Blinded By Your Grace, Pt. 1

Album: Gang Signs & Prayer (2017)
Charted: 59
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Stormzy was raised in the church and he sings here over a lo-fi, electric piano about his faith in God's saving grace.

    I'm blinded by your grace
    Through the darkness you came
    And I'll be alright
    With you by my side
    I can't escape you
    I can't replace you
    So don't walk away from me now


    "One of the things that I'm most impressed by, in God, is the grace that he has," Stormzy explained to The Guardian." No matter what we do, there's always this, "OK, it's fine. I understand." That's not to say I can go out and do something bad… But just that knowing that someone's got you throughout anything, and they're not going to judge you, they're just going to understand your situation. That grace."
  • Stormzy wanted to record a beautiful gospel song, but originally felt constricted by lack of prowess as a singer. He explained to The Fader: "There's a psychological thing that happens when I go into the booth [to sing]: when I'm listening back, I'm judging the song based on my vocal range. I said, 'I'm not a f---ing singer, I'm not Frank Ocean.' So I told [producer Fraser T. Smith], I want to record this in the studio, just on the sofa, live on the mic. I was able to do it without judging myself."

    "'Blinded' reminds me of that Kanye West song, 'Only One,' which is one of my favorites," Stormzy added. "The world loves that song, and we're not judging Kanye for not sounding like f---ing Usher. You can hear the sincerity of it, and it works. I needed to do that on my album. I was hellbent on getting all my emotions out in whatever way they needed to."
  • Stormzy also recorded a "Blinded By Your Grace, Pt. 2" featuring vocals by MNEK.
  • The Gang Signs & Prayer album title reflects the two sides of Stormzy. He explained to Beats 1's Julie Adenuga: "I've always wanted to do gospel like in some way shape or form. I've always wanted to have a gospel meaning in some of the music I'm gonna release, but I've always got this complex of I'm Stormzy and I've been through this and that and sometimes I jus wanna spray and we came up with the name and I was like this can't sum it up anymore as to who I am."
  • Coldplay's Chris Martin joined Stormzy to perform this song during his headlining performance at Glastonbury 2019.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Jon Anderson

Jon AndersonSongwriter Interviews

Jon Anderson breaks down the Yes classic "Seen All Good People" and talks about his 1000 Hands album, which features Chick Corea, Rick Derringer, Ian Anderson, and many other luminaries.

Holly Knight ("The Best," "Love Is A Battlefield")

Holly Knight ("The Best," "Love Is A Battlefield")Songwriter Interviews

Holly Knight talks about some of the hit songs she wrote, including "The Warrior," "Never" and "The Best," and explains some songwriting philosophy, including how to think of a bridge.

Rock Revenge Songs

Rock Revenge SongsMusic Quiz

John Lennon, Paul Simon and Lynyrd Skynyrd are some of the artists who have written revenge songs. Do you know who they wrote them about?

Laura Nyro

Laura NyroSongwriting Legends

Laura Nyro talks about her complex, emotionally rich songwriting and how she supports women's culture through her art.

Superman in Song

Superman in SongSong Writing

Not everyone can be a superhero, but that hasn't stopped generations of musicians from trying to be Superman.

The Truth Is Out There: A History of Alien Songs

The Truth Is Out There: A History of Alien SongsSong Writing

The trail runs from flying saucer songs in the '50s, through Bowie, blink-182 and Katy Perry.