Colton Dixon- A Messenger Album Review



Radio Ready: You Are, Never Gone, I'll Be the Light, Love Has Come For Me, Rise

iPod Picks: Never Gone, This is Who I Am,  Let Them See You, Rise, Noise, Love Has Come For Me, In And Out Of Time

Colton Dixon made a name for himself on Seasons 10 & 11 of American Idol. He was the last one cut before live rounds in Season 10 and he made it all the way to the Top 6 in Season 11 when he was shockingly voted off after one bizarre song choice (note: Christians on American Idol should not sing Lady Gaga). Before he left though, he made it quite clear that he intended to sing Christian music when he ended his tenure on the show. 19 Entertainment seemed to think it was a worthy investment and they created an entire division within their company to launch his CCM career.

Aside from the fact that I am very uncomfortable with the suits of American Idol and 19 Entertainment dabbling in Christian Music (especially when they clearly do not know or love the Lord), A Messenger is quite a good CCM album. Lyrically Dixon does not really flaunt his Christianity as most songs stick to the generic "You" with occasional "God" "Jesus" or "Lord" but despite the lack of deep lyricism, A Messenger is a passionately sung and well produced collection of songs that represent CCM well to his mass of fans and points them to Christ.

What's interesting is that while this record does fit in well with modern CCM, it also bares quite the resemblance to 80's hair band artists like Journey, Foreigner and Bon Jovi or in CCM's case, Whiteheart, Petra and John Elefante. Colton balances the harder rock songs with power ballads building each song around enormous choruses and reach for the rafters vocals not unlike his musical forefathers. This stadium ready approach also begs comparisons to contemporary artists like Skillet, Fall Out Boy and the ballads of Red or Disciple. And while Colton never quite rocks as hard as any of the aforementioned artists, one can see that he would not mind heading in a more rock oriented direction once he is a more established artist. 

Time will tell whether 19's experiment in CCM will last or if Colton will simply stay on at Sparrow Records, while 19 moves on to a new season of potential pop stars, but one thing is for sure: Colton Dixon is going to be a staple in Christian Music for a long time.


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