If you weren’t checking for Jesus before Tuesday, you might need him now. VaShawn Mitchell has got you covered. His new album Secret Place (Live In South Africa), is full of inspirational songs with a modern sound that he hopes will transcend genres or borders, and resonate in hearts.

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“I think if more people continue to understand that it’s not just this four-walls-of-a-church type music, but it’s really music that inspires and encourages and uplifts people around the world, no matter what, I think it will become more and more and more accepted,” VaShawn told REVOLT. “Even in the last few years you’ve seen more inspirational songs on TV on commercials on movies, and that’s where we’re going right now.”

Just as we see the globalization of pop music, with Afrobeats and soca blending into the mainstream, there’s room for such cross-pollination in gospel as well. VaShawn’s decision to record this project in South Africa was “heartfelt,” he said. Every artist needs a place to escape the pressures of trying to stay ahead of the curve, and for VaShawn, South Africa has become a haven where he can find restoration. That purity and sincerity come across on Secret Place — he even learned a little Zulu.

“That’s what I’m all about, trying to create this international sound,” he said. “South Africa has become my place where I ‘come apart before I come apart’ and kind of hear the next sound and be in that place that I know that I need to continue to write music and sing music for this generation and generations to come.”

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You only make it to 18 years in the industry if you learn to evolve. VaShawn writes, produces, mentors new artists, and most important, finds new ways to carry out his assignment — reaching people right where they are with a message of hope.

“They more want a relationship with God than church, or than preachers,” he said of this generation. “It’s really not about the dynamics that we’ve created over the years about tradition and denomination, it’s really about, Hey it’s a higher power; there’s a God out there. I wanna know him as I live, but I wanna know him in this fast-paced world.“

Watch our interview with VaShawn Mitchell below: