Initially,"The Blessing" was released as music video on Elevation Worship's YouTube channel in early March 2020,[1] with Kari Jobe and Cody Carnes leading the song in a worship service at Elevation Church's Ballantyne campus on March 1.[3] Jobe,Carnes had written the song together with Steven Furtick and Chris Brown in a writing session on Thursday,February 27,2020,at Elevation prior to leading it at Elevation's Sunday service on March 1,2020.[3][7] The song became popular on YouTube,leading to the release of the live audio recording on March 20,2020,to other platforms. The song's music video had garnered over 3 million views on YouTube at the time of its release.[8]
"The Blessing" was serviced to Christian radio stations on May 1,2020.[9]
Composition
"The Blessing" is composed in the key of B with a tempo of 70 beats per minute and a musical time signature of 4 4.[10] Carnes' and Jobe's vocal range spans from F♯3 to E5.[11]
On the Hot Christian Songs chart dated April 4,2020,the song debuted at No. 3,while also peaking at No. 4 on the US Digital Song Sales chart.[14] The song had sold 12,000 downloads and garnered 1.3million streams in its first week,and thus becoming Kari Jobe's and Elevation Worship's fourth top ten hit on Hot Christian Songs and Cody Carnes first top ten on the chart,as well as the highest debut for all three acts. The song is also the highest-charting faith-based song on Digital Song Sales chart in four years since Jordan Smith's rendition of "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" peaked at No. 3 in December 2015.[14]
Music videos
On March 6,2020,Elevation Worship released the live music video of "The Blessing" featuring Kari Jobe and Cody Carnes recorded at Elevation Church's Ballantyne campus on its YouTube channel.[15] Cody Carnes released a "Live from Home" performance video featuring Kari Jobe to YouTube on March 19,2020.[16] On March 31,2020,a "Living Room Session" performance video of the song was uploaded by Elevation Worship to YouTube.[17] Kari Jobe published the lyric video of the song on YouTube on April 8,2020.[18]
Additionally,many worship leaders and churches throughout the world released cover versions in their native languages. A compilation cover video was released to Youtube on November 24,2021 featuring 12,000 worshipers singing in 257 different languages.
"I'm so moved by this song and how quickly it came about, because this song is based on Scripture, the message is timeless, and we wanted to release it as quickly as we could, knowing the effect it could have on people's hearts and spirits immediately, as it did ours.
– Kari Jobe, on the decision to speedily release the song.[35]
Bethel Music and We the Kingdom collaborated on a rendition of the song which was released on Bethel's album, Peace (2020).[36][37] Bethel Music artist Sean Feucht released a live performance cover of the song featuring Emmy Rose to YouTube.[38]
In early April 2020, Selena Gomez released a video performing a cover of the song with Anna Golden and Liz Golden at home on Instagram.[39]
On Easter Sunday 2020, singers from almost 30 churches in Pittsburgh released "The Pittsburgh Blessing," the first in a series of similar compilations from cities, countries, and regions around the world.[40]
On May 3, The UK Blessing channel released a collective version that included contributions from over 65 United Kingdom churches and movements, and tens of other individuals,[41] coming together to sing the song online, with the aim of spreading hope and encouragement during the COVID-19 pandemic. The video included the message: "Churches around the UK have come together at this time, to sing a blessing over the nation"; and, "Our buildings may be closed, but the Church is Alive."[42][43]
On May 16, Canadian churches released their version, noting: "The Church in Canada is beautiful, broad and diverse and it is a nearly impossible task to accurately represent the full breadth of true diversity within the church in Canada from coast to coast to coast."[44][45]
On August 20, the New Zealand cover version was released. "The Blessing Aotearoa" features more than 200 individuals. This version is mostly in English with a verse in Te Reo Māori and parts in NZSL.[46]
On July 24, 2021, Justin Bieber performed the song along with Jobe and Carnes at SoFi Stadium during the "Freedom Experience", an event put on in order to help socially disadvantaged communities in southern California.[47][48][49]
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