Pope Francis Is Set for a Sophomore Slump

By most accounts, Pope Francis is a rock star. And even if prescription drugs and venereal diseases don’t fuel his creative juices, the rules of rock still apply. Beware Franci-maniacs: the artist formally known as Jorge Mario Bergoglio is primed for a sophomore slump.

Today marks one year since Pope Francis’s first smoke show when he officially replaced a predecessor with the rock ‘n’ roll spirit of third grader on recorder.

Since that mega-moment, Pope Francis has garnered sky-high approval ratings and seen his likeness on the cover of Rolling Stone and as Time‘s “Person of the Year.” He’s washed the feet of women and spoken at length on gay marriage. He’s broken from motorcades to crowd-surf, and he has kinda-sorta dropped an f-bomb.

Now we’re all waiting for the papal séance that gets His Holiness in the same room with Ed Sullivan.

But like any remarkable inaugural album, unrealistic expectations ensue. This is partly the fault of new-age and results-oriented audiences desperate for satiation, but it’s also the calculated work of a rock star who frontloads his best stuff with few plans for the next wave of sound.

We’ve seen it in the past with Nas, the Strokes, MGMT, and most interestingly, the Beatles. With the Beatles followed the recipe of its first album’s sensation so closely that it lacked an innovation its audience barely knew it was hungry for — indeed, it’s considered one of the band’s worst.

Pope Francis is operating under more difficult circumstances. American audiences know what they want. They want headlines, ground-shaking ones, that bring Vatican City closer to Coachella than prehistoric grunting sessions. It’s a tall task few rock stars know how to turn platinum– while the Strokes have yet to fully recover, we all know what happened to the Beatles.

A White Album with revolutionary hits like “Pope Believes in Gay Marriage,” “Francis Recognizes Right to Chose,” and “Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?” is far from dropping. Most likely an album that maintains its monochromatic measures with safe pop will make the rounds, echoing the first sensation’s style over substance.

So, as Pope Francis’s first set draws to a close, prepare for the inevitable reality check 1, check 2, check 3. Innovation may go the way of the rolling stone.

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>> Clark Young is, above all things, a Mainer and Red Sox fan. Follow him on Twitter here.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.