Premiere: Monica And James Fortune Lean On Faith In “Trusting God”
R&B’s Monica and gospel artist James Fortune have teamed up for a new inspirational track “Trusting God.” The collaboration comes over a decade after their Grammy-nominated song “Hold On” alongside Fred Hammond. “Trusting God” is described as a simple declaration of hope, with both artists sharing personal testimony of how they have trusted God throughout their lives.
“I gotta be honest, I don’t know..this time I don’t have the answers, this time I’m just out here trusting God,” reveals James Fortune as the song begins. “Sing Monica.” The College Park, Ga. native follows his words with a warming vocal performance.
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“I’m just out here holding on,” sings the 42-year-old songbird. A choir later joins the two artists on the soul-stirring anthem.
“10 years after the release of our Grammy Nominated song ‘Hold On’ Monica and myself begin talking about doing another song together,” Fortune exclusively explains to VIBE. “I told her I would start working on some ideas and send them to her. At the time, I had no idea what I would write about but with everything that had been going on the last few years around me and within me I said to myself ‘I’m just out here trusting God.’ Once I heard that phrase the lyrics just started to flow.”
He continued, “I wasn’t necessarily writing it as a song for others I was writing from my own experience. I didn’t have the answers and my faith was really being tested. So all I kept saying is ‘I’m just out here trusting God.’ I got with my producer D Lo to produce the track and called one of my lead singers Minon Bolton to demo the vocals for me. I sent Monica the demo and she said, ‘This the one; the world needs this song right now.'”
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Fortune says the song powerfully spoke to them. So much so that after the music and background vocals were complete, Monica called on five-time Grammy Award-winning producer Kuk Harrell to record her vocals.
“I was completely blown away not only by her vocal performance but also by the heartfelt passion in which she communicated the song,” he explained. “It all came together so beautifully and I’m truly grateful that God would trust us with this encouraging and uplifting message to share with the world. Because whether we realize it or not we are all just out here trusting God.”
James Fortune’s latest album My Life was nominated for Outstanding Gospel/Christian Album at the 54th annual NAACP Image Awards. “Trusting God” will be available on all streaming platforms on March 3rd. Hear the new single above.
