For the record, my favorite Contemporary Christian singer/songwriter is Matthew West. I’ve followed his music ever since More came out in 2003, off his spectacular major-label debut CD, Happy; I love him so much that he has his own category on my website (the only other singer who has that? His labelmate Mandisa). The two albums that followed, History and Something To Say, just upped the ante for Matthew; each CD was clearly better than its predecessor. Something to Say, in particular, was a superb, stellar, incomparable album that birthed two #1 hits and changed my life in a way that no previous Contemporary Christian CD had done. So I have high hopes of The Story of Your Life, which drops October 5, 2010.
Apparently, the first single off The Story of Your Life is a track called My Own Little World. For The Story of Your Life, Matthew invited his fans to submit the stories of their lives, and holed himself up in a little cabin in the middle of nowhere to pray over, collate, and create new material inspired by their stories. (He also met a Cabin Mouse, but that’s another story.) He received more than 10,000 stories, and while I’m sure that certainly wasn’t easy, he came up with several songs that made the cut, so to speak. The new CD, according to New Release Tuesday, run the gamut of human experience, “from joy to sorrow, struggle to victory, and life and death.” Some of the tracks include Family Tree (which “describes how Christ gives us a new identity and legacy and life”), Broken Girl (which “tragically recounts the countless stories Matthew received about sexual abuse – and describes the healing and redemption that Christ promises”) and One Less, which chronicles the joy of adoption and helping those most in need. (Note to self: when the record’s out, compare One Less to Mark Schultz’s Everything To Me, which is still my template for songs about adoption.)
My Own Little World, however, puts everything in perspective. It describes the transformation of a person from one who apparently lives an apathetic lifestyle, to one who genuinely wishes to change the world for the better. Written along the vein of Brandon Heath’s Give Me Your Eyes or mikeschair’s Keep Changing The World, My Own Little World is catchy and inspiring, although admittedly, it initially underwhelmed me, given the quality of Matthew’s three previous carriers. (More and You Are Everything both topped the Christian chars, while Thirteen (Next Thing You Know) was a decidedly catchy song, one of my favorites; I will never understand why it didn’t go to #1.) But then again, I was also underwhelmed by Brandon Heath’s Give Me Your Eyes, which was a monster hit last year, so I guess I’m no longer the demographic.
Regardless, My Own Little World bodes well for the whole CD, which I will definitely order (hopefully off MusiChristian.com, which gets autographed CDs off Sparrow artists). If history bears itself out, and Matthew continues to improve with every new album, well, The Story of Your Life could be Matthew’s best album to date.
[audio:http://gannsdeen.com/audio2/molw.mp3]
Listen to Matthew West’s My Own Little World
[poll id=”21″]
MY OWN LITTLE WORLD Lyrics
Matthew West
In my own little world it hardly ever rains
I’ve never gone hungry or always felt safe
I got some money in my pocket
shoes on my feet
In m own little world
Population me
I try to stay awake through the Sunday morning church
I throw a twenty in the plate but I never give ’til it hurts
and I turn off the news when I don’t like what I see
it’s easy to do when it’s population me
What if there’s a bigger picture
what if I’m missing out
What if there’s a greater purpose
I could be living right now
outside my own little world
Wooh
Stopped at the red light, looked out my window
Outside the car, saw a sign, said “Help this homeless widow”
Just above this sign was the face of a human
i thought to myself, “God, what have I been doing?”
So I rolled down my window and I looked her in the eye
Oh how many times have I just passed her by
I gave her some money then I drove on through
in my own little world there’s Population two
What if there’s a bigger picture
what if I’m missing out
What if there’s a greater purpose
I could be living right now
outside my own little world
Wooh
whoa yeah
whoa yeah
whoa
Start breaking my heart for what breaks Yours
give me open hands and open doors
put Your light in my eyes and let me see
that my own little world is not about me
What if there’s a bigger picture
what if I’m missing out
Show me there’s a greater purpose
I could be living right now
outside my own little world
Wooh
My own little world yeah
My own little world woo
