia tries on a variety of sounds like dance and techno, alongside the traditional elements of gospel and Bounce beats. \u201cNever Forget,\u201d makes one want to sing choral vibrato while simultaneously twerking to the beat. It\u2019s in this intersection of bounce, blues, gospel, and spirituals where Freedia solidifies sonically that we all can live within the same realm. Pressing Onward<\/em> serves as a metaphor for Big Freedia and by extension her fans, who might be moving through grief (be it personal or political). The album also cultivates spaces where divinity and humanity can coexist. As she told Rolling Stone<\/em> shortly after performing a free concert in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn over the summer, \u201cIt\u2019s all about catching the spirit,\u201d whether you\u2019re clapping your ass or your hands. And it\u2019s all holy.<\/p>\n Best of Rolling Stone<\/strong><\/p>\n Sign up for RollingStone’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Big Freedia – Credit: Hunter Holder* The Baptist preacher and blues musician, Rev. Robert Jones, Sr. once told an interviewer that \u201cthe sacred and the secular grew up right next to each other,\u201d backing his claim with Psalms 30:5, \u201cweeping endures for a night but joy comes in the morning.\u201d Such is the sentiment behind […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1949655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[339824,340859,340858,314737],"class_list":["post-1949654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-big-freedia","tag-gospel-artist","tag-pressing-onward","tag-rolling-stone"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Big-Freedia-Takes-Us-to-Church.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1949654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1949654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1949654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1949655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1949654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1949654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1949654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}