Gospel Spotlight : Kimola chooses God on new album

Kimola Brown-Lowe's journey to Christ began with the dreadful tale of parental disregard, sexual abuse and even the harrowing experience of a nervous breakdown.

Unafraid of her past and the turmoil it caused, Brown-Lowe transformed her life into being an evangelical force of positivity for Christians.

"We live in a world where right is wrong and wrong is right, where tradition is outdated easily. So now, it's more like you have to choose," Brown-Lowe told THE WEEKEND STAR.

In a culmination of hard work and hard choices, Brown-Lowe released her sophomore album last month, aptly called I Choose.

Despite her tumultuous past, Brown-Lowe has enjoyed many successes in her career as a gospel artiste.

Just a few weeks after the release of her album, Brown-Lowe is preparing to perform at the inaugural Sterling Gospel Music Award, and potentially collect two awards of her own after being nominated in two categories, Female Artiste of the Year and Local Hit of the Year. The award show will be held at the Heritage Hall in Mandeville, Manchester, tomorrow.

But she is no stranger to winning, as last year, Brown-Lowe won awards at both the New York-based Love Gospel Music Awards and the Atlanta Gospel Music Awards.

Though proud of the achievement, the gospel singer expressed excitement at the staging of the first award song dedicated to contemporary gospel musicians right at home.

"I'm very excited. A local gospel music awards show is definitely necessary. I'm sure all those other award shows didn't start where they're at now. Somebody chose to do it. And now somebody chose to honour gospel music to the point where it is given accolades and it shows what people have achieved. It's a plus for every gospel artiste, and it's a reminder of God and how He honours us. It shows us that what we do is not going unrecognised," Brown-Lowe told THE WEEKEND STAR.

"The gospel music industry needs a lot of work, a lot more recognition. The Sterling Gospel Music Award will definitely be a lifter for gospel music. It's a foundational thing that should have been going on," she continued.

POWERHOUSE VOCALIST

Brown-Lowe's past accolades are a result of her first album Lift Him Up, released in 2012. A traditional, powerhouse vocalist, the gospel singer stays true to form on her second album, but also chose to produce an album that blends genres in order to contemporarily convey the age-old message of God's good works.

"It's mostly contemporary Christian music, but there are also traditional Jamaican sounds," she said. However, the title track of the album demonstrates genre fusion, being a dubstep-reggae mix.

Brown-Lowe told THE WEEKEND STAR that I Choose, both the song and album, communicate the decision she is faced with when she gets out of bed each morning, and the choices she continues to make in her daily life.

"It's about choice as I see it. I wake up every day and I choose to do the will of God. I choose the right even if it seems outdated and clichÈd. I choose to be a Christian, and more than that. I choose to be woman of God. I stay true to who I am in Christ. I choose to live right and I'm loving it," she told THE WEEKEND STAR.