Music in 2016 is, for the most part, secular. While many vocalists - from the likes of Whitney Houston to Katy Perry to Usher to Avril Lavigne - initially gained musical exposure by singing gospel songs in church, appealing to a mainstream audience often means that one's lyrics have to be stripped clean of religiosity.
This doesn't mean that most radio-friendly songs are agnostic or atheistic - they simply omit any explicit references to religion. This is why Princess Chelsea's "No Church On Sunday" - the second track from her second album The Great Cybernetic Depression (2015) seems unusual in its choice to explicitly address the transition from a theistic orientation to an agnostic one.
While not as popular as Robin Schulz's remix of French-Israeli folk pop duo Lilly Wood and the Prick's similarly-themed "Prayer in C", Nikkel's track is nonetheless noteworthy for its mature, introspective and autobiographical lyrics. (Perhaps it's not a coincidence that Schulz went on to remix Princess Chelsea's "When the World Turns Grey" in September 2015).
"“No Church On Sunday” deals with complicated feelings about leaving a strict religious background.
I was raised by my parents (who are awesome) in what most would consider a strict Christian household and decided it wasn’t for me about age 17. So I moved out of home to my first flat in Avondale with my friend Jamie who was 16 and from the same church.
At the time Avondale was one of Auckland’s rougher suburbs although now thanks to the ‘property boom’ over here the gentrification has begun…..It was our first flat out of home so needless to say we had a few parties – there were beer bottles everywhere (a shopping trolley full of them) and a lot of weird cousins and hengers on who just wouldn’t leave. Coincidentally our new home was right next door to one of our old churches.
We felt gross weird confused and guilty but we still wouldn’t go to church. Instead we stayed inside for most of the day and night watching Nip/Tuck.
Jamie who years later ended up playing keyboards for me demoed up No Church on Sunday on Garageband a few years back – I guess kinda half seriously. She didn’t really want to do anything with it but I instantly thought it was amazing so asked her if I could use it.
I decided the song needed to feel triumphant as we both eventually worked through our religious confusion – so I arranged in a glorious stadium rock Yamaha DX7 Berlin inspired sort of way :)."
Chelsea Nikkel, Stereogum, 2014
Against a gleaming sonic tapestry of electro-pop production and loud rock guitars, Nikkel sings about how her agnostic/atheistic orientation causes strain to her relationship to her religious parents, and the social/emotional costs one incurrs to claim one's own individuality:
'There's thunder in the hallwayAnd orgy in the loungeA shopping trolley in the bathroomA fire in the yard
They put my brother under waterBut they forgot about meI lost my faith in a momentDear god, let me be
'Cuz there ain't no church on sunday for meAin't no church on sundayAin't no church on sunday for meAin't no church on sunday
Last night I saw my parentsThought they had disowned meThey bought me dinner from McDonald'sBecause it's my favoriteBut there's still no church on sunday for me'
It's this kind of self-awareness, reflexivity and intelligence that makes Princess Chelsea one of my most beloved indie finds in recent years. I really hope Ms. Nikkel manages to up the ante when working on her third album.
