This Christian Artist Keeps His Music Real — Here’s Why
By Movieguide® Contributor
Matthew West explained why acknowledging his flaws and struggles has allowed him to create better music and make a bigger impact on his fans.
“Speaking of honesty and authenticity, like, I think that’s part of my story…I think in every respect [the song] ‘Truth Be Told’ is me kind of like crying out to myself to say, like, ‘Just because you’re in front of a camera all the time, just because you’re on stage, just because you’re a preacher’s kid, just because you know how to say the right things, quote the right scriptures, write the right songs and do the right shows, like, the world doesn’t need this pretender that you can easily dial-up,” West told Mark Lowry and Andrew Greer on “Dinner Conversations.”
“What the world’s really gonna be impacted by is an authentically flawed human being who’s okay maybe not being put together all the time,” he added.
It has taken West his entire career to understand how to be authentic with his problems. While acting like someone who has it together all the time is misleading, there is also a craft to choosing how he shares his problems. While sharing the struggles he is currently facing can be messy, when done properly, they can have the largest impact.
“What I’ve discovered in my songwriting is that it’s way easier to wait until you’ve made it through a struggle in your life and then write about it, looking back from the past tense, because you’ve seen Romans [8:28] at work,” West said. “You’ve seen how God, did indeed ‘work all things for good.’”
“But I will also say that sometimes there’s a surface level of communication of the Gospel when you only write from the past tense by looking back and saying, ‘Look what the Lord has done,’” he continued. “But there’s also something powerful about Paul saying, ‘I pleaded with God, like, three times.’ The thorn is still in his flesh while he’s writing the New Testament.”
In choosing to write authentically, not only is West creating music that is deeply moving to his fans, but the music comes back to fill him too. He receives just as much from his music when he sings it because it reminds him of the biblical truths he is pointing to.
“What’s interesting is, like, when you listen to a lot of my songs…[they’re] about identity,” West said. “One of the biggest songs about my career is about taking hold of the most significant title you’ll ever have, which is 1 John 3:1: ‘How great the love of the father who lavished on us that we should be called children of God.’”
He’s referring to his 2012 song “Hello, My Name Is.” The chorus goes:
Hello, my name is child of the one true King
I’ve been saved, I’ve been changed, and I have been set free
Amazing grace is the song I sing
Hello, my name is child of the one true King
The song was inspired by a man named Jordan who struggled with a drug addiction. However, after going through rehab and finding freedom in Christ, his life transformed.
“Jordan’s story is powerful proof that we are not defined by our past,” West said. “God can restore, redeem, and renew our hearts and lives. He can set our feet on a new path that will lead our lives to a destination far greater than where we used to call home.”
Movieguide® previously reported:
Christian artist Matthew West explained how he uses stories — his own and other people’s — to inspire others and help them see God in their lives.
West’s story with music began in high school. Though his passion growing up had been baseball, he was forced to give up his dream when he was not offered any scholarships to play in college.
“I think it sometimes takes a dream coming to an end to discover what your deeper purpose and calling is,” West told Fox News host Shannon Bream. “I began to kind of look around me and realized that for a long time, people had kind of been encouraging me saying, ‘Hey, you have a gift for music.’ And I always sang and things, but I was never taking it seriously.”
“So when I began to turn my attention to music, I started to sing, and people said, ‘Man, you have a really gifted voice,’ and things like that, but I found myself thinking, I’d be a lot more excited to sing a song if it was something I was really feeling in my life or in my own story…” he continued. “I remember hearing a James Taylor song and thinking, well, what if I could write a song that told my story and that’s when it really started to take off.”
Having found so much purpose in telling his own story, West soon shifted his attention to other people and finding ways for them to share their experiences as well.
