Semiotic Slippages: A Gospel Sound in British Popular Culture (Dr Matthew Williams, University of York)

This paper explores the semiotic dimensions of gospel performance, with a focus on how gospel has been presented and perceived within high-profile British state ceremonies and popular music. Using Peirce’s notion of indexicality (Turino 2014) and drawing on my framework of gospel codes, I analyse the meaning-making processes activated in gospel’s public staging. The presentation takes as its starting point the Ascension Choir’s appearance at the coronation of King Charles III in 2023, a performance that was controversially described as gospel but which, for many listeners, did not register as such. By comparing this moment with the deployment of gospel stylisation in British popular music (and the Kingdom Choir’s widely discussed performance at the 2018 royal wedding), I examine how gospel is curated and recontextualised across public platforms. At the coronation, the performance visually indexed gospel but diverged from elements that typically define the genre in both liturgical and popular contexts. The performance highlights the complex connotations of gospel codes when they are mobilised within state and media spectacle. Foregrounding the interpretive process of both initiated and uninitiated audiences, this talk considers how the connotations of gospel stylisation are shaped by its codes and the contexts in which they appear. With particular attention to moments of stylistic adaptation that shape how gospel is framed for the public ear and eye, I consider what is at stake when gospel is used outside of the black church and how such uses may obscure the genre’s historical, spiritual, and sonic particularities in favour of a more palatable emblematic utility.

MATTHEW WILLIAMS completed his PhD in music at the University of Bristol. His current research focuses on the intersection of popular music and religion, employing Peircean semiotics to explore meaning-making in music. He has served as an external tutor in music at the University of Oxford and as an assistant tutor at the University of Bristol. Dr Williams is currently writing a monograph tentatively titled A Gospel Sound in Anglophone Popular Music: Secularisation and Music's Meanings, under contract with Oxford University Press.