Jillette Johnson Releases Tongue-In-Cheek Single 'What Would Jesus Do'

Today, Nashville-based singer/songwriter Jillette Johnson shares a tongue-in-cheek new single "What Would Jesus Do" off her forthcoming album It's a Beautiful Day and I Love You, which drops February 12. Accompanied by a self-directed, DIY video shot during quarantine, "What Would Jesus Do" is a biting meditation on acceptance, masked with an irreverent hook - "What would Jesus do? I don't know, but I know he wouldn't do it my way."

"As I see it, we're all in pain, trapped in our minds, trying to find comfort and meaning," explains Johnson. "We don't have control over the world around us, and the more we can surrender to that, the more joy and true connection we will find. This song is a meditation on radical acceptance. However you manage to find peace is cool with me, I just might do it differently."

Returning with a newfound creative confidence, Jillette Johnson's first new album in four years is an impressive collection of candid lyricism and a bolder, bigger sound. With an open-heartedness and imaginative ingenuity, It's a Beautiful Day and I Love You tackles every aspect of the human experience. From the lilting, self-destructiveness of "I Shouldn't Go Anywhere" and the somber reflection on "Angelo" to the rollicking new single "Annie" and the impulsively romantic title track, It's a Beautiful Day and I Love You showcases Johnson's hard-won optimism.

"My challenge to myself in making this record and starting to write in the last couple of years was, 'How can I genuinely be myself and reflect the contentment that is there?'," Johnson says. "This chapter of my life has been about quiet, stillness, gratitude, deepening relationships, and not running away. This record has a lot to do with learning how to be in one place and how to feel freedom in that."

Jillette Johnson has previously released two full-length albums - 2013's Water in a Whale and 2017's Dave Cobb-produced follow-up All I Ever See In You Is Me - garnering widespread acclaim for her ruminative pop/folk, piano-driven songs and powerful vocals. She began writing songs at the age of eight, becoming fully immersed in music by high school and quickly learning first-hand about the prevalence of predators in this volatile, ever-changing industry. Now on the other side of a journey through pain and struggle to gratitude, forgiveness, and, ultimately, acceptance, It's a Beautiful Day and I Love You finds Johnson taking full control of her career for the first time.

Produced by Joe Pisapia, It's a Beautiful Day and I Love You injects Johnson's intimate, piano-written songs with buoyant pop melodies and a shot of guitar-driven, alt-rock muscle. "The lessons I learned from those early industry experiences are why I've held so tightly to

making this album on my own with people I trust," Johnson continues. "It would have been easy to lean into the melancholy. It was an act of rebellion to not indulge in the pain, to look beyond it and not wallow."

Watch the video here:

Photo Credit: Betsy Phillips