Episode 1322: Jamie MacDonald, Instagram’s Creed Problem and Pope Leo vs. AI

Jamie MacDonald, fresh off winning New Artist of the Year at the Dove Awards, joins us as her new deluxe album arrives this week. We talk about what it’s like to be the biggest thing in CCM right now, reliving her testimony on stage every night and the Alaska fudge shop that can’t stop playing her record.

In RELEVANT Buzz, Instagram admits it’s been recommending Creed’s ‘Higher’ more than it should, and we think the algorithm might be trying to heal America. Drill rapper Fivio Foreign gets honest about the hardest part of his walk with Jesus, and Pope Leo says algorithms lack “the spark of humanity,” which has us asking where all the song bridges went.

Plus, Marty’s new co-working space comes with an indoor mini golf course, and his family’s Halloween costume plan leaves the rest of us in a cold sweat. Then One Has to Go closes it out: Pastor Appreciation Month downsized to a week, one severed head too many and a turkey leg that turns grown men into cavemen.

Highlights:

01:09 — Marty’s co-working space comes with a mini golf course

08:37 — RELEVANT Buzz: Instagram can’t stop recommending Creed’s ‘Higher’

10:26 — Jesse’s theory: The algorithm wants us back at Creed’s 2001 Thanksgiving halftime show

15:56 — Derek’s plan for the first Christian rap Super Bowl halftime

17:25 — Fivio Foreign goes from drill to praising Jesus (and gets honest about what’s hardest)

21:21 — Derek’s case for Fonzworth Bentley as hip-hop’s unsung hero

23:42 — Is AI art always a little cringe? Pope Leo weighs in

25:13 — Derek wants bridges and vamps back