A 17-song Album? Who Writes Those Anymore?

When you realize that you have written a 17-song album and the rest of the world is listening to singles. The story behind the music and how to pivot when you need to shift direction without compromising your art.

“Breaking Bread: Songs of Reconciliation,” my upcoming album, started with one seed of a song in “Nashville.” “Nashville” the song is about a woman who is trying to come to peace with God’s call on her life and being obedient even in the face of the unknown. As I listened more and more to the lyrics of “Nashville,” I realized that there were many other parts of myself that I had not healed and were still fractured, fissured, and left as open wounds. I wanted to desperately suture those up. There were themes about understanding how to treat me better, embracing who I am fully and completely, even if others don’t understand that; reconciling a long-distance relationship and where that will end up; a moment in time that you would want to capture forever and just have to let it go as it was what it was; parental struggles; heartache about tensions in the political arena and within society; and the hypocrisy within the church. 

There was a lot to uncover and root up and put a healing balm on, so I wrote and produced a 17-song collection of healing music with three distinct themes within the overall theme of reconciliation: coming to peace within aspects of ourselves, relationships, and society at large. I wrote and arranged the collection as if you were watching acts of a play, perhaps that’s because I love the theater and have seen 50+ musicals and dramatic works in my life. So, each subtheme has a break and either a prelude or interlude before heading into the next.

Finishing the album was a feat within itself and as I sat with the now-finished product, I was beyond excited to release the whole thing, it was almost like wanting to share a newborn baby with the world. But then reality set in that folks rarely, if ever, release full-length albums anymore, it’s just a change within the music industry and one that I wasn’t attuned to before writing and setting out to do this endeavor. I did not want to pivot from the overall collection because I feel like it should be heard as a collection; however, realizing that several artists before me (especially Nashville musicians) have written works as collections but have decided to release a few singles prior to the overall album’s release. 

Sometimes, you just have to pivot, really. I feel like releasing six singles prior to the overall album will allow you, the listener, to get a sense and flavor for the theme of the album and curiosity leading up to the final release. And it pushes me to tell a mini-story with the six songs that I’m releasing prior to the full-length release. Ideally, I would love to release all the songs but like a fine wine, sometimes things need to percolate a bit and will age well with time. For me and faith, I always believe that God has His timing in things and know that when the album is released in 2022, those songs about life’s journey that have not yet been heard will have grown wings to fly. 

So the next time you are questioning whether or not you have made the right decision, if your initial decision flies in the face of industry standards, look for another way to marry your vision with that which will help your vision take flight—I know I have and it will serve these songs well.

Michelle :)