Forever Jones He Wants It All Analysis

Rhetorical Essay
“He wants it all” by Dominique Jones Forever Jones’ song, “He wants it all” is one of my favorite songs. I appreciate the message that is given to me by the lyrics as I am reminded that I should not withhold anything from God. I feel that Dominique, the author, along with her family, sends home the message of the lyrics through her dynamic vocal illustrations. The combination of persuasive lyrics, instrumental expression, and dynamic video performance of this song by Forever Jones. Forever Jones is a Christian gospel group that is made up of a family that originated 30 years ago in Yakima, Washington as Dewitt and Kim Jones began to “cultivate the habit of family prayer and worship” (emigospel.com). They have recently
moved to Shreveport, Louisiana to become a part of the ministerial staff of Shreveport Community Church. Kim and Dewitt have five children; D’Jeniele’, Dominique, Dewitt IV, Juda and Mya whom all compose and play music. Most all of the songs that are performed, are from songs inspired and written through prayer that takes place every morning at 9 a.m. Some songs are written through worship and some through actual prayers. In 2010, the album ‘Get Ready’ featured the #1 hit “He wants it all” and earned a GRAMMY nomination. The album won a Stellar Award for Best Contemporary Group, three Dove Award nominations and included the prestigious New Artist of the Year award. Dominique Jones tells of her experience writing the song “He wants it all” on a Breathcast interview (dreaminsoul.com) by Julene Fleurmond. Dominique sits with her family and discusses how they write songs during prayer time. Dominique speaks up and says, “My dad asks me if I wanted to pray with him”. Her dad looks at Dominique and laughs. “I did?” Mr. Dewitt says. Dominique laughs and affirms the question with a nod. She repeats again that her dad asked her to pray with him and she says in prayer this song just dropped in her heart. It’s amazing what comes out of prayer. The persuasive and dramatic lyrics in the video performance start out with a soft melodic line stating that ‘a voice’ is searching for a heart that will love him.
Dominique plays the piano softly, emphasising the voice is “longing for a child that will give him their all”. Then the lyrics introduce the voice as God walking over the earth. “He’s searching for a heart that is desperate” and is “longing for a child that will give him their all”. After the verse, the song merges into the first chorus by stating that the messenger, God, asks who will love him with their whole heart “today”? The word today becomes the emphasizing part of the song that gently demands for an immediate response from the chorus goes on with God’s speaking and rhetorically asking for someone to “serve me, serve me with your life now” because “he wants it all today”. Advancing to the second half of the chorus, the lyrics get specific by God asking a child, or anyone for that matter, to “bow down, let go of your idols,” because “he wants it all today. He wants it all today”. During the repetition of the second half of the verse, the instrumental background remains low and beautiful to show the voice is gentle and kind. However, Dominique progresses from a low piano credenza pairing with the chorus’ end, to an instrumental and vocal explosion into a bridge, the part of lyrical transition for dynamics in a song. Dominique vocally expresses the “voice’s need” to find someone desperate to long for him and give all to him. Dominique invites the listener to respond as she sings the second bridge and she is persuasive in vocal expression repeating the line “he wants it all today, he wants it all, so give it all”. She then returns to the first verse and rounds off the song, reminding the listener of why her voice is so persuasive and gentle: “There’s a voice that cries out in the silence…give it all, He wants it
all!” Set in concert style, the performance of “He wants it all” is led by Dominique, however, her family is a strong support for the lyrical message. I can tell that the ties between the family is stronger than the ties that are against them. They are focused on the task at hand. The family emphasizes the importance of worship to God through the sincerity of their voice and as they engage in their instrumental performance. The liberty to worship and submit to God becomes contagious when listening to the song. One could easily be persuaded to renounce oneself and follow the “God” spoken of in the song. There is no promise of the outcome through denying yourself, however, you can feel through the voices and smiles on their face that it could be the right thing to do if the listener was to decide today to ‘give it all’. In conclusion, there are many songs out there that I enjoy to listen to, within the same genre, however, I picked this one because I liked that a young person was able to write a song from her prayer time. I can feel that the lyrics did come from a possible encounter with “God”. Dominique’s piano style is delicate as to blend with her vocal ability. My admiration for her mother and father implements a desire to worship God and inspires me to continue encouraging my children to look for ways to worship God. With Forever Jones’ ability to portray outstanding lyrical, instrumental and vocal performance of “He wants it all” I can appreciate the message that comes from the ‘the silence’: it is one that draws me to respond to God

Works Cited
Five of Five Stars. (Sunday, December 13, 2009). Forever Jones – Get Ready. Retrieved May 5, 2014 from http://www.theblackgospelblog.com/2009/12/forever-jones-get-ready.html
Fleurmond, Julene. (March 2011). Inspiration: He wants it All from forever JONES & an interview with the family. Retrieved May 5, 2014 from an interview with the Jones family on http://dreaminsoul.com/blog/2011/03/inspiration-he-wants-it-all-forever-jones.html
Meaux Mercy Publishing. (2013). “He Wants it all.” Retrieved May 5, 2014, from http://metolyrics.com/he-wants-it-all-lyris-forever-jones.html.