Source: Aliya Faust / iOne Digital
Songwriting and producing is a beautiful gift. It’s a complex skill with elements the average listener probably won’t grasp at first listen. From F keys to BPM programming, the making of a good song is more than what meets the eye.
Tina Campbell, DLo, Jonathan McReynolds, DOE and Eric Dawson spoke on such at the StellarPlus Songwriters & Producers Symposium celebrating the 39th annual Stellar Awards this week.
“A producer is in charge of what you listen to. A songwriter is in charge of what you hum later.”
This quote from Jonathan McReynolds set the tone for the conversation with different generations of Gospel music around the difference between two vital pieces of creating a song from ground-up. It also opened up the door to the reality of life that bleeds into art.
“Life has a way of pressing out of you, the words and articulation, of things you couldn’t find in another season,” DOE said. “Sometimes you have to live a little life.”
SEE ALSO: Industry Leaders Discuss The State Of Gospel Music During Stellar Awards Masterclass
Gospel music is a very personal genre. A lot of times, the words (songwriters) and arrangement (producers) comes from testimony. It takes songwriters being vulnerable and it takes producers tapping into the artist to understand the making of who they are — their tone, vocal abilities and interests — as they make a song.
Takeaways for songwriters and producers:
Gospel music, in particular, spans all ages and cultures so the sound is not one shoe size fits all. The newer sub-genres of Gospel (contemporary gospel, afrobeats, christian hip hop and R&B, etc.) catch a lot of slack, but the Gospel is defined as good news. Be yourself. If you’re presenting your Gospel music through a Jesus-colored lens and heart, God still gets the glory.
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