Pope Francis is the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church but the first to drop a pop album. “Wake Up!” consists of speeches and prayers spoken by His Holiness accompanied by various singers and instrumentals.

The speeches are backed by sweeping orchestral scores, ballad arrangements and Latin American pop. The lead single “Wake Up! Go! Go! Forward!” is the only speech in English, the rest are in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.

There is a lack of coherent aesthetic across the album and even the sounds within individual songs fail to  mesh well. Across the whole album the languid cadence of the pontiff is juxtaposed by the wails of pop singers. Production is also inconsistent, some songs have reverb heavy choruses while other tracks are overly clean, giving instrumentals a flat and dead sound. This studio sound is awkwardly contrasted by cheers of live audiences in cathedral settings.

The album is an oddity and the many hokey tracks aren’t worthy of repeat listens. I am glad this concept was explored, but it seems this album will go down in history as a bargain bin curiosity rather than a Catholic reawakening.