With soaring strings and dramatic choruses and hooks, Steven Curtis Chapman knows how to write the Big Pop Song. He appears to have nearly perfected the art on Declaration, his most upbeat and polished effort to date. For example, songs like "Magnificent Obsession" and "God Is God" aren't just pop songs but sweeping mini-epics of faith that are carried along by Chapman's passionate vocals and crashing crescendos. He's also adept at sprinkling modern references to freshen his hard-rock motif, such as the lyrical tip of the hat to news events in 2000 on the opener, "Live Out Loud," and the Nintendo Game Boy sound effects on "See the Glory." Of course, Chapman has long known how to massage those melancholy hearts with such balladry as "Carry You to Jesus" and "Savior." Clearly, Declaration raises a bar that was already beyond reach for most of his contemporaries. Chapman is a brilliant songwriter with a finger on the pulse of what today's Christian music fans want to hear. --Michael Lyttle