Davido and Kirk Franklin are preparing to release Hope in You on Friday, 30 October, bringing the Nigerian Afrobeats singer onto the American gospel musician’s forthcoming album, I Am What I Am.
The collaboration is scheduled to arrive alongside the album, which Apple Music lists as a 14-song release. Its pre-release page carries an October 30 date and identifies Fo Yo Soul Recordings and TRIBL Music Group, under exclusive licence to Uptown Records, among the companies behind the project.
Voice of Nigeria and Leadership reported the collaboration’s Friday release date. Bossip’s Lauryn Bass reported that it was previewed at an Atlanta album playback on 12 October.
The recording brings Davido into a project that has already introduced Franklin’s collaboration with rapper GloRilla. This Time was released in September through Uptown Records, following Thank You For Everything, which features Karen Clark Sheard of The Clark Sisters.
Franklin’s new album combines his gospel work with collaborations across other musical styles. In an interview with Audacy’s Big Mack, published on 1 October, he discussed bringing gospel together with hip-hop, classical music and Afrobeats influences.
The singer described the criticism that can accompany those choices, particularly when it comes from within his own religious community. He said creative experimentation and finding ways to communicate his faith had remained part of his work for more than three decades.
His comments also addressed the meaning of the album’s title. Franklin told Audacy that the project represented a point of resolution after years spent explaining his music and intentions to others.
“It’s the mic drop, it is the finality of the conversation,” he said during the interview, while discussing questions about his artistic direction and beliefs.
Davido’s catalogue already includes a recording with a choir. Stand Strong, featuring The Samples, was released in May 2022 through Davido Music Worldwide under licence to Sony Music Entertainment UK. Its credits identify Pheelz as producer and Jason White as a performance arranger. The new Franklin collaboration follows that earlier encounter between his music and choral performance.
The upcoming release also follows Franklin’s 2023 album, Father’s Day. Universal Music’s uDiscover account of the current rollout identifies that record as the predecessor to I Am What I Am and notes that it included All Things.
Franklin’s partnership with Uptown Records involves his Fo Yo Soul operation and TRIBL Music Group. Apple Music identifies Uptown as a division of UMG Recordings, Inc., in the album’s rights notice.
Thank You For Everything received its live television debut at the 41st Annual Stellar Gospel Music Awards. Its video subsequently made its broadcast debut on BET Her, according to uDiscover’s account of the release campaign.
This Time brought GloRilla into that rollout before the full album. The single interpolates Mandrill’s Children Of The Sun, extending Franklin’s record of working with performers outside gospel’s traditional boundaries.
Hope in You is due to join those previously released recordings when I Am What I Am arrives on Friday. Apple Music currently lists the project as a pre-release, with the album organised across two discs.
Archive photograph: Kirk Franklin at JoyFest ’17, by CL Holly / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. Resized. It does not show Davido, the Atlanta album playback or the forthcoming release. Source | Licence
