“Somebody’s Watching” by TobyMac, Thursday, December 28, 2023

In 2000, DC Talk announced their intermission, a hiatus that has outlasted their 15-year existence. According to Toby McKeehan, better known by the stage name TobyMac, Michael Tait and Kevin Max wanted to record solo projects and McKeehan wanted to pursue DC Talk. But then McKeehan was approached about recording the theme song for a film called Extreme Days. With that single, McKeehan crafted his debut solo record, the genre-bending Momentum. The album was filled with hip-hop, rap-core, soul, and funk. Eventually gold-certified, Momentum started the career of the reluctant solo artist in DC Talk who became the most commercially successful of the trio.

SOMETIMES I FEEL GOD IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. In 1984, Rockwell released his number 2 Billboard Hot 100 single “Somebody’s Watching Me.”  Rockwell, born Kennedy Gordy, wrote the track when his father, founder and CEO of Motown Records Berry Gordy, challenged him to write a chart-topping hit. The one-hit-wonder has often been misattributed to the artist who sang the chorus, Michael Jackson, a childhood friend of Kennedy’s. Rockwell’s hit talks about not being able to have a private life, and the video visualizes the lyrics with unnerving point-of-view camera angles. The song has entered novelty status thanks to the funny lyrics about being “in the shower . . . afraid to wash [his] hair.” It's even become a staple on Halloween playlists. In 2001, TobyMac interloped the chorus of Rockwell’s hit on Momentum for the Christian Hit Radio single “Somebody’s Watching.” Rather than focusing on the creepy feeling of being watched by a stranger, McKeehan focuses the song on the watchful protection of God, contrasted to the “haters” who are focused on McKeehan’s failure. 

I’M FEELING DADDY IN THE AIR TONIGHT. Rather than Michael Jackson singing the chorus, Joanna Valencia sings on TobyMac’s “Somebody’s Watching” as well as several other tracks on Momentum. Her vocals create a kind of tonal consistency on the frenetic mashup of genres on McKeehan’s debut. The album was a major hit on Christian radio, with six singles spread between Christian Hit Radio and Christian Rock radio. “Somebody’s Watching” appeared on DC Talk’s Solo EP ahead of the band releasing their solo projects as a previewing of the new musical directions the band members were taking and it was also included on  Wow Hits 2002. “Somebody’s Watching” began the vocal “TobyMac” introduction tag that appeared on many of the artist’s solo works and guest appearances. The tag was to the Christian market what the “Jason Derulo” vocal tag was to the pop market in the late ‘00s. TobyMac is a charismatic personality who continued a musical empire built by DC Talk. It’s a fine line between appropriate confidence and arrogance. On the one hand, he’s a truly talented artist--from the live energy to musical crafting in multiple genres. A lifelong proponent of racial reconciliation, his music envisions the kingdom of heaven through the eyes of all ethnicities. But it’s not only the ego that feels problematic in a relisten. “Somebody’s Watching” feels like a spiritual flex--no, make that a spiritual webcam exhibition. “Watch baby, watch baby” McKeehan raps. “See, I’m down with the king, so I got it like that” he adds to Valencia’s chorus. This is quite different from Maxwell’s “I have no privacy.” Many like me when I was growing up found the way that McKeehan sings about God watching him a bit terrifying. Certainly, we weren’t saying to God, “Watch baby, watch baby.” But with all the problematic lyrics, I found myself unironically enjoying TobyMac’s Momentum. But I’m a little ashamed of that. Please don’t watch me closely.

Read “Somebody's Watching” by TobyMac on Genius.

Rockwell's version:

TobyMac: