BEC Recordings
Release Date: June 23rd 2023
Reviewed by: Jonathan Andre
Tasha Layton – Never (Amazon mp3/iTunes)
Track Listing:
- Never
Tasha Layton has been in the music industry for quite some time. Since unveiling her debut single ‘I Belong To You’ way back in 2018, it’s just been on the up-and-up for her, unveiling Love Running Wild, Into the Sea, This Christmas and How Far, all to raving and stellar reviews, not only just here on this site, but for both critics and listeners alike in the general populous as well. Tasha’s been a mainstay on BEC Recordings for a while; and has created powerful and heartfelt music that has stood out lyrically and thematically over the last few years. Fast-forward to 2023, and Tasha has since released another musical offering- this time around, it’s new single ‘Never’.
It’s a funny thing to release a song to Christian radio and title it ‘Never’. But it’s been done before with Michael W. Smith’s 1998 song ‘Never Been Unloved’. It’s a smart little pun-intended track and a reminder that ‘…sometimes, I have been unwise, I’ve been undone by what I’m unsure of but because of you, and all that you went through, I know that I have never been unloved…’ I feel as though Tasha’s song ‘Never’ is ‘Never Been Unloved’ part 2, because to characterise God has ‘never’ doing something can seem a little counterintuitive, but to hear the lyrics from Tasha’s track…it all makes sense. God never lets us down, He never abandons us, He’s never stopping to work through us the things in our lives that need breaking, shaping and remoulding. He’s never idle in making us who He knows we can be, and He’s never undertaking anything that He can’t finish- He always finishes what He’s set out to do, in our lives, and in the lives of people around us. As said by the lyrics themselves, we ought to be reminded that we are ‘…never forgotten, never forsaken, never abandoned, not for a second, I am safe in Your hands, always and forever, You’re never not working, my heart is the proof, there’s not a broken too broken for You, will there ever come a day when You’re not holding me together? You say never…’, or as Tasha herself encourages us in a recent press release, ‘…When our tears and knees both hit the ground and we’re feeling the weight of life, sometimes we’re tempted to think God has forgotten us. Has He forgotten the desire of my heart? ‘God, I see you working in other people’s lives, but what about mine?’ My prayer is that this song serves as a reminder that you are never forgotten, never forsaken and never abandoned. That God is close to you in this exact moment. That whatever you are going through will never be wasted…’ Thematically similar to that of Jason Gray’s ‘Nothing is Wasted’ and even Michael W. Smith’s ‘Never Been Unloved’ back in the day, this song has stood out, thematically, compared to a lot of songs unveiled as singles and as radio singles this year, Christian music and mainstream alike. A song that encourages us to always place our faith in Christ, no matter how it looks on the outside, this is a must, for anyone who has enjoyed previous Tasha Layton material, or other similar artists like Riley Clemmons or even newcomer Katy Nichole. Well done Tasha for this powerful testimony-like song. Here’s to more of these tracks in the years ahead.
Score: 5/5
RIYL: Riley Clemmons, Katy Nichole, Zach Williams, Colton Dixon