This week, lots of different people released new music. Ranging from covers to original singles, the usual (or at least, the reasonably anticipated) suspects (artists like Disclosure, Fetty Wap and Youth Lagoon) released new albums.

So did Pope Francis.

El Papa, as he is lovingly known as by his fellow Spanish-speaking Catholics, released a song with Damiano Affinito called, “Wake Up! Go! Go! Forward!” on Sept. 25. The track is one of several that will appear on an album, “Wake Up!,” set to release in November.

The song begins with a steady cymbal and ‘80s rock guitar, followed by a sort of indie-rock guitar simple guitar riff, which builds into what kind of sounds like it could be off of an Audioslave album (in a surprisingly good way). The song then propels into a majestic trumpet bridge, which, after reaching an epic peak, fades away. Pope Francis’ voice emerges, telling the listener to “wake up” in English, an excerpt from one of his speeches.

As a recording of one of his many inspiring speeches continues, the instrumentals lightly return, subtly punctuating his every word. The album (including this single) was produced by Don Giulio Neroni and several of the songs were composed by Tony Pagliuca. A powerful chorus line features somewhat corny vocals in Latin (or at least what sounds like it), and after a strong Eurovision-like pop-rock build, abruptly ends.

Whether or not you like the song, one thing is clear — it’s memorable, not necessarily sonically, but in its premise. With this album, he’ll be reaching out to the masses doing so on even more of a multimedia, international scale. Not only is he addressing a South Korean crowd on “Wake Up! Go! Go! Forward!” but the album will also feature songs in Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and various other languages, reaching people (non-Catholics included) all over the world. Basically, with his inspiring words and warm demeanor, unlike any popes of the past, Pope Francis is about to drop a fire mix-tape, without the brimstone.

You can listen to the song on Soundcloud here: https://soundcloud.com/believedigitalitaly/wake-up-go-go-forward

Isha Damle is a junior television, radio, film major. She rarely knows the actual lyrics to songs, but is good at faking it until she makes it. Plus, her version is probably better. She can be reached at idamle@syr.edu or on Twitter @ishadamle.

Published on September 29, 2015 at 9:36 pm