So Bieber could sing of God's love forever. The prodigious pop star made an unannounced detour into the mid-'90s British worship back catalogue during the Paris leg of his Purpose Tour, getting legions of French fans singing along –presumably because many of them don't speak English.
This is potentially the key to a whole new marketing strategy for the American Church: just get yourself into heaven and there'll be a Justin Bieber concert every night! However, given that not all music fans would find that so much of a selling point, I think we should also try to convince a few more musical acts to slip a worship cover into their next tour. And since the Bieb-meister is such a trend-setter, we might even find that '90s worship covers become the 'in' thing. So here are my suggestions of a few more of the world's biggest music acts, and some of the worship classics that might suit them. You never know, Shine Jesus Shine could be coming to a stadium near you (you know you want to, Rihanna).
U2 – These are the days of Elijah (Robin Mark)
Let's be honest, it's been years since Bono & co released a decent song. A cover of this galumphing worship classic could be key to their next live show, given its stadium-friendly sensibilities. Bono could even open the show with it, riding in on a giant mechanical cloud while The Edge dresses up as Moses. This song could also form part of a great stealth evangelism tactic; U2 could simply upload a copy onto every iTunes library in the world. It couldn't upset people any more than last time.
James Blunt – You're Beautiful (Phil Wickham)
Everyone loves a live mash-up these days, so what if everyone's favourite soldier-turned-crooner segued out of his seminal hit You're Beautiful, and straight into a cover of Phil Wickham's beloved worship song You're Beautiful? Granted, only a very small section of Blunt's fanbase would appreciate it, but for those of us in that part of the Venn diagram, this would be high-brow comedy gold.
Morrissey – Happy Day (Tim Hughes)
The famously miserable rocker could do with being cheered up a bit, so how about getting him to slip this into his next live set? Even old Steven Patrick Morrissey would have trouble not clapping along to the chorus, unless he slowed it down and made it all slow and tinkly. In which case, we'd have the soundtrack to the next John Lewis Christmas ad on our hands.
Britney Spears – Shine Jesus Shine (Graham Kendrick)
Britney's back, and Graham Kendrick never really went away. But just imagine the scene: Brit takes the stage at Madison Square Garden surrounded by muscular dancers, and out strolls Graham with his neatly-trimmed beard and trademark rainbow guitar strip. What an extraordinary duet that could be – a potent smouldering mix of latex bodysuits and sensible sandals. The time is surely right for a pop culture legend to make a spectacular resurrection... and perhaps Britney could be massive again too.
Radiohead – Let My Words Be Few (Matt Redman)
Perhaps the nadir of the 'Jesus is my boyfriend' worship song movement*, this scourge of men's ministry events everywhere could get a whole new lease of life if performed by the lo-fi rock legends. Fans would be intrigued by Thom Yorke's deadpan delivery of the line "Jesus I am so in love with you", asking – is he being serious? Is he being ironically post-modern? Is everything meaningless anyway?
*Note: not an actual movement.
Will.I.Am - Praise Him on the Trumpet (John Kennett)
The Black Eyed Peas mastermind, TV talent show judge and mega-producer loves the challenge of reinvigorating old material and making it 'dope', so how about handing him perhaps the cheesiest tune in all of Songs & Hymns of Fellowship. The Sunday School favourite could provide a show-stopping centre-piece for Will's eclectic live show, with scores of backing dancers playing harps, timbrels and 'the psaltery', whatever that is. If anyone can make 1980s worship songs cool again, it's him.
Martin Saunders is a Contributing Editor for Christian Today and the Deputy CEO of Youthscape. Follow him on Twitter @martinsaunders.
