Capitol Christian Music Group
Release Date: August 18th 2023
Reviewed by: Joshua Andre
Tauren Wells– Joy In The Morning (Horizon Edition) (Amazon mp3/iTunes)
Track Listing:
- Take It All Back (feat. We the Kingdom and Davies)
- Breath Away (feat. Fred Hammond)
- Seen (feat. Katie Torwalt)
- Joy In The Morning (feat. DOE and Lecrae) [Remix]
- Crazy About You (Radio Version)
- Come Home (Live)
- Use A Friend (Live From Electric Lady Studios)
- Joy In The Morning (with Elevation Worship)
- Up (feat. Erica Campbell)
- Fake It (feat. Aaron Cole)
- Use A Friend (feat. Jon Keith)
- Come Home
- Crazy About You
- Empty
- Up
- Afraid With You (feat. Tiffany Hudson)
- Joy In The Morning
- When We Get There
- Has To Be God
One of the most powerful, inspiring, joyous, moving, honest, emotional, and vulnerable artists that I have heard recently… is CCM pop singer and songwriter Tauren Wells. Originally a founding member of Royal Tailor, Tauren penned and sung the hit songs “Hold Me Together”, “Make A Move”, “Freefall”, “Remain”, “Ready Set Go”, “Got That Fire”, “Original”, and “Jesus Love”; amongst others. Since the band split though, Tauren has been making waves as a solo artist, wowing us all with his pop sensibilities and his poignant, heartfelt lyrics. Songs like “Until Grace”, “Hills And Valleys”, “Citizen Of Heaven”, “Undefeated”, “Fake It”, “Miracle”, “When We Pray”, “Empty”, “God’s Not Done With You”, “Hold Us Together”, “Come Home”, and “Echo”, to name a few; have been giving us a sense of vulnerability and honesty; as Tauren pours his heart out and graciously peels back the layers of his own heart in order to get real with God. Tauren has been nominated for many Grammy Awards and Dove Awards, and while he has released four albums which we reviewed here, here, here and here; Tauren has since continued on his journey with Capitol Christian Music Group. In late 2022, he released his brand-new EP called Up, and in 2023 he has released Joy In The Morning – EP. But all of those EP’s… have amounted to a new deluxe edition album: Joy In The Morning (Horizon Edition) released last month. And boy, is it a joy to listen to, and a true deluxe edition album in every sense of the word.
Releasing deluxe editions or special edition albums of highly rated and well-received albums… well, doing that right is a feat in and of itself. I’m of the firm belief that if you’re an artist, you either unveil a deluxe edition album the same day as the standard edition, with 3-4 new tracks; or if you release a deluxe edition 1-2 years later, then you have around 8-9 or 10 extra tracks tops. If you’re Taylor Swift, then I guess re-releasing albums as ‘deluxe editions’ means re-recording tracks to own your masters and including ‘from the vault’ tracks. But Ed Sheeran and Little Mix have done deluxe edition albums/greatest hit projects right, the same with Switchfoot! As for Tauren Wells… his album is incredibly amazing, with 9 extra melodies that are moving, joyous, celebratory and food for the soul. The new tracks (“Take It All Back” with We the Kingdom and Davies, “Breath Away” with Fred Hammond, and “Seen” with Katie Torwalt), are melodies that enhance the track list of Joy In the Morning very greatly, with the lyrical topics of reclaiming everything the devil stole from us (“Take It All Back”), worshipping Jesus because He takes our breath away (“Breath Away”) and Jesus seeing the best in us despite our fears and failures (“Seen”) being explored here; while “Joy In the Morning” is featured as 2 new versions here (with DOE and Lecrae, and with Elevation Worship). New versions of “Up”, “Crazy About You”, “Come Home” and “Use A Friend” are also present, along with the original 10 track album; and Tauren Wells once again reminds us why he’s one of the most respected and highly sought after CCM artists currently.
Tauren Wells is an entertainer. He is a performer and a man with a heart for Jesus. He is a bonafide artist with a heart of gold and he is willing to proclaim the gospel to everyone he meets. Joy In The Morning may not have been the longest in terms of duration. But this deluxe edition more than makes up for it, and the album does have joy and it does bring us hope. That is probably all that we could ask for these days. We need an album to pick us up, and Tauren’s album is the one. It probably isn’t the album if you want theological correct doctrine. But since when do CCM artists need to be qualified in doctrinal issues? The title track of the album sounds very much like something out of Elevation Worship, Hillsong or Bethel Music. And as such, you all might boycott this song… but I say- give it a chance. Joy In The Morning, and especially this Horizons Edition, makes us feel joy at God being in our midst- and that is certainly a good thing. Well done Tauren for a stellar set of songs as well as a musically and thematically outstanding new project!
6 songs to listen to: Take It All Back, Joy In The Morning (with DOE and Lecrae), Up (with Erica Campbell), Empty, Afraid With You, When We Get There
Score: 5/5
RIYL: Royal Tailor, Michael Jackson, Selena Gomez, TobyMac, Mandisa, Britt Nicole, Riley Clemmons, OneRepublic, Justin Timberlake