By Stevie Connor. Photo Credit: Alex Oh
Jacob Collier has released “Witness Me,” featuring Canadian singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes, British rap titan Stormzy, and 19-time Grammy-winning gospel legend Kirk Franklin. “Witness Me” is the resplendent newest single from his forthcoming album Djesse Vol. 4.
The final installment of Collier’s epic and expansive self-produced Djesse series, Vol. 4 will be released February 29. “Witness Me” is a transformative, rousing gospel-inspired anthem, a collision of four distinct music worlds, all within Collier’s singular style. Featuring a cast of musical heavyweights such as only Collier could assemble, the song celebrates the radical power of empathy.
A central pillar to Djesse Vol. 4 is Collier’s inimitable celebration of the human voice. Across hundreds of shows on his World Tours in the last two years, Collier has led “Audience Choirs,” conducting countless fans singing together in harmony. He’s captured these powerful moments and incorporated hundreds of thousands of audience members into the songs of Djesse Vol. 4. “Witness Me” features 5,000+ of these fans singing together, which bolster the magic of Kirk Franklin and his singers, an iconic sound which has graced hundreds of Franklin’s legendary gospel recordings of the last three decades.
Says Collier of the song, "The song began its journey back in 2021, when Shawn and I got together to throw some paint in Malibu. We bonded over our love of gospel music, joyous communal gatherings and creating music for more than ourselves. I worked on that song seed over the coming months, and travelled to Arlington, Texas (chez Franklin) to work with Kirk and his unbelievable singers for a day. That session transformed the demo into a fully-fledged song, which I then sent to Stormzy to do his inimitable magic with.
This song means a great deal to me, and its creation has brought me a lot of hope and warmth over the two years of its gestation. In a time where there are countless divisive forces around the world, my hope is that this song can act as a reminder of the power people hold to come together and really see each other, carry each other and bear witness to life in all its colours."
Says Mendes: “So happy to share this song with everyone. Jacob, Stormzy & Kirk are artists I’ve admired for a long time, so I’m honoured to be a part of such a beautifully intentioned song. I hope you guys love it!!!”
“Witness Me” debuted today as a Hottest Record on BBC Radio 1 in the U.K., and a music video will be released next week. Thus far, Collier has shared four songs that illustrate the distinct corners of Vol. 4’s magical musical universe: “Wherever I Go” (feat. Michael McDonald and Lawrence), "Little Blue" (feat. Brandi Carlile), "WELLLL," co-written with Remi Wolf, and the GRAMMY® -nominated 2022 hit "Never Gonna Be Alone" (feat. Lizzy McAlpine & John Mayer). The album’s full track list will be revealed in the near future and in addition to the 5,000 audience choir voices featured on “Witness Me,” the album incorporates 150,000 voices throughout. Collier recently announced his biggest ever North American tour to date, for this coming spring, including Radio City Music Hall and The Greek in Los Angeles. See below for the full itinerary.
Collier is now a 12-time GRAMMY® nominee, with another nomination just announced for the 66th GRAMMY Awards®, this time for Best Arrangement, Instruments, and Vocals, for “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning” in collaboration with the acapella vocal group ‘saje.’ The Djesse album series has earned Collier three GRAMMY Awards® and six nominations to date. He is the first British act in history to win a GRAMMY® for each of his first four albums.
Thus far, Djesse Volumes 1-3 has included 37 songs, welcoming an unprecedented, staggering list of nearly 25 featured artists from every corner of the music industry, besides a plethora of choirs, orchestras and more into Collier's singular world. The list of special guests includes an extraordinarily diverse range of talents, from Ty Dolla $ign, T-Pain, Jessie Reyez and Daniel Caesar to Kimbra, Chris Thile, Rapsody, Tori Kelly, JoJo, Lianne La Havas, Oumou Sangare, Hamid El Kasri, Laura Mvula, Steve Vai, Take 6, and Collier’s own mother, conductor and violinist Suzie Collier.
Crafted in the famed studio in his childhood London family home, and various corners of the globe to boot, Djesse has explored and expanded Collier's wildest creative dreams, and Vol. 4 brings the series to a most dramatic and thrilling conclusion. While his music is proudly unclassifiable, Collier enters a distinct sonic universe with each volume. With Vol. 4, the saga ends at the incandescent light of dawn, alchemizing a full spectrum of emotion into a massive, joyous moment of awakening and human potential.
In the last twelve months alone, videos of his Audience Choirs have garnered hundreds of millions of views. Collier was the first-ever male to be featured as a Vogue Darling, and appeared on the July cover of Rolling Stone UK. He co-wrote and performed on seven tracks of Stormzy's This Is What I Mean. He has also collaborated extensively with Coldplay and Chris Martin, performing with them on Saturday Night Live in February, as a featured guest at their Wembley Stadium shows last summer, and on their album Music of the Spheres. He has also contributed to major hits including SZA's "Good Days" and songs by Lizzy McAlpine and Kehlani, and launched a signature line of music-making Crocs. Collier has recorded two NPR Tiny Desks, has spoken at the world-renowned TED conference, and has performed on TV shows around the world including the BBC's Later with Jools Holland, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and more.
TOUR DATES
4/22 - Toronto, ON - Coca-Cola Coliseum^
4/23 - Montreal, QC - Place Bell^
4/24 - Boston, MA - MGM at Fenway^
4/26 - New York, NY - Radio City Music Hall^
4/29 - Philadelphia, PA - The Met^
5/1 - Washington, D.C. - The Anthem^
5/3 - Charlotte, NC - Skyla Credit Union Amp^
5/4 - Atlanta, GA - Coca Cola Roxy^
5/6 - St. Petersburg, FL - Duke Energy Center - Mahaffey Theater^
5/7 - Miami, FL - Fillmore^
5/9 - New Orleans, LA - Fillmore^
5/11 - Houston, TX - 713 Music Hall^
5/12 - Austin, TX - Moody Amphitheater^
5/13 - Irving, TX - Toyota Music Factory^
5/16 - Phoenix, AZ - Arizona Financial Theatre^
5/18 - San Diego, CA - Cal Coast Credit Union OAT^
5/20 - Los Angeles, CA - The Greek Theatre^
5/23 - San Francisco, CA - Bill Graham Civic Auditorium^
5/25 - Portland, OR - Keller Auditorium^
5/26 - Seattle, WA - Paramount^
5/28 - Salt Lake City, UT - Complex#
5/29 - Denver, CO - Fillmore
5/31 - Kansas City, MO - Kansas City Music Hall#
6/1 - Maryland Heights, MO - Saint Louis Music Park#
6/2 - Nashville, TN - Grand Ole Opry House#
6/4 - Cincinnati, OH - Andrew J Brady Music Center#
6/5 - Indianapolis, IN - Murat Theatre#
6/6 - Detroit, MI - Fillmore#
6/9 - Chicago, IL - Aragon Ballroom#
6/10 - Minneapolis, MN - The Armory#
6/12 - Cleveland, OH - Jacobs Pavilion#*
^w/ Kimbra
#w/ Emily King
*Not a Live Nation Date
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