How New Song Helped Big Daddy Weave Singer Process Brother’s Death
By Movieguide® Contributor
Big Daddy Weave vocalist Mike Weaver discussed how the band’s new song “Heaven Changes Everything” has helped him process his brother’s recent death.
Weaver’s younger brother, Jay Weaver, who was the bass player for the band, “died on January 2, 2022, of COVID complications. Jay was 42,” Movieguide® reported.
In an interview with K-Love, Weaver stated that his outlook on heaven has shifted since his brother’s death.
“It’s about perspective.…It hurts when you lose somebody. We go through stuff that doesn’t make sense in life, it’s hard. But the idea that this is not all that there is, this is not the end. The enemy wants to sell the lie that whatever the low part of your story is, is the end of your story. That’s not true for us,” Weaver said.
The band’s new talks about this principle.
“As believers, the greatest hope that we have is always ahead of us…That changes how we see stuff today. It changes how I go through today. I don’t grieve like somebody who doesn’t have hope. That’s what the Bible says. That’s what ‘Heaven Changes Everything’ to me is about: perspective,” he added.
Weaver opened up about this perspective in an Instagram post announcing the song.
“I was at an all-time low after losing my father, my mother, and then my brother Jay, who played bass in Big Daddy Weave,” he wrote. “Then the thought came to me, ‘What is it like for someone who doesn’t know about heaven?’”
“Because we have the hope of heaven, and because Jesus said heaven is right here inside of our hearts, it changes everything about the way we see life now and the way we see life in the future. I love that when I think about heaven, everything shifts and is put into perspective. I’m so thankful that heaven changes everything,” he continued.
The Christian Post reported, “Christian musician and songwriter Matthew West and another songwriter, Jeff Pardo, sat with Weaver one day, and they listened to him share his painful emotions.”
That’s where “Heaven Changes Everything” began.
“Songwriting is a great way to process stuff that you go through…These guys, they’re just amazing songwriters. But at the moment, in the room, they’re just like, letting me say it. Just letting me get it out. And I’m just sharing about the hurt,” Weaver expressed.
Although the new song gave Weaver an outlet to process his grief, he said there is one mission for the song.
“This is our mission: to go and share hope. We share hope by just being real about the stuff that we go through and sharing where we find Jesus in those places. And where I find Jesus in that, is looking forward. I know His presence is here to comfort me,” Weaver stated.
Movieguide® previously reported on Jay Weaver’s death:
After the death of Big Daddy Weave’s Jay Weaver, his brother and lead singer for the band, Mike Weaver, shared an update…
“I was just crushed by his passing,” Weaver said. “As the stories and other testimonies … and the love kind of came pouring in about how the Lord had just used my brother … it kind of changed everything on the trip down there.”
Mike added that Big Daddy Weave has no plan to disband and that the death of Jay actually encouraged them to pursue God’s will for their band.
“Going forward, we want to try and give everything to the Lord for Him to use,” he said. “He can use anybody. He can use anything.”
“We don’t have an intention to stop … We’re going to carry Jay’s memory with us,” he added.
