What she didn't know, was at the time I was reaching out to her about being a part of the song, we hadn't even recorded it yet. Truth be told, I hadn't even finished writing the song yet. When my team thebridge (Ty Steez, Aphillyated, JayTel) and I began working on Marathon once we'd completed our work on my big bro Lecrae's Gravity album, we started by getting all the tracks together. I had maybe 20 tracks that we'd produced that I selected initially, expecting to do a 12-13 song album. JayTel and I then went thru all the ones I'd selected, listening based on what God had said the concept for the album needed to be (see Marathon previous post), and pared it down to about 15 tracks, several of which we came up with basic melody lines for. Finally, I would sit down every morning in prayer with my Bible on the side of me, and ask God for direction, for what to write, for what to say, for what concepts to base the songs on. I then selected 11 tracks that I knew said what God had charged me to say.
But, for some reason, the track that became "Highest Praise", I wasn't sold on. I knew God had tasked me with writing a big worship song, that could cross racial and denominational divides to unite His people in praising Him, but something about this track we'd produced just didn't sit well with me. I remember when my wife Shaunta heard it the first time, she quickly said "NOPE! Next track!" (lol) Even JayTel and I, when we listened to it together again, weren't sold on it. I even told the team we needed to come up with another worship record, and we did...but for some reason I couldn't let that beat go. I prayed the next morning during my daily devotion time that if it was meant for me to write a great song to that beat, that God would give me the song. I then felt led to go to Psalms 3:3, which King David begins by saying, "You are a shield about us, O Lord..." Once I read that, the rest of the lyrics flowed thru, as though God had opened a musical spigot inside my heart..."You are the shield about us...delivering us from harm...though ten thousand fall at our right hand, we find safety in Your Arms..." Within maybe 20 minutes from the time God gave me the first line, the entire song was done, verses, chorus, core melody, everything. And I can't take credit for writing it, as I'd never written a song in this style before, ever. It was all God.
When JayTel came back to thebridge studio, I played and sang him the song, and he was tripped out that THIS song came out of THAT track. When everyone else hears the song, it sounds like the music and song were a perfect fit, but in truth, God made that all possible. We recorded my verse and all my backgrounds, and sent the rough over to Mayra, who replied that she loved the song and couldn't wait to come by to sing it. Boy, did she sing it!! When she dropped by my studio a week later with her husband Melqui and got in the booth to lay her lead vocals down, we had no idea what to expect. We knew she could sing from the YouTube videos, but had no clue as to the true depth of her talent. Once she got in the booth, JayTel hit record, and in her first take, she blew us all away. She was so humble, however, that even after leaving us with our jaws on the floor, she then came out of the booth, nervously, and asked us if we thought that was "Ok." OK? That was absolutely amazing. I'm not easily impressed when it comes to singers, as I have been around great singing most of my career and worked with some of the most gifted singers in the industry, but Mayra?? Wow.
As JayTel was the vocal producer for the session (and for all of Marathon), he had her go back in the booth to lay her adlibs. She laid 3 or 4 different comp takes (which means different feels and adlibs that we could then go back later and pick and choose from to make a final take), and it fell to me to finish my adlibs. We knocked the song out, and sent it to a few industry ears to check out, and they all unanimously loved the song and thought it had the potential to be a big record.
Tomorrow, at 7:30 AM, we begin the process of bringing this song to life visually. I am blessed to have a film director at the helm, with a full production crew, and as I type this, I am preparing my portion of the Call Sheet for the shoot tomorrow, with names and emails of every creative person involved in the video. I have spent the past couple weeks shopping with my stylist for the shoot, Merakal Birmingham, and have only last night officially decided what I will be wearing (I am passionately opposed to shopping of any kind, unless it involves bookstores lol), and am extremely excited (and, admittedly, a little nervous) about the opportunity God has blessed me to have with this project.
I'll post plenty of pics from the set tomorrow, and will likely blog details once the shoot is wrapped. Once the crew has finished the video, I'll post it on YouTube and put a link to it here on the blog for everyone to see, as we begin the promotional campaign to launch the album. Stay tuned.
Update, 12/3/12
The video shoot was an amazing experience, even better than I imagined it would be. Although I was the last one to the set Friday morning due to getting my oldest daughter on the school bus and having to fight traffic across town to get to Grace Community Church, I walked in to the crew having set up much faster than I anticipated, and already running thru the lighting sequences with Andre, Grace's lighting technician. I said my quick hellos and walked to the dressing room area, where Mayra was in the mirror applying her makeup. After a quick talk thru the plan for the beginning of the shoot, she headed out so that I could get in wardrobe. Once that was done, I walked out on set to my mark in front of the camera, and when I did, the entire cast said a collective "wow" as they saw the way the outfit my stylist, Merakal Crawford-Birmingham, popped on camera. The director, Dallas, ran up on stage and immediately commented on how much he loved the colors I was wearing, and proceeded to change the color of the lighting for the intro scene of the video from blue/green to yellow/orange, which blended even more beautifully with the colors of my wardrobe (I was initially going to wear an entirely different style of outfit, and color scheme, and the original color of the set was based upon that). Once he did that, and after Mayra's husband Melqui snapped what has to be one of the most beautiful pictures I've ever been in of me in profile from a distance on set with the yellow/orange lights beaming from behind (see below), it was time to get to work.
We began the shoot by running thru the intro sequence, which leads directly into my verse. The director was looking for me to be serious, and for the scene to be an intimate worship moment...eyes closed, non-pretentious, and wanted me to end my verse with a smile that would bring in the pre-chorus energy and showcase the warmth of the song. All this, in my first scene. It took us a while to nail the angles and for me to nail the exact range of emotion and depth of feeling he was looking for, but when we nailed it, it felt perfect. We watched the playback of the sequence on the side monitors, and it looked, unedited, every bit as beautiful and crystal clear (we shot on a Red Epic camera, a $70-100K + 5x 1080p definition camera, which was the same camera Peter Jackson shot The Hobbit on, if that tells you anything of the quality we were blessed to work with) as any video I've ever seen on MTV, BET, or VH1.
Next, it was time to do the scene leading into the first chorus, where Mayra is introduced to the camera, as we sing the choruses together on the song (each alternating leads). I had the chance to learn a few new camera tricks for the next video I direct (my last directing job was for my artist Rudy Peyrani's single "Wish You Were Here", which is up on youtube, and in which I play a small role as a military officer assigned with telling someone their loved one passed away in the line of duty), and had fun with Mayra, who has so much energy and talent that working with her is always a joy. We nailed the first prechorus, hook, and instrumental break before her verse, in fairly short order. Watching the footage back, I'd have thought we spent much more time working on it than we did.
When it was time for Mayra to do her verse and adlibs, I had to leave the church to go pick my 5 year old daughter, Taylor, up from the bus stop, and come back to the set. I anticipated the trip taking 45 minutes to an hour, tops. What I didn't anticipate, as I never drive on that side of town at all, was the traffic I'd run into off the Beltway and 45S near the church. It took us nearly 2 and a half hours to get back to the church, and the last 30 minutes of that time, we spent in non-moving traffic on the feeder directly across the freeway from the church, before we even got to the u-turn to go back to the church. Once we got back to the set, I knocked out a solo scene all the way thru, and then it was time for Mayra and I to do some shots of the "lullaby" section, as so many people call it. I call it the singalong portion of the song, which we created to be the part where everyone in the church can put their hands in the air and give God the "Highest Praise" regardless of whether they are able to sing or not, and I'd envisioned this section of the video being Mayra and I waving our hands as though we were leading worship in a packed church. We ended up shooting exactly that, and it's (without having seen the entire video) the most energetic part of the video.
The director called my 5 year old daughter Taylor up to the director's chair to take a look at a scene we'd just shot, so he could ask her if she liked it or not. Once she watched it, she cocked her head to the side (the same way my wife does when she doesn't like something but isn't sure how quite to say it without hurting someone's feelings lol), and I asked her if she liked it. She looked at me, and said "No!" When I asked her why (as the entire crew, Mayra, and her husband Melqui looked on for the reason), she smiled her big beautiful, mischievous smile, and said, "Because you're ugly!" Everyone, including me, fell out laughing! My child is a mess...and I love her little silly self. I said, still laughing, "Get your butt back over to your seat, little girl!" and she walked back to her front row seat with a big grin on her face. Score? Taylor 1, Daddy 0.
Mayra and I finished our last scene together with a laugh at the end of the video, and the director said, "That's a wrap!" to cheers from us as well as from the crew. The entire shoot, from beginning to end, took just shy of 12 hours. I should see the first rough cut of the video this Wednesday, and absolutely cannot wait. Everything about the shoot was beautiful, from the lighting, to the wardrobe, to the skill, organization, and efficiency of the crew. My last video that I shot, the camera crew showed up hours late, and didn't seem to care about protocol or professionalism. Although that video came out amazing, it was in spite of the crew, rather than because of them. I thank God that my first video shoot for my own album was nothing at all like that.
Below, I've included, as promised, pics from the set, as well as a video clip showing one of the takes of my first verse. The clip was given to me by the director Dallas, and he asked me to make sure that I state that the clip was unedited and from him. I think it's beautiful, even without any edits at this point. Definitely let me know your thoughts in the comments once you've had a chance to see it.
Unedited Clip of "Highest Praise" video (per director Dallas)
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| collage of pics of myself and Mayra V. Alvarez on set (pics courtesy of Mayra's husband Melqui) |
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| Instagram photo of us ministering in the video |
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| The original color scheme for the video prior to the director seeing my outfit on shoot day, at the beautiful Grace Community Church |
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| ...and the color the first scene was changed to based upon my wardrobe. Kudos to my stylist, Merakal Birmingham. |
#IMPECCABLEGRIND
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