BELOVED- Hide & Seek
And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.- John 16:22
“Hey guys, it’s David coming to you with a couple of very exciting announcements! I know everyone likes to say that their announcements are exciting, but I think these are really really exciting announcements, so buckle up. First of all, I have a mustache…”
It had been almost three years since the last original song by David Cho AKA BELOVED, and he chose to open a video tantalizingly titled “Announcement!” with a facial hair update?! I must admit, I almost lost faith in hearing anything new from him ever again, and in a moment of desperation I wrote an article about artists with no albums. It was an enjoyable change of pace, and it gave me a chance to highlight music that I might never get a good chance to talk about otherwise. If I’m being honest though, publishing largely served as a way to come to terms with my ever-growing fear that perhaps BELOVED as a project was done.
Four months later, Cho announced that he was releasing a whole album on May 2, and the news seemed too good to be true. “This doesn’t feel real. This has to be a curveball somehow”, I thought. Lo and behold, his debut album Hide & Seek did indeed release, but I was still right in a way I didn’t expect. The curveball turned out to be the music itself.
First, a bit of context. David Cho is a massively talented artist who specializes in very worshipful music. He has released a few solo songs and several acoustic covers of popular corporate worship tunes. Out of everything he’s done, the crown jewel of his catalog is the RnB-infused cover of Harvest’s “Palm of Your Hand”, a song I waxed poetic about last year in *this article*. When the first single of Hide & Seek, “1, 2, 3” released, I was hoping and praying for something as empowering as “here I am in the palm of your hand, and nothing can take me away”. What we got instead was this:
Count to 1, 2, 3
Don’t you say now
“I don’t wanna wake up!”
Won’t you stay with me,
just another minute on the way up
Woah.
Even putting those lyrics aside for a sec, “1, 2, 3” is a disquieting song. It’s recorded in a surprisingly muted and low-key way, yet the bass seems to relentlessly push the song forward against its will. Meanwhile, most of the hooks come from a chintzy, off-kilter synth, and Cho himself sounds tired and defeated in his vocal delivery. Finally, there’s that chorus. I don’t really know what to do with the rest of the lyrics, but that chorus is so cryptic that even on first listen I assumed the song was about a terminally ill-loved one. Cho seemed to lend credence to that interpretation when he released the album, dedicating it to his late mother.
Aside from a couple other scattered references and song titles, grief functions as a filter that all the songs are shaded by rather than a dominating theme, and that makes this short, quiet, unassuming album such a fascinating listening experience. Much of Hide & Seek is simply Cho airing out a lot of complicated feelings in a time of loss. “Second Life” seems to be an acknowledgement of both the difficulties he brought upon his mother and the stress that she puts on him in his adult life. “Passenger” sees him express his struggle to hold onto faith when the Lord feels far away. The two instrumental tracks “Farewell” and “Benji” are his most emotionally intense moments on the album, almost as an acknowledgement of the inadequacy of words in times of loss.
Nevertheless, it’s all bookended by pure praise, and it’s these songs that serve as a striking testament to the sheer power of worship from a voice strained almost to breaking. Even as Cho’s vocals are subdued and buried in the mix, the conviction in his words is deafening. Take opening track “Look Up” with its whispered awe of the Lord’s mastery over His own creation, wistfully reflecting on the way the Lord weaves the wind through the leaves, makes melodies in the air, and provides new mercies daily. Better still is “With You”, perhaps the purest expression of childlike faith I have ever seen rendered in song form:
All I want to do is love You
With you, rolling around in the grass
All I want to do is love You
Soaking in the lovely sun
Cause I, I was made to walk with You and love You
Cause I, I was made to walk around the garden with You
Anything is made alive with You
Breathing in and out Your Love
And all I want to do is love You
Soaking in the lovely sun
By the bridge, Cho even begins to celebrate, proclaiming that “everybody will be singing and dancing and laughing with You! Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna!” It feels like a bit of hard-earned catharsis at the end of a somber journey, and I cannot get enough of it.
Cho doesn’t end the story here though, and it’s the final track that takes Hide & Seek from an interesting little project to something built to last. He took a big risk in ending with a song sung from God’s point of view, but “I Am” is so beautiful that it feels appropriately reverent. Loosely adapting Matthew 6:26, “I Am” portrays a comforting God that protects and provides, validating grief while also offering to transcend any and all needs. It’s a thoughtful touch, almost giving the album an “inverse Job” arc where the narrator has come to terms with loss and praises the Lord, only for God to reveal His presence anyway.
I don’t know where BELOVED will go from here. Maybe this project is a sign that he’s interested in expanding his repertoire. Maybe it was a one-off, and he’ll go back to dropping one single every six months. Maybe this is the last we ever hear of him. Whatever happens, I’m grateful for this vulnerable little piece he put out there for anyone willing to listen. In doing so, he provided a much needed reminder that, deep down, we are all made to love.
BONUS RECOMMENDATIONS
Yes, I’m really going to do it. I’m going to recommend “Palm of Your Hand” again. Seriously, if you haven’t already listened to it, there is nothing stopping you.