The Heavens Are Telling is the third album by gospel singer Karen Clark Sheard, released on November 4, 2003. In the US, the album peaked at number three on the Billboard Top Gospel Charts, number 11 on Billboard Top Christian Albums, number 44 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Charts, and number 188 on the Billboard 200.[2]
Though the previous album, 2nd Chance, performed well on the charts, the slick contemporary R&B production was not openly embraced by Sheard's core audience of traditional gospel music listeners. This release returns to the formula of her hugely successful, well-received and Grammy-nominated first album, Finally Karen, by offering half of the album as a collection of live tracks and half as a collection of upbeat studio productions. Radio edits of the live tracks "We Acknowledge You" and "We Are Not Ashamed (featuring Mary Mary)" were the album's lead singles.
Leaning more toward embracing a contemporary worship audience, Sheard covers two previously popularized songs written by Israel Houghton and Martha Munizzi. In a nod to the mainstream[R&B audience that the previous album's style catered to, Sheard brings her daughter Kierra in on a gospelized live cover version of Jill Scott's signature song, "He Loves Me (Lyzel In E Flat)". It is also on this song that Sheard first commits to recording the self-echoing ad-libs that have become her signature.
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