Hello Fear

This is the title track of gospel artist Kirk Franklin's eleventh album. In our interview with Franklin, he explained that the first line - "Hello, fear, before you sit down, there's something I need to explain" - was the basis of the song. Said Franklin, "That's it. Just in that statement right there, it's like, okay, where are we going? I just knew that that first line had to be significant. And sometimes it's the pressure of living up to the first line. If the first line is so dope, it's like where can I go? Like with 'Hello Fear,' I had that sentence for four or five months. Just 'Hello, fear, before you sit down there's something I need to explain.' Well, you don't really know what to say after that. But you know whatever you say you have the opportunity to be majorly impactful or extremely corny."

The song sees Franklin singing about how to defeat fear. Having endured a difficult childhood, rebellion against authority in his teens, and intense media scrutiny after admitting to struggling with a porn addiction at the height of his gospel fame, Franklin has faced and overcome numerous obstacles throughout his life. He told Jonathan Landrum Jr. of The Associated Press how he personally learned how not to let fear prevail: "I looked at the scriptures in the back of the Bible about fear. I have those scriptures on my phone. I had to transform myself from the inside out, rather than sitting on someone's couch or taking somebody's pill. Instead of taking that pill, I'll take the gospel pill."

Franklin freely credits God with helping him craft Hello Fear. "Y'know, man, God just really dropped some incredible song ideas in my heart," he explained to Billboard magazine. "Like, I was walking by the piano one day, and that's when the lyrics came to 'Hello Fear;' 'Before you sit down there's something I need to explain...' -- Whoa! That kind of caught my attention. So I'm comfortable now, at this season in my life, letting God drive and sitting in the passenger seat. It's the best way; instead of trying to force it and contrive it, when the music flows like water, you never have to worry about what's coming next."