Naomi Raine of Maverick City Music Talks Inspiration Behind Solo Album, ‘Journey’
By Movieguide® Staff
Grammy award-winning gospel artist Naomi Raine recently discussed her latest album, “Journey: The Acoustic Sessions” and how it reflects her personal journey of faith and mental health.
The singer and songwriter released the album on Oct. 5 of last year, and is a multi-Grammy winner through her individual work and her work with the worship music collective Maverick City Music.
“‘Pending Emotions’ and ‘Paper Plates’ [are] really about my discovery of the fact that I was emotionally constipated. That’s what I call it,” Raine told ‘City Lights’ host Lois Reitzes in a recent interview. “I was overly regulating my emotions. I was stifling and avoiding conflict and avoiding anything that looked like it would make me emotional. And so because of that, I realized that I had opted for a life of convenience and not wanting to deal with people and relationships that were super important. I would rather just run out and get a new friend instead of working on an old friendship.”
“We get to ‘Hold On,’ which is a song about my marriage and relationship, and it’s saying, ‘Hey, even though like there’s not a lot of ‘definites’ here, we don’t know how things are going to go in life, but we know we’re going to hold on to one another,’” she said of the track. “And it goes into ‘Good Story,’ and ‘Good Story’ is about really leaning into the fact that every couple, every relationship has a story… It’s not just like, ‘Yay, they were happy they got together, and they laughed, the end.’ That’s not how it goes.”
“There’s always some point of conflict or some problem that arises that has to be solved, and ‘Good Story’ is basically saying, ‘Let’s tell our story,’ and we know we (are) overcome by the blood of the lamb, but also the word of our testimony, and so there’s strength and power in telling the story,” she added. “And ‘Brand New’ is that exhale. It’s just the deep breath at the end of the project, and it’s like, ‘Oh, I actually went through the journey. I made it, I survived, and I’m okay.”
Raine said that she spends a lot of time in the car to pray and talk to the Lord.
“I wanted to just kind of talk like I would talk in the car with my friends, and most of my prayer time I have in the car. Of course, I pray at home when I’m in the bed in the morning, but also, I go in my car to pray, and so I spend a lot of my time in the car talking to the Lord,” she said of the track “Let Go (Car Chat).”
“What you hear is me just literally pressing record in my car, and driving, and I just try to keep it as real and authentic as I possibly could,” Raine added. “I didn’t try to plan it out at all – just kind of gave the truth.”
Movieguide® previously reported of Raine:
You may know Naomi Raine from Maverick City Music hits like “Jireh” and “Promises.”
However, God’s call on Raine to sing came at two years old when she performed in her first concert. By the age of 7, she wrote her first song. Since then, Raine has won a Billboard Music Award, Dove Award, Stellar Award, and a Grammy Award.
The 35-year-old recently sat down with Relevant Magazine to discuss her career with MCM and God’s calling on her life.
“It was like living in something you dreamed about forever, but it was actually happening,” she said of her success. “I kept having to pinch myself. It was eye opening, too. I’ve always known that music was so much bigger than just the hits that we might hear or see. And getting to hear all of the categories, the different parts of music that were celebrated and awarded, was just really good. I felt like a part of the music community.”
“Honestly, we see a lot of super produced worship moments from artists, and that’s artistry, but a lot of what the worship that God receives is just singing or playing or whatever — and He loves it and He accepts it,” she said. “I think we’ve changed worship culture, but I think it’s really bringing it back to the beginning, and the basics, and what the Lord has always received from us.”
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