The day Barack Obama won the US presidential election, I was filled with overflowing joy. I needed something that could channel the bubbling emotions inside me, and I knew that the right person to go to was R. Kelly. Although curiously absent from the myriad of artists and celebrities that had spent the last year embracing Barack Obama and his intoxicating agenda of hope and change, R. Kelly is actually the only artist whose over-the-top music equals the glorious path of the Obama campaign.

What I was looking for was a song that could match my mental state. I started digging in the R. Kelly catalogue. ‘I Believe I Can Fly’? No, that song is an anthem for contestants, not for victors. ‘Gotham City’? Although a nice allegory for paradise, the song is about dreams, not about the present reality. ‘I Wish’? Nope, too sad. ‘The World’s Greatest’? Fantastic song, but it is about the rising of an individual, not a people. The gospel-influenced songs on ‘U Saved Me’? Same problem there; too personal. But how about ‘Rise Up’ from last year’s Double Up album? It is superficially a very optimistic song, but deep down it is about coping with trauma. The victory of Barack Obama should be a celebration of light, not a battle against darkness.

Well how about ‘The Storm Is Over Now’? Hmm. I was reluctant. I have never loved that song the way I had loved so many other R. Kelly songs; I had always thought it too simple, too formulaic, and too short. The message of ‘The Storm Is Over Now’ was crystal clear, but somehow I never felt that R. Kelly sung the lyrics from the bottom of his heart – it sounded more like just another day at the office. Let us not forget that R. Kelly is not only a confessional balladeer (and a fascinating narcissist), but also a super-professional craftsman, capable of composing attractive hit songs without investing too much blood, sweat and tears. I have always considered ‘The Storm Is Over Now’ to be one of these songs, one of his lesser songs.

But I listened again. And I realized how wrong I had been.

There is a key point in ‘The Storm Is Over Now’ which makes it unique and deeply touching. The protagonist of the song talks in the first verse about being depressed, keeping his emotions hidden (“my heart could be crying / that’s in the middle of a smile”) and finally, seeking seclusion in nature, crying for help from the top of a hill. The answer comes in the shape of a wind, and suddenly the protagonist feels a deep change in spirit. The chorus goes:

The storm is over (The storm is over now)
I can see the sunshine (Somewhere beyond the clouds)
I feel Heaven, yeah (Heaven is over me)
Come on and set me free

Now this would be an average cliché gospel song, if it wasn’t for that last line: come on and set me free. Come on, the protagonist cries. Come now – please. The freedom has not yet arrived, but what has happens is that the protagonist believes that it is there. He tells himself that everything is good, that the problems of his life are gone, that he is no longer depressed and never again will be. He clings to this illusion desperately, because it is his last solution save suicide. He is standing on a little hill, all alone, and imagines himself being touched by heaven. In the last chorus, the words changes to won’t you come and set me free? – now shaped as a straight question, the uncertainty of emancipation is even more evident. He wants it, he needs it, for some minutes he centers his life around it. But is it really there? What happens when the song has finished and he goes down the hill again, back to town, back to his life?

We don’t know.

And that is the beauty of the song: the element of doubt, the ambiguity – maybe happiness is here to stay, maybe it was all just a temporary and, in retrospect, tragic illusion, but the important is that that the song can be interpreted in either way. Which reminds us that happiness is never something static, it is never a thing one can have or not have, the sum of a number of objective facts in one’s life – it is a feeling, and it can be deep and lasting as well as short and flickering. Like the wind mentioned in the song.

Which brings us back to Barack Obama and the emotions he invokes in people all over the world. Because just like the case with ‘The Storm Is Over Now’, the victory of Obama brings us massive joy and at the same time a small piece of uncertainty. We all hope that the change is here, that everything will be done right from now on - but no-one knows what the coming years of America will look like, not even Obama himself. As we clean up after the celebration, we carry with us a sense of serious concern. I would not call it doubt, because Obama has not yet given us reason to doubt him. But we know the difficulties facing him and we can only hope that he will overcome every obstacle. For the moment, though, we choose not to be pessimistic and reluctant and instead cherish this feeling of hope and joy as long as it lasts. We stand on the hill like the protagonist of R. Kellys song. Because the storm is over now - for the moment, it really is.

R. Kelly - The Storm Is Over Now

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(R. Kelly’s brand new Obama tribute song, ‘I Believe‘, was not yet released at the time of writing this piece. Though a terrific song, it doesn’t quite match the intoxicating feelings of November 4th, 2008 the way “The storm is over now” did and still does. But it feels good to know that Kellz took the time off to make a tribute song; it is a nice gesutre.)