Twenty years after the album’s original release, Switchfoot has remade the record that catalyzed their career – this time calling it “Beautiful Letdown (Our Version).”
Band frontman Jon Foreman has been vocal about the disrespect they received from their label in 2003. Producers berated the band and their music, frequently calling it trash (in far less appropriate words). But these same producers were happy to claim the band as their own once the 2003 “Beautiful Letdown” sold 2.6 million copies.
The band decided to remake the album in their own way without the hand of their oppressive label.
But I don’t know if this was their only reason.
To the surprise of their fans, Switchfoot decided to include quite a few guests in the project. When the band announced the artists who would be featured, the internet went wild – not only because of the level of fame of some of these artists but because of the nature of the artists themselves.
Jon Bellion is an outspoken Christ follower who has been shunned by the Christian community for the explicit label that most of his music bears and his conversations about topics many Christians would rather not discuss.
Relient K is a band that was once beloved by mainstream Christianity until they were excommunicated for inviting an LGBTQ+ Christian artist to open for them on their 2021 tour.
Noah Gunderson, whose first chart-topping song, “Jesus, Jesus,” is about him leaving faith, has publicly discussed deconstruction. This song includes lines like “If all the heathens burn in hell, do all their children burn as well? What about the Muslims and the gays and the unwed mothers?”
Maybe the most famous on the new record: the Jonas Brothers. The Jonas Brothers caused a public uproar by removing their purity rings and publicly taking steps away from evangelicalism during their time as Disney stars. This was despite the fact that they were pastors’ kids and held up as a standard for Christians in the media in the early 2000s.
The choice of artists to feature on the album was not accidental. Back in 2021, Foreman directly responded to a video from Semler, the LGBTQ+ Christian artist who toured with Relient K. Semler (Grace Semler Baldridge) mentioned in a video that she had a sneaking suspicion that Switchfoot was LGBTQ+ affirming, but she was unsure because they have never deliberately stated it.
“I think it is important for Christians to understand that the harm levied against LGBTQ+ people has been so specific, so the affirmation needs to be just as specific,” Semler said in her video.
Jon Foreman responded.
And he was specific.
“Hey, Grace,” he started off, “Yes, I support your rights and freedoms. I want you to feel loved and supported.” He continued on, saying, “In fact, it breaks my heart to think that you would not be accepted. Let me correct that: You and your journey and your story are welcome.”
While the band has been largely silent on the subject since this time, we can catch a glimpse into their idea of Christian love through the artists that they chose to create with. Foreman and the rest of the band are aware that their recent comments on current issues in the church, such as LGBTQ+ inclusion, were going to create a rift between them and some of their fans. Not only that, but knowing these things, as well as the artists they have included, might even lead to some reinterpretations of their lyrics. But they chose to do it anyway.
Switchfoot is choosing artists who represent something. These artists embody the lyrics, “We are a beautiful letdown, painfully uncool – The church of the dropouts. The losers, the sinners, the failures, and the fools. Oh, what a beautiful letdown.” Not just that, but they might be aligning with artists who represent the kind of love they stand by more than the cultural evangelicalism that flocked to the original album in 2003.
This album seems like it isn’t just reclaiming itself from the label but from its original audience. There is a reason that ex-church kids who have been rejected or harmed by the American church are flocking to this remake. It is not just nostalgia. The lyrics have taken a new meaning considering the band’s recent statements and the artists they’ve worked with. The album is making a statement that even these non-believers or somewhere-in-betweeners can stand behind.
When Foreman sings, “We were meant to live for so much more,” it isn’t some vague statement about the difficult monotony of life and the desire Christians and non-Christians alike have to break free from it. Instead, it seems to be calling out the state of the church in 2023 – a political dumpster fire where God is more of a reflection of ourselves than we are of him.
We hear it in the song “Ammunition” with lyrics like “Blame it on what you’ve been through. Blame it on what you’re into. Blame it on your religions. Blame it on politicians. We’ve been blowing up – we’re the issue. It’s our condition. We’ve been blowing up – we’re the issue.”
But the band isn’t mindlessly bashing American Christianity. Nowhere do these ideas say that we have to tear the institution to the ground. In a way, Switchfoot and this album are acting as a kind of in-between – positioned between the jaded exvangelicals and the hardened evangelicals.
Nowhere are they declaring the American church useless – to the contrary, they are calling them to change through songs like “Dare You to Move” and “Redemption,” which take on new meanings 20 years after their creation. But first, the album highlights the issue. The band assembled a group of “beautiful letdowns” to look the church in the eye and say, “Look what a mess we’ve made of love – look what a mess we’ve made. We’ve got ourselves to blame. Look what a bomb we’ve made of love.”
‘Beautiful Letdown (Our Version),’ Switchfoot 20 years later
Twenty years after the album’s original release, Switchfoot has remade the record that catalyzed their career – this time calling it “Beautiful Letdown (Our Version).”
Band frontman Jon Foreman has been vocal about the disrespect they received from their label in 2003. Producers berated the band and their music, frequently calling it trash (in far less appropriate words). But these same producers were happy to claim the band as their own once the 2003 “Beautiful Letdown” sold 2.6 million copies.
The band decided to remake the album in their own way without the hand of their oppressive label.
But I don’t know if this was their only reason.
To the surprise of their fans, Switchfoot decided to include quite a few guests in the project. When the band announced the artists who would be featured, the internet went wild – not only because of the level of fame of some of these artists but because of the nature of the artists themselves.
Jon Bellion is an outspoken Christ follower who has been shunned by the Christian community for the explicit label that most of his music bears and his conversations about topics many Christians would rather not discuss.
Relient K is a band that was once beloved by mainstream Christianity until they were excommunicated for inviting an LGBTQ+ Christian artist to open for them on their 2021 tour.
Noah Gunderson, whose first chart-topping song, “Jesus, Jesus,” is about him leaving faith, has publicly discussed deconstruction. This song includes lines like “If all the heathens burn in hell, do all their children burn as well? What about the Muslims and the gays and the unwed mothers?”
Maybe the most famous on the new record: the Jonas Brothers. The Jonas Brothers caused a public uproar by removing their purity rings and publicly taking steps away from evangelicalism during their time as Disney stars. This was despite the fact that they were pastors’ kids and held up as a standard for Christians in the media in the early 2000s.
The choice of artists to feature on the album was not accidental. Back in 2021, Foreman directly responded to a video from Semler, the LGBTQ+ Christian artist who toured with Relient K. Semler (Grace Semler Baldridge) mentioned in a video that she had a sneaking suspicion that Switchfoot was LGBTQ+ affirming, but she was unsure because they have never deliberately stated it.
“I think it is important for Christians to understand that the harm levied against LGBTQ+ people has been so specific, so the affirmation needs to be just as specific,” Semler said in her video.
Jon Foreman responded.
And he was specific.
“Hey, Grace,” he started off, “Yes, I support your rights and freedoms. I want you to feel loved and supported.” He continued on, saying, “In fact, it breaks my heart to think that you would not be accepted. Let me correct that: You and your journey and your story are welcome.”
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While the band has been largely silent on the subject since this time, we can catch a glimpse into their idea of Christian love through the artists that they chose to create with. Foreman and the rest of the band are aware that their recent comments on current issues in the church, such as LGBTQ+ inclusion, were going to create a rift between them and some of their fans. Not only that, but knowing these things, as well as the artists they have included, might even lead to some reinterpretations of their lyrics. But they chose to do it anyway.
Switchfoot is choosing artists who represent something. These artists embody the lyrics, “We are a beautiful letdown, painfully uncool – The church of the dropouts. The losers, the sinners, the failures, and the fools. Oh, what a beautiful letdown.” Not just that, but they might be aligning with artists who represent the kind of love they stand by more than the cultural evangelicalism that flocked to the original album in 2003.
This album seems like it isn’t just reclaiming itself from the label but from its original audience. There is a reason that ex-church kids who have been rejected or harmed by the American church are flocking to this remake. It is not just nostalgia. The lyrics have taken a new meaning considering the band’s recent statements and the artists they’ve worked with. The album is making a statement that even these non-believers or somewhere-in-betweeners can stand behind.
When Foreman sings, “We were meant to live for so much more,” it isn’t some vague statement about the difficult monotony of life and the desire Christians and non-Christians alike have to break free from it. Instead, it seems to be calling out the state of the church in 2023 – a political dumpster fire where God is more of a reflection of ourselves than we are of him.
We hear it in the song “Ammunition” with lyrics like “Blame it on what you’ve been through. Blame it on what you’re into. Blame it on your religions. Blame it on politicians. We’ve been blowing up – we’re the issue. It’s our condition. We’ve been blowing up – we’re the issue.”
But the band isn’t mindlessly bashing American Christianity. Nowhere do these ideas say that we have to tear the institution to the ground. In a way, Switchfoot and this album are acting as a kind of in-between – positioned between the jaded exvangelicals and the hardened evangelicals.
Nowhere are they declaring the American church useless – to the contrary, they are calling them to change through songs like “Dare You to Move” and “Redemption,” which take on new meanings 20 years after their creation. But first, the album highlights the issue. The band assembled a group of “beautiful letdowns” to look the church in the eye and say, “Look what a mess we’ve made of love – look what a mess we’ve made. We’ve got ourselves to blame. Look what a bomb we’ve made of love.”