Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Toby Mac and Mandisa in the video for “Bleed the Same”

Mandisa’s uplifting single “Bleed the Same” was already making its mark on the Christian music charts.

Now the song has an uplifting video to match.

In a video about the song, Mandisa recalls heading into a song-writing session in early July 2016.

In three days, three black men had been shot by police in separate incidents in Brooklyn, Baton Rouge and St. Paul, Minn. Then, on July 7, five Dallas police officers were ambushed and killed.

“My heart was broken at the state of our country,” Mandisa recalls. “I felt like we were all fighting against one another. I hated getting on social media because everyone was arguing and screaming and we couldn’t get along.

“We are never going to find healing for our land by yelling and screaming at one another. We’re not going to find it by fighing one another. The only way we can do that is by coming together by realizing that we may look different on the outside, but that we all bleed the same on the inside.”

And that marked the genesis of the song, on which Mandisa gets an assist from Toby Mac and Kirk Franklin, both of whom are also featured in the video.

The message is clearly resonating. This week, the song is number 10 on the Billboard’s Christian airplay chart. It’s number 12 — its peak position so far — on Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs chart.

The song is featured on Mandisa’s “Out of the Dark” album, which debuted at number one on the Christian albums chart when it was released in May.

Says Mandisa: “My prayer is that with this song we’ll all be able to look at one another and not be color blind — let’s actually see color — let’s celebrate our differences. But let’s realize that the one thing that unites us and brings us together is the blood of Jesus.”

Here’s the music video.