Victorious (2019)
Victorious is the tenth studio album by the Christian rock band Skillet, released on August 2, 2019 by Atlantic/Warner Records and the band's own Hear It Loud label. The album was produced by John and Korey Cooper with Seth Mosley and
Mike "X" O'Conner co-producing on four tracks and Kevin Churko producing the tracks "Save Me" and "You Ain't Ready."
Victorious is the follow up to their 2016 release Unleashed. John and his wife Korey produced a majority of the album with Mosley and O'Conner joining the Coopers producing two songs and producing two others by themselves. They started work on recording Victorious around December 2018 and continued until April 2019. In an interview with Radio.com, lead singer Cooper said the album was composed of "fight songs" and that he wanted to let others know that "you can be victorious through the trials of life, but life is going to suck sometimes." In regards to specific tracks, Cooper told Billboard that "Legendary" was about making the most out of your life and referenced the past criticism the band received about their musical path. Upon the launch of the music video for "Legendary," Cooper told People that the song's meaning was "to live your life the way you think you should." Cooper also added that "Legendary" was chosen as the first released single because of the pumped-up energy levels.
"Legendary" was the first single released in May 2019 to precede the release of Victorious. The song became a single for rock radio stations and had a later music video published in July 2019. It also serves as the official theme song for WWE Raw. For their other songs released before the album's release, Skillet had "Anchor" and "Save Me" available to stream on June 14 while "Anchor" became a Christian radio single on July 19. On July 26, "You Ain't Ready" was made available alongside an accompanying lyric video.
Victorious charted and peaked on the following Billboard album charts:
-#1 Top Christian Albums
-#17 Billboard 200
-#3 Top Hard Rock Albums
-#3 Top Rock Albums
-#2 Top Alternative Albums
Although Victorious has not been certified by the Recording Industry Association of American, "Legendary" was Gold certified in 2024. A deluxe edition was released on September 11, 2020 titled Victorious: The Aftermath with seven additional tracks including three new songs, reimagined recordings of "Save Me" and "Terrify the Dark," a soundtrack version of the title song and two remixed tracks. One of the newer tracks, "Dreaming of Eden," was originally released as a non-album digital download single with the purchase of a copy of Eden, a post-apocalyptic graphic novel with Skillet as characters. The band originally released the graphic novel on September 10, 2019, but started selling copies of it early on the Victorious Tour when they received the first shipment of prints. It was later included on Victorious: The Aftermath.
In late October 2020, Skillet won two Dove Awards for Rock/Contemporary Album of the Year and Rock/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year for "Legendary" at the 51st GMA Dove Awards.
Track listing on Victorious: The Aftermath
1. Legendary (John Cooper, Korey Cooper, Seth Mosley) -4:05
2. You Ain't Ready (John Cooper, Korey Cooper, Kane Churko, Kevin Churko) -3:18
3. Victorious (John Cooper, Korey Cooper, Jen Ledger, Seth Mosley) -4:06
4. This Is the Kingdom (John Cooper, Mia Fieldes, Seth Mosley) -3:28
5. Save Me (John Cooper, Korey Cooper) -3:44
6. Rise Up (John Cooper, Kane Churko, Kevin Churko) -3:59
7. Terrify the Dark (John Cooper, Korey Cooper, Mia Fieldes, Seth Mosley) -3:46
8. Never Going Back (John Cooper, Korey Cooper) -3:34
9. Reach (John Cooper, Korey Cooper) -3:23
10. Anchor (John Cooper, Korey Cooper, Jen Ledger, Nolan W. Snipe) -3:37
11. Finish Line (John Cooper, Korey Cooper, Seth Mosley) -3:27
12. Back to Life (John Cooper, Korey Cooper) -4:37
13. Dead Man Walking (John Cooper, Korey Cooper, Kane Churko, Kevin Churko)
-3:52
14. Sick and Empty (John Cooper, Korey Cooper) -4:29
15. Dreaming of Eden (John Cooper, Korey Cooper) -5:06
16. Victorious (Soundtrack version) -4:31
17. Legendary (Destiny Remix) -3:54
18. Save Me (Reimagined) -3:36
19. Reach (Falling Deep Mix) -3:35
20. Terrify the Dark (Reimagined) -3:36
Personnel
Skillet:
John Cooper -vocals, bass guitar, additional guitars on track 7
Korey Cooper -keyboards (tracks 4, 7, 10 and 11), programming (tracks 1 -5, 7 -10,
12 and 13), additional programming on tracks 6 and 11, additional guitar on track
10
Seth Morrison -lead guitars
Jen Ledger -drums, vocals
additional musicians:
Chris Marvin -additional backing vocals (tracks 1, 3, 4, 5 and 13), additional
guitars on tracks 3 and 5, backing vocals on tracks 7 and 8
Rosalie Marvin -additional backing vocals on 3 and 13, backing vocals on
track 5
Seth Mosley -keyboards and programming on tracks 4 and 7, additional guitars
(tracks 4, 7 and 11), additional backing vocals on track 4, backing vocals on track
7
Mike "X" O'Conner -keyboards (tracks 4, 7 and 11), programming on tracks 4 and 7,
additional guitars (tracks 4, 10 and 11), additional programming on track 11
Tate Olsen -cello on tracks 3 and 13
Drew Griffin -viola and violin on tracks 3 and 13, additional guitars on track 13
Cara Fox and Elenore Denning -strings on track 4 and 7
Production credits
John Cooper -producer (tracks 1, 3, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14, 15 and 20)
Korey Cooper -producer (tracks 1, 3, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 -20)
Seth Mosley and Mike "X" O'Conner -producers (tracks 4, 7, 10, 11 and 20)
Kevin Churko -producer (tracks 2, 5 and 13)
RIAA certifications
"Legendary" single Gold certified in 2024.
Accolades
Dove Award -Rock/Contemporary Album of the Year (Victorious)
Rock/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year ("Legendary")
Radio singles
2019 -2020 "Legendary" -#14 Billboard Hot Christian Songs, -#7 Billboard
Mainstream Rock Airplay, -#23 Billboard Rock & Alternative Airplay, -#22
Billboard Hot Rock Songs
2019 -2020 "Save Me" -#22 Billboard Hot Christian Songs, -#18 Billboard Hot
Hard Rock Songs
2019 -2020 "Anchor" -#27 Billboard Hot Christian Songs, -#25 Billboard
Christian Airplay, -#25 Billboard Christian AC Airplay, -#50 Billboard Hot Rock
& Alternative Songs, -#50 Billboard Hot Rock Songs
2019 "Terrify the Dark" -#45 Billboard Hot Christian Song
2019 "Victorious" -#29 Billboard Hot Christian Songs
2019 "You Ain't Ready" -#32 Billboard Hot Christian Songs
2019 "Finish Line" -#38 Billboard Hot Christian Songs
2019 "This Is the Kingdom -#42 Billboard Hot Christian Songs
2019 "Never Going Back" -#44 Billboard Hot Christian Songs
2019 "Back to Life" -#48 Billboard Hot Christian Songs
2020 "Dead Man Walking" -#39 Billboard Hot Christian Songs
Previous release: Feel Invincible Remix EP (2017)
Next release: Dominion (2022)
Listen to the standard edition of Victorious containing music and lyric videos and audio tracks:
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