Stormzy, Shawn Mendes, Jacob Collier & Kirk Franklin Collaborate On New Single ‘Witness Me’
Stormzy, Shawn Mendes, and Kirk Franklin feature on Witness Me, the new single from Jacob Collier – listen below.
Witness Me is the latest single from Collier’s forthcoming album Djesse Vol 4. The final instalment of Collier’s epic and expansive self-produced Djesse series, Vol 4 will be released 29 February.
A central pillar to Djesse Vol 4 is Collier’s celebration of the human voice. Across hundreds of shows on his world tours over the last two years, Collier has led “audience Ccoirs,” 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 Kirk’s legendary gospel recordings of the last three decades.
Jacob Collier: “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.”
Shawn 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!!!”