Kirk Franklin, Needs | Track Review 🎵

As always, Grammy-winning gospel musician Kirk Franklin inspires and uplifts on “Needs,” an advance single from his 2003 LP, Father’s Day.

Grammy-winning gospel musician, 🎙 Kirk Franklin, released 🎵 “Needs” as the third single from his 2023 album, 💿 Father’s Day. “Needs” arrived September 6, 2023, a month ahead of the album.  It is also worth noting that Franklin released a 35-minute documentary, 🎦 Father’s Day: A Kirk Franklin Story via YouTube. Focusing on the song at hand, running a tight three-and-a-half minutes in duration, relatively brief duration for a gospel record, “Needs” is potent and highly effective. Franklin wrote the song, while it was produced by a team consisting of 🎛 Maxwell Stark, Ron Hill, Justin Pearson, and Demetrius Smith.

“Needs” initiates with a spoken intro, performed by Franklin, that sets the tone: “There’s so many voices out there right now… I found the answer’s really simple / And it’s been there the entire time.” The answer, unsurprisingly, is Jesus, something made abundantly clear in the first verse.  Prior to uttering Jesus, Franklin’s choir names things Christians associated with Him – peace, grace, strength, patience.  In the soulful chorus, accompanied by keys, organs, and harmonized vocals, where non-needs are highlighted:

“I don’t need another love song

For the radio to play

I’m at the end of myself

When I talk to myself

I have nothing left to hear me say.”

In the second and third verses, like the first, it’s all about Him – J-E-S-U-S. Post-third verse, there is a high-flying refrain (or bridge), which separates itself from the chorus (“I trust you won’t let go / You live to catch each dream that falls”). “Needs” concludes beautifully with an outro, where the only thing that Franklin needs that he has is – you guessed it – Jesus. All told, 🎵 “Needs” marks another thoughtfully penned, uplifting record from the one-and-only Kirk Franklin. 

🎙 Kirk Franklin • 💿 Father’s Day • 🏷 Fo Yo Soul Recordings / RCA • 🗓 10.6.23

[📷: Brent Faulkner/The Musical Hype; Fo Yo Soul Recordings / RCA; OpenClipart-Vectors, PIRO via Pixabay]