REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
A track on Lana Del Rey’s long-windedly titled ninth studio album, Did You Know There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, out today, has launched the singer’s massive fanbase into a frenzy. The song, “Judah Smith Interlude,” is—who could’ve guessed it—a spoken-word interlude by Churchome mega-church preacher Judah Smith.
Smith, who has been with Churchome since his father, Wendell Smith, founded the ministry in 1992, has long been criticized for his anti-abortion and homophobic stances. In a 2005 interview, Smith called homosexuality a sin and likened it to “murder, rape, or living with your girlfriend.” In more recent years, Smith has become known for being more of an influencer than a preacher. He’s buddied up to famous figures like Justin Bieber—who left Hillsong Church, where Smith is also a contributor, in 2019—and typically sports big, trendy glasses frames on his Instagram account, which boasts over 700,000 followers.
“Judah Smith Interlude” is a nearly five-minute-long recording of one of Smith’s sermons, accompanied by a lilting piano from producer Jack Antonoff. The sermon seems to have been recorded by Del Rey herself, perhaps at one of the services she’s attended at Churchome’s Los Angeles chapter. On the track, Smith refrains from any incendiary remarks about hot-button societal issues and instead rambles on about love, kids, marriage, and of course, God. Still, his presence on the album has confounded Del Rey’s fanbase, a large portion of which identifies as queer.