Louder Than The Music

Sometimes you don't need to analyse a song. You don't need to know how many streams it has, who produced it, what genre it fits into or whether it's sitting somewhere on a playlist. Sometimes you just press play and think, "Wow. What a song." And that's enough.

Music is funny like that. We can spend ages talking about production, songwriting, vocal ability and everything else that goes into making a track, but sometimes none of that really matters. You either connect with a song or you don't. There are songs I absolutely love that you might listen to and think, "Yeah, it's alright." There are probably songs you love that wouldn't make it anywhere near my playlist. Neither of us is wrong, and that's the beauty of music. Nobody gets to tell you what you should listen to.

Music is personal. It connects with memories, experiences, emotions and different seasons of our lives. A song that means very little to one person can mean absolutely everything to somebody else. Perhaps that's one of the most wonderful things about music: there isn't a correct answer.

I think we can sometimes forget just how much goes into creating a song, too. Behind those three or four minutes are people who have written lyrics, created melodies, played instruments, produced the track, sung their hearts out and spent hours trying to turn an idea into something other people can hear. You might not like the finished product, and that's completely fine, but you can still appreciate the heart behind it. Someone has put a little piece of themselves into that song. They've taken something from inside themselves and turned it into music. That's pretty amazing.

This becomes particularly interesting when we talk about Christian music and worship. We sometimes seem to get caught up in what worship 'should' sound like. Is it the big arena worship song? Acoustic guitar and piano? Gospel? Rock? Electronic? Something quiet and reflective? Something that gets thousands of people jumping?

Here's the thing: "God doesn't have a style of worship"

We have musical preferences, generations, fashions and memories of the music we grew up with. What connects with one person might not connect with another, and that's okay. Worship isn't defined by a particular drum sound, production style or musical genre. The Bible gives us a wonderfully broad picture of musical expression - psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, instruments, voices, celebration and quiet reflection.

Perhaps we should therefore be a little less concerned about whether someone else's worship sounds like our worship sound.

Music has always changed, and what sounds completely normal to one generation can sound very different to another. The 1960s gave us The Beatles and the explosion of pop and rock. The 1970s brought punk, disco and a whole range of rock sounds, while the 1980s embraced huge pop productions, synthesizers and electronic music. Then came the 1990s with grunge, Britpop and the growing influence of hip-hop. The 2000s brought pop, indie and alternative sounds, followed by the 2010s and the rise of EDM and increasingly electronic production. Now we're in a time where almost anything goes, with pop, rock, hip-hop, electronic, gospel, worship and countless other influences being mixed together.

And that's okay. Music is supposed to evolve.

Every generation has its favourites, and every generation probably thinks the music they grew up with was pretty special. And actually, they're probably right - not necessarily because it was objectively 'better', but because "it was their music". It was the soundtrack to their lives.

The same thing happens in Christian music. Some people grew up with hymns. Others discovered worship through the early days of modern worship. Some found their faith through Christian rock, gospel, hip-hop, pop or something completely different. Today, artists are blending styles in ways that would probably have seemed very unusual a few decades ago.

There isn't one correct sound.

So what actually makes a great song? Maybe there isn't one answer. Maybe it's not about having the biggest production, the most impressive vocal or the cleverest lyrics. Maybe it is. Maybe sometimes it's simply about whether something makes you feel something.

A song can be technically brilliant and leave you completely cold. Another song can be rough around the edges, have a tiny production budget and still hit you right in the heart and Vice Verses. Sometimes you don't even know why. That's the magic of music.

For me, the most important thing is connection. What connects with you? What song speaks into where you are right now? What music makes a difficult day feel a little easier, gives you something to think about, lifts your spirits or simply puts a smile on your face?

And when it comes to Christian music, perhaps there is something even deeper. The right song can help us draw closer to God. It can give words to a prayer we didn't know how to say ourselves. It can remind us of something we've forgotten, encourage us when we're struggling or simply help us stop for a moment in the middle of a busy day and remember who God is.

That doesn't mean every Christian song has to have the same impact on everyone. In fact, I think we should celebrate the opposite. Different songs speak to different people in different ways, and what helps one person through a particular season might do very little for somebody else.

That's why I love discovering new music.

At LTTM, we're going to keep celebrating that variety. The big artists and the independent artists. The polished productions and the songs recorded with very little more than a voice, an instrument and a good idea. We'll celebrate the songs that make you worship, the ones that make you think, the ones that encourage you and the ones that simply make your day a little better.

Because music isn't about somebody else telling you what you should love. It's about finding those songs that connect with you, that become part of your story and, sometimes, help you through a particular moment in your life.

And if a song helps you get through a difficult day, brings you a little joy, gives you a reason to sing, or helps you draw a little closer to God, then perhaps it has already done something pretty special.

So perhaps we don't always need to overthink it. Sometimes you press play, something happens, and you just know that the song has connected with you in a way you can't quite explain.

You sit back, listen and think:

"Wow. What a song."

Sometimes, that's more than enough.