20 Questions With Yolanda Adams: Gospel Icon Discusses New Album, ‘Kingdom Business’ & 2024 NABJ Convention Performance

Kyle Denis
·19 min read

In terms of 21st-century music, there are few gospel artists who can traverse genres and retain the same levels of respect and integrity wherever their music takes them. One of those artists is Yolanda Adams.

Across her sprawling, nearly four-decade career, Adams has lifted contemporary gospel to staggering mainstream heights, including five No. 1s on Top Gospel Albums from 16 career top ten entries. 1999’s blockbuster Mountain High…Valley Low is Adams’ most impressive showing on the Billboard charts, spending a whopping 32 weeks atop Gospel Albums, reaching No. 24 on the all-genre Billboard 200, and spawning the massive crossover hit “Open My Heart,” which leveraged success across R&B, dance, and gospel audiences to No. 57 peak on the Billboard Hot 100. An accomplished singer, songwriter, and radio host, Adams has also doubled down on her acting bona fides with two hit seasons of Kingdom Business, a BET+ musical drama executive produced by fellow gospel icon Kirk Franklin.

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It’s been 13 years since Adams’ last LP – 2011’s Dove Award-winning Becoming – and each of those years provides ample inspiration for 2024’s Sunny Days (out Sept. 13), created over the course of the past six years. Crafted in collaboration with Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Donald Lawrence, John Jackson, Warryn Campbell, and Sir the Baptist, Sunny Days is a genre-fusing 16-track set that invites listeners to reevaluate their relationship with God and find ways to source inspiration from their own hearts and minds. “Church Doors,” the album’s lead single, arrived two weeks ago (Aug. 29) alongside a Fatima Robinson-helmed music video and two dance mixes featuring contributions from Terry Hunter and J. Ivy.

To help promote the album, Adams will embark on the Reunion Tour, a 33-date North American arena trek that also features Franklin, Marvin Sapp, Fred Hammond, The Clark Sisters, and special guest Kierra Sheard-Kelly.

“I’ve been in rehearsals for two weeks. You may get a 30-minute or an hour break and then you’re back at it,” Adams explains to Billboard. “The closer you get to tomorrow, the more you’re trying to iron out the kinks, but I’m excited! I’m performing [two new songs from Sunny Days], ‘Church Doors’ and the remix.”

In an enlightening conversation with Billboard, Yolanda Adams details the making of Sunny Days, what she wants next in her acting career, taking the stage after a Trump-tainted NABJ Convention, and a possible RuPaul collaboration.

1. Why was now the time to come back with a new album?

Yolanda Adams: Well, I’m like LL Cool J, don’t call it a comeback! [Laughs.] I’ve been busy, but it was finally time to make sure that the project we started in 2018 actually got done. I’ve told my daughter forever: If you start something, you got to finish it.

2. When was the moment you knew you had a full record on your soul? 

Maybe about two years ago. Jimmy [Jam] and Terry [Lewis] and I have been working since 2018. As soon as [that year’s] Grammys was over, the next day I was in the studio writing and putting some stuff down. Getting together with those guys is magic all the time because we’re always on the same trajectory of where we want the music to go for the world.

We worked on like three songs and then went back home. I started touring and then [my daughter] Taylor graduated, we [moved] her into Howard [University], and then the pandemic started. We couldn’t get back into the studio because the world was locked. Then in the beginning of 2021 was the first season of Kingdom Business. Jimmy and Terry were [also] working with Babyface for a Vegas residency, and then all of a sudden they started talking about the second season of Kingdom Business, so in between all of that we were doing a song here and a song there.

This journey is just like the journey of life. You have your stops, you have your starts, you have your up days, you have your down days, you have your days of “Okay, what are we really doing?” And finally, we finished everything.

3. What was the song that finally made the album feel complete?

Once we finished the last two songs with Don Lawrence and Sir the Baptist. They were the two we were missing. We thought we had hit everybody who’s been a fan, and everybody who wonders “What can we get from Yolanda this time?”

4. Why did “Sunny Days” feel like the appropriate title track?

The world has been in such a weird place between 2018 and 2024. Sometimes we take for granted that the way we’re living today is going to be the same tomorrow or a couple of years from now. We have gone through [these] roller [coasters] of political and cultural craziness, and I wanted to write a song that expresses staying at an even type of keel, no matter what happens. No matter what you see, your perspective still has to be one of faith and optimism, so that’s why the entire album is called Sunny Days.

5. “On God” is a fantastic opener. How did that track come together?

That track came together because of a young man named Jamel [Smith], whose uncle John [Jackson] if I can say this, is our new “Big Jim.” He has this way of creating melodies, and Jamel has that young, fresh way of approaching gospel music without tearing down its integrity but giving it this fresh sound to where you want to keep listening to it.

6. On “When We Pray,” there’s a really poignant lyric that goes: “Pain ain’t exclusive to you.” What was on your mind as you were writing these songs and sequencing the album? 

“When We Pray” is one of those songs that we wanted to hone in on because to get through life, you’re going to have to have an anchor. As believers, our anchor is prayer. That keeps us in communication with God. It keeps us grounded [and] balanced. Sometimes people feel that they’re on an island with their own pain, and that’s where the lyric comes from. There are eight billion people on this Earth, somebody at this present moment is feeling the same pain that you are. Don’t feel like you’re all alone by yourself, because He is the answer. When you pray, He hears exactly what you say.

7. There are a lot of different styles on the album – a bit of contemporary R&B, some funk, a little nod to Afropop – what were you listening to while crafting this album?

I don’t listen to anyone else in my genre when I’m preparing an album. I don’t listen to anyone in genres that I love — like jazz, R&B, techno, or funk — because I want to hear my sound for that particular project. I listen to seascapes and a lot of Beethoven.  I don’t like listening to what someone else is doing in my genre, because I never want to compare myself to what they’re doing. Chances are, if they’re younger than me, I’ve been there and I’ve done that because what I was doing when I was their age is now standard.

I want to authentically be myself musically and spiritually, so I pull concepts and inspiration out of asking myself questions and journaling. I have notebooks all over my house. I call either Jimmy or Terry and I say, “Hey, this is what I’m listening to in my head, and think this is what I hear.” Then they [and Jackson] come up with these chord structures, and so does my [musical director] Rodney East. Music, just like life, is a collaboration. I don’t know anyone on this earth who doesn’t need anybody. That’s just the way great music happens and I believe that this album is going to change the way people view God.

A lot of people have fallen into the trap of this Christian nationalist way of looking at God, and God has never placed himself in a box. So, we should never place God in a box. When your God can hate anyone that He created, we have a problem. He created each one of us knowing us and loving us. If he can know us, create us, love us, and be proud of us, why can’t we do the same thing?

8. What were the first and last songs recorded for this album?

The very first song we recorded after the 2018 Grammys was “I Give You Peace” That is our adult version of a lullaby for grown people. I had just gone through some business challenges, I was trying to put something in the market and the market didn’t grasp it. I was at a happy place in my music and life, but this product could not get off the ground. My daughter was about to go to college and she was in a happy place and all of that. And I’m like, why isn’t this working?

It was just as though I heard God speaking to me. I’m in my office right by the stairwell and I look and the piano is there, and I hear God say, “Embrace the change you go through because in time it will reveal. Now face the day with expectancy, for your wounded heart will heal. There is a moment that you will notice a joy washes over you and takes the pain away. Now, step by step, your strengths [are] renewed.” God is about movement. God is about energy. God is about a step-by-step learning situation. I may not have even written that song, without going through what I did.

“Church Doors” was the last song that we did and we were in Chicago.

9. Last song recorded but the lead single — how did that happen?

Isn’t that something?! Sylvia Rhone fell in love with both of those songs that Donald Lawrence and Sir the Baptist wrote. Now, of course, she loves Jimmy and Terry and she loves Warryn Campbell, who’s on there as well, but she fell in love with “Church Doors.” The first version of that song that she heard was the demo which was real gospel-y, and she loves gospel music. [Ezekiel “Zeke” Lewis] was also like “Oh, this one right here,” so we were all in agreement.

10. You came out the gate with two very different mixes of “Church Doors,” why was that important for you to do?

Oh my gosh, I don’t know if a lot of people know this, but I love to dance! Growing up in a household full of music and siblings that had fun [together], there was this musical joy that we had with no restrictions. We were Baptists, and Baptists could smoke and drink and go to the bowling alley and wear pants and all that. I didn’t have all of the restrictions that everybody else did, God was cool enough to go to the bowling alley with us. [Laughs.] He was also cool enough to go to the movies and be at church studies.

[My team] sent a suggestion of the dance mix and I said, “Listen, if we’re going to do a dance mix, it better be fire.” Because if I have a dance mix, I’m going to dance! Me and Donald just cracked up, and he was like, “Sis, I got you.” So, they called J. Ivy and he hopped on it too. I’m just really excited that people get a chance to see all the versions of who I am and what I enjoy.

11. Talk to me about the music video. Did you know you were going a bit viral on X (formerly Twitter)?

Come on. I mean, we couldn’t ask for a better video! We couldn’t ask for a better choreographer or a better cinematographer. You get all of these views of different aspects of this song, which is really a testimony song. I think everybody can relate to it because there are times in our lives when we feel like we don’t know what’s going to happen and then you hear the Spirit of the Lord say, “Hey, you’re not done. You ain’t seen nothing yet, because your best is yet to come.” And you’re like, “When you let me get to those church doors, I’m going to tell them all what you’ve done for me.”

And then Fatima came in with some great choreography. She has a great eye. Everything worked together, I loved the clothes, the youthful look, the fact that some of the young people were from Kanye’s Sunday Service [choir], and that these were actual union dancers who did not feel any inhibition because “Church Doors” is a gospel/inspirational song. I just wanted them to have fun because I believe that God intends for us to enjoy our life, and you enjoy it the way you enjoy it.

Of course, Woody [McClain] is the icing on the cake. The connection that we had during the video was just like… thank you so much for being in the video, nephew! I owe you.

12. Do you have any cities that you particularly love to perform in or that you’re most excited to go to on the Reunion Tour?

I love all the cities that we’re going to, but if I had to pick a specific city it would be Houston. There’s nothing like performing in your hometown where people who grew up with you are happy to see you doing something great. It feels so good because I live in a city where I am applauded, and not just tolerated. I’m accepted in all areas of my city, politically and socially. I just love it.

13. You performed at the NABJ conference earlier this year. What was it like taking the stage after all of the Trump drama that had plagued the conference in the previous days?

I think the NABJ got a bad rap for being who they are. They’re journalists, and the journalist’s job is to get the story. I don’t agree with [Trump] on a lot of things, but I do [believe] that as a journalist, you should speak to those you agree and disagree with.

The problem with that specific incident is that [Trump] did not come with a heart to be open and honest. He had a whole bunch of stipulations, which you’re never supposed to give a journalist. They’re not asking him questions about Epstein Island or anything like that. They’re asking him legitimate questions as to why we should or should not vote for [him]. Because his M.O. is to attack, I think those ladies that were on stage were used.

I’m a part of NABJ in Houston because my first degree is in radio/TV journalism. To hear from Roland Martin and Joy Reid… they were heartbroken. When you’re on the board and you get sideswiped with some things, of course, you’re going to ask your people, “Hey, what’s up with that?”

Once we actually got to the performance on that Monday night, [the conference attendees] were ready for God to relieve them of that drama. By the time we got there, some folks weren’t sure if they wanted to be a part of this organization any longer. Sometimes, our job is to change the atmosphere and texture of people’s hearts so that they can get rid of the anger and stress and be softened again to do their jobs with the skill that they had been doing their jobs with before. And that’s one thing I’m very proud of when it comes to Team Adams — we understand our responsibility to make sure that wherever we go that atmosphere turns into [one] of love, acceptance, encouragement, and inspiration.

14. Where do you hope Kingdom Business goes next?

I hope that Kingdom Business gets its rightful place in the annals of great Black television. Although it’s drama and fantasy to a certain extent, I want people to glean from this show that [regardless of who we are] we all have things in our lives that we wish weren’t there. And some of those things come from our upbringing.

[When I think of my character Denita, I think about] how many parents have nitpicked in their children’s lives to the point that the happiness that could have been theirs is not. Then that child turns into a grown-up who’s mad at the world. Not that we need to be the psychiatry of Black television, but I really think that we can speak to those dynamics that these two seasons of Kingdom Business kind of opened up. What I hope happens in [future[ seasons is that we start talking about those things that people are afraid to talk about. I ain’t scared of nobody, I’m Denita Jordan! [Laughs]. I’m not afraid to confront the past in a way that teaches us how not to bring certain things in the future. We have the opportunity of making this one of the premier African-American Emmy-winning programs, I think.

15. Do you have a dream role?

Of course, Denita stretches me, but anything that can stretch me past people’s imaginations of who I am [would be my dream world]. I want to play a multifaceted character that you haven’t seen a gospel artist or a person of inspiration play. That may be a Leontyne Price or a Lola Falana – I know Lori Harvey is playing Lola Falana in [Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist] — but them, or Josephine Baker, those kinds of people. They were multifaceted and they were politically astute.

Even Mahalia Jackson, she did a lot for the cause of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the NAACP and the Urban League. She would give portions of her concert revenue to make sure that those things were good. She would cook for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and those folks. Those are things that I think people need to know about, African-American women who have really done some great things

16. In April, you scored your first number one on Gospel Airplay since 2005’s “Be Blessed.” What does it mean to you to have that kind of career longevity?

I’m still humbled by it. I am still astonished that after all these years, I’m still loving what I do and it’s not a chore to do it. Just give me some Chai tea with a couple of shots in it –- espresso! [laughs] — and some green grapes and I’m ready.

I deem it an honor and a privilege to be able to go all over the world and do what we do the way we do it. I am surrounded by brilliant people at this table, and in Chicago, New York, LA, and Houston. I’m a different kind of boss; I give everyone room to blossom because I think that’s leadership. I just believe that God continues to pour out not just his spirit, but his favor on all of us because we really want to make the world a better place.

17. Do you think there’s merit to the argument that today’s mainstream R&B singers are vocally lacking because they haven’t been trained in the church, or is that dynamic overblown?

I think there are some incredible singers out there in the R&B realm right now. I don’t think that anyone has to have church choir training or any kind of choir training. But as a person who grew up in the church and understands what that choir training means, the church – good, bad, and different – is your first stage. And that stage can build you, or it can break you down. And thank God, I was a part of a church that built me. From my very first church in the peewee choir to the present day, I get a sense of community. I get a sense of brotherhood and sisterhood. I get the sense of a prayer commune, so to speak, that will not let me fall or fail.

Sometimes people just need a little guidance. I remember singing the solo one time, and the church was like [mimes deadpan expression]. I was like, “Well, I gotta go practice.” So, I do believe that there is some merit to having that foundation, and that means different things for different people. The one thing I can say is that I have never heard an R&B singer who came out of the church and could not sing. Tank is one of those, like, “Ms. Yolanda, my daddy was a pastor and blah blah blah.” I said, “I know, baby — because you do them kinda runs you only find in the tenor section of the Second Baptist Church!”

18. At the Grammys this year, you said you would collaborate with RuPaul. Give me three words to describe what that would sound like.

Fun, dancing, electrifying!

19. What voices most excite you in gospel music right now?

Oh man, so many! Almost 100% of the artists that are out. I love Jekalyn [Carr], I love Le’Andria [Johnson], I love all of the Tashas. There’s so much talent in gospel music. Koryn Hawthorne, Jonathan McReynolds, I just love gospel music and the expression of joy that comes in gospel music. We can sing a song for 15 minutes and not sing the same thing twice. I think people who are not fans of the [current] gospel [scene] are not giving it enough grace.

I said this years ago: I love Mahalia Jackson, but I can’t sing “Elijah Rock” like Mahalia Jackson did in the 50s and the 40s and be relevant to the times right now because there are people who have no idea who Mahalia Jackson is. But they do know who Yolanda Adams is — “Already Alright,” The Battle is the Lord’s,” etc. — and now they’re going to get a chance to enjoy even more with Sunny Days. You have to evolve with what’s going on in the world. We don’t have to change who we are, but move with the times so much so that people will say, “Oh! That’s a fresh take on that.”

20. What song from Sunny Days are you most excited for fans to hear?

It would have to be “Sunny Days.” It’s one of those songs that makes you smile when you hear it, and I want them to feel that sentiment in their lives.

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