I have been waiting for this since I heard the song during the KLOVE Fan Awards movie event. He wrote "Never Ever Give Up" for a little girl named Brooke who was battling cancer. I loved it the first time I heard it and was checking YouTube every couple months to see if he'd released an audio for it yet. I wanted to listen! He finally released it on his newest album, "All In".
This post has been a long time coming, but album reviews take time to put together, and each time I'd come to post, I wouldn't have time. Better late than never! I'm going to review my favorite songs from the album (which may end up being the majority, we'll see :)
ALL IN We'll start with the title track. What I like about this song is how it truly is about every single person. West sings, "we're all dying to live, but we're all scared to death". Doesn't that just about sum up everyone? This song, with its message and beat, is a great foot forward for the album.
BROKEN THINGS You've heard this one on the radio long before the album came out. How does he do it? This song, like Mended, speaks to us when we feel useless to God. "The pages of history, they tell me it's true/ that it's never the perfect, it's always the ones with the scars that you use". The end of the chorus ties this song with the "all in" theme of the album as it says, "then here I am, Lord, I'm all yours". Wonderful, incredible song.
THE SOUND OF A LIFE CHANGING This is like a biography of West's life in a song! I love it. He starts off as a broke college student, attending a SCC concert (yes! :) and he hears God say, "that's gonna be you someday". How cool is that? Then it switches to him singing and "you're in the crowd, looking at me/ singing Child of the One True King" and he's thinking that any one person in that crowd could be experiencing what he did years ago. I love the way West is so humble about being used by God: "I'm no Billy Graham, but I come as I am, and you know that you can too". Any one moment can be the moment our life changes.
Oooh! Here's the story of the song!
1 SONG West has great lyrics, but he also has great music. This beat gets stuck in my head a lot. "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah" :) In '1 Song' the idea is that if he could only sing one song, it would be for God, but I also think it is a good reminder that we never know when our last is, so it should all be for God.
And the finale.... NEVER, EVER GIVE UP As I said at the beginning of this post, this song was written for Brooke, but I think it's going to encourage a lot of people who are going through incredibly challenging seasons. My favorite aspect is the upbeat music :) I can't help but smile and want to dance a bit when I hear this song. Added to it are the lyrics which are just so encouraging. Here's the song and then the video of Matthew and Elizabeth Hasslebeck surprising Brooke with the song. It's super sweet.
I don't know that I could pick a song off this album to be my favorite. I listen to all of these almost equally. Depends on what's in my head at the time. Usually I'm singing one of them and then I want to listen to the real thing. Hope you enjoyed this!
I don't know about you, but it's so easy to get sucked into my own head, listening to the lies of the Enemy. He likes to get us to dwell on our past; our own mistakes and failures.
Matthew West has written a beautiful song about Love (Jesus/God) based on 1 Corinthians 13 all about how if He doesn't keep a list, why should we?
Pull this out when you're having one of those days where you just are stuck in the lies. Love keeps no record of wrongs, He tears the list in pieces.
Matthew West is a fantastic songwriter and he has a talent for writing songs that hit at the very core of an issue. "All In" speaks to our tendency as Christians to get to a certain point and then stay there. We like our safety and our comfort zone and I'm as guilty of it as anyone. But West challenges us to go "all in". We want to live fully for God but we're afraid. As the song says, "this time the fear won't win/I'm going all in". This might become one of my songs for this stage of my life, where so much of what I'm doing scares me. It's out of my comfort zone, but I want to live and do what God has called me to do and the rest is up to Him.
Matthew West writes the most amazing songs. He just touches on the topics that so many people wrestle with and does it in a beautiful way.
I really like his new single "Broken Things" and I get so excited every time it comes on the radio. In some ways, it's similar to "Mended", but I see it as addressing people from a place before "Mended". "Broken Things" is talking about people who think they aren't good enough, aren't worthy to enter in to God's kingdom, whereas "Mended" is to people who think they've done something that has removed them from God's kingdom; something unforgivable.
Here is Matthew West's newest single, "Broken Things". Happy Listening!
Matthew West has a "new song". It's off his Live Forever album, but I just heard it last week. "Mended" is all about how God doesn't see us the way we see ourselves. It's such an encouraging song for those times when you just feel like, well, like you're too far gone, or too broken. Happy Listening!
There seems to be a theme among new contemporary Christian songs. A lot of them are focusing in the eternal and how this is not all there is; it's not even the important part. Matthew West has a really good song that deals with this topic and I hope it speaks to you today. Happy Listening!
Last night was the launch party for Winter Jam 2016. This is the
third year now that I've watched the reveal via Stagehop and I am very
thankful WJ does the live stream so that I can watch.
First
off, I'm not sure any tour will ever beat last year's tour. It was
incredible. But this year Matthew West is back and so is for King &
Country!!!!!!!!! I saw them for the first time EVER last year and
really enjoyed their live show. Sidewalk Prophets are always great and I
am excited to hear some more from Stars Go Dim (hear their song "You Are Loved" here ).
If
you want info, get the Winter Jam app (it's FREE). They will be posting
the lineup, dates, cities, and there is even a radio stream of this
year's and previous years' artists. It's a really great app.
Want
to hear something else cool? There is a WINTER JAM MOVIE COMING
OUT!!!!!!!!!!! How cool is that?!?!?! I guess it is coming out next
spring and I am looking forward to it.
Matthew West has come out with a new single. Honestly, as much as I love the song, the music video is half of why I love it. It is incredible and I can't even imagine how much work went into making it. Let me know what you think of it (the video and the song :). Happy Listening!
Sometimes it is really easy to get caught up in all the hype of the world's version of Christmas. It can be hard to keep Jesus at the forefront of the season. This song address that problem beautifully. Happy Listening!
