I am a religious sceptic, and yet, there’s something very pleasing in the religiosity of the song.

Well, there are the obvious Biblical references, and the brilliantly made-use-of ‘child delivering a sermon.’ Well, a child obviously ensures the conceptualisation of a beginning, and the sermon confirms the interaction of Nature, and Nurture, where Nature comes to becomes God, and Nurture becomes associated with failing in Capitalism, and rising up, somehow, through idealisation of Kanye and the brand of liberal empowerment stemming from economic progress. “Women just need to work harder to make it to where the men are.” “Reservations shouldnt be there because Dalits dont work as hard as the Caste Hindus.” “Rani Mukherjee in a recent interview for Film Companion” I cant be bothered with a textual analysis just now, but feel free to text me about the same, if the need be.

There are two ways in which this particular interaction of capitalism and religion becomes increasingly interesting, and significant. Of course, it becomes an interesting specimen of how religion has been used as an ideological appendage, for several years now, to qualify oppressive and exploitative social superstructures, by becoming a source of origin and abatement, on a case by case basis. The ‘religion and opium’ parallelism.

But, also, after all, I began the post with the mention of religious scepticism, there’s this interesting transaction that comes about between the consumer of pop culture, the producer. Through the song, fashioned to be attractive in the most ‘popular’ sense with its artists, and genre, and production, and marketing (did you know the child is actually from an Instagram video that Kanye happened to come upon), through that, I get to experience the false lightness, the false relief, the false consciousness, that makes me forget my class struggles, except the source of which becomes pop culture.

Think about how Hallelujah is a phrase that retains its religious undertones, but has been re contextualised to be stemming from the likes of Billy Joel, and Jeff Buckley, and Hollywood, and Bollywood, and what not! I am living the religious life, only vicariously, and am not going against my reason, because it is the sound which carries it, and the glamour of Kanye that distorts it. In this even the most reasonable mind comes to attach certain connotations to religious symbols, and hence the religious symbols are so perpetuated, to keep religion relevant. In such circumstances, atheism, even of the highest order, is placed at a disadvantage against a constant bombardment of ‘Hallelujah[s]’ and Prayers.