Mormon Life - Brandon Flowers tag

More reaction to rock star Brandon Flowers' 'I'm a Mormon' video

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 12:15:00 -0600

source: deseretnews.com

Mormon Life says: More media reactions to Flowers's most recent declaration of faith. "Brandon Flowers" and "Mormon" are still being paired in a lot of conversations from New Zealand to the United Kingdom.

The profile and video on Mormon.org is now up to 3,000 "likes" on Facebook, and its presence on the social network quickly approached 50,000 shares on Thursday.

The video has caught the attention of The Telegraph, which is appropriate considering the popularity of Flowers and The Killers in the U.K. Flowers' solo album debuted at No. 1 on U.K. charts in September.

Reactions to Brandon Flowers' Mormon.org video

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:18:00 -0600

source: deseretnews.com

The Killers frontman Brandon Flowers is a Mormon.

Surprised? Most people aren’t. But there’s definitely quite a bit of buzz about his new video and profile on Mormon.org.

“His connection to the LDS Church has never been a secret and he is certainly not the only star with a current or former tie to the Mormon faith — like Gladys Knight, Katherine Heigl and Ryan Gosling — but for the 'I’m a Mormon' campaign, to feature such a recognizable artist is unprecedented,” reads an article on Entertainment Weekly’s website.

Brandon Flowers, Arthur Kane, and the Mormon Rock Star Image

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:58:00 -0600

source: juvenileinstructor.org

Mormon Life says: I didn't realize that Brandon Flowers' song "Only the Young" had such Mormon overtones . . . While pundits and theologians continue the seemingly endless debate over whether or not Mormonism is Christian/Mormons are Christians/a Mormon can be a Christian, over at Slate, browbeat writer David Haglund weighs in on the Mormon church’s latest advertising campaign (the “I’m a Mormon” campaign) and the recent participation of The Killers frontman and international rockstar Brandon Flowers in that effort:

The video hews closely to the campaign’s usual formula: Flowers talks about himself, then about his values, and then he connects those values to his Mormon faith. Near the end, Flowers talks a bit about his public persona. “A lot of people love to come up to me and tell me they were raised in the church,” Flowers says, “and they expect there to be this camaraderie of, oh, we’ve outgrown it now, we’re smart enough now not to be in it.” One can understand why this would happen: In 2004, Spin identified Flowers as an ex-Mormon, and he has been candid in the past about his drinking and smoking, activities forbidden for devout members of the Mormon church.
But as the existence of this video suggests, Flowers doesn’t see himself as an ex-Mormon, at least not anymore. (If he did, he could have participated in a different video campaign.) What’s interesting about this is the way Flowers frames his re-affirmed faith: “I was raised in it,” he says, “and I still… it’s…” He chuckles. “There’s still a fire burning in there.” That’s the last thing he says before the more standard send-off: “I’m a father, and I’m a husband, and I’m a Mormon.”

For those, like myself, interested in Mormon conversion narratives (as well as unexpectedly Mormon musicians), there’s a lot to unpack here; I’m especially intrigued by the centrality to his faith of his roles as husband and father.