beyoncé was the girl singing in hymn for the weekend.
who is the girl singing in hymn for the weekend?
beyoncé
musically, jojo is considered to be primarily a pop and r&b artist; however, the majority of her singles tend to lean more-so towards the former as a marketing tool. "prefix"'s norman meyers observed that "as an adolescent white girl singing mainstream r&b, her singles have leaned toward pop to snag sales ... but the list of producers on "the high road ..." shows that jojo is more concerned with harder beats and soulful sounds." jojo is a soprano and her singing voice has been widely acclaimed by music critics, one of whom ranked it among "the best in the game", while her r&b recordings have been compared to the likes of r&b singers brandy and monica. describing her as a "vocal phenom", "entertainment weekly" leah greenblatt enthused that jojo is "capable of mariah carey-style upper-register flourishes". vocally, critics frequently draw comparisons between jojo and singers kelly clarkson and beyoncé, while "slant magazine"'s sal cinquemani remarked that the singer "could very well be the next teena marie".
jojo (singer)
there are conflicting accounts of why the hymn was written. according to one account, george bowen was converted to christianity through hearing a welsh girl singing hymns. he later went to stay at llwyn-gwair manor at the same time that the welsh methodist association were there. while there, he met williams and asked him to compose some verse about the preseli hills. "o'er the gloomy hills of darkness" was written as a result of these requests. though it is possible that this story may be correct as llwyn-gwair manor and williams' bedroom at the manor did overlook carn igli, in the 19th century an alternative story arose. in this version, williams was travelling to pontrhydyfen and composing a new missionary hymn as part of a commission from selina hastings, countess of huntingdon. upon passing the ruins of an old cistercian abbey and seeing the mountains he would have to cross on a stormy night, the view inspired him to write "o'er the gloomy hills of darkness" for the countess. the hymn was first written in welsh as english was not williams' first language so it was later translated into english by another person. this was because williams did not know enough english to fully express the intent of the original welsh verses in translation.
o'er the gloomy hills of darkness