Back to Mandisa's Profile | Back to Mandisa's Blog
Mandisa's Words- Q&A Part 1
Posted on Mar 17, 2009 at 11:43 AM
Permanent Link: http://www.tangle.com/Mandisa/blog/view/37227
1.My sophomore album is called "Freedom" and I'm so excited because I feel like the Lord He does a work in my life that He's also doing in my music. And with my first album "True Beauty" I felt like He was teaching me a lot about where my beauty comes from and where my value in particular comes from. And I feel like with this album now that I have discovered that my beauty really is not a matter of how I look on the outside, it really is from a much deeper place, from within. I feel like now that I have discovered that and have learned that, that He is doing a work in my life in breaking me free form a lot of things in my life. So I would say that this album is definitely a reflection of what He's been doing in my life.
2.It's been two years since your last album "True Beauty", how have you changed since then personally?
Since my last album "True Beauty", I can say that God has taught me a lot about myself and about who I am. It was, on American Idol, it was difficult being surrounded by such beautiful people physically and feeling like I didn't measure up to that. And so I would say that over these last couple of years really beginning with recording "True Beauty" and its been a continuation. The biggest lesson that I have learned is that my value, it comes from the inside and it comes from who God says that I am. And being a recording artist and you know having been on the biggest television show in America, it can be very difficult to not measure yourself by those standards that society would set out for you. And so I would say that that's a big lesson for me and I feel like it's one that I have learned. I also feel like it's one that I will continue to learn, probably for the rest of my life. I plan on being a woman for the rest of my life and so this is probably going to be a lifelong journey for me but I feel like I have definitely made a lot of headway in learning the lesson about where my value comes from.
3. And how have you changed spiritually since your last record?
Strangely enough, I would say the way that I have changed spiritually has been more about God is teaching me that real beauty and real freedom and real joy, it really comes from serving others. More than anything you know being an artist it's kind of like I have lots of people catering to my needs and I think that I have had to learn that the true mark of who s great in this world it really does come from who serves the most. And so this has been, it's been a battle for me to be honest because I have so many people that are catering to my every need, it can be very difficult to say now wait a minute, God is really calling me to serve people. And you know when you're a celebrity if you will, I don't think a lot of people take on the role of being a servant no matter what you do but certainly as a celebrity. And when I think about it, what I'm doing through my music and through my ministry is serving people. If my music isn't reaching people and if it's not making a difference in people's lives then it's really not doing much of anything. I mean all the awards and all of the accolades, they don't really measure up to a whole lot of anything when it gets to the end of my life. The end of my life God is going to want to know, "How did I spend my life on behalf of other people?" and that has been the biggest thing that I have learned spiritually and it's something that I just imagine I will continue to learn for many years to come.
4. How have you changed as an artist?
I think that I've worked with some of the best producers that Christian music has to offer and that music in general has to offer. And you know one of the people that I have worked with is Brown Bannister. We worked together on my first album "True Beauty", on my Christmas album, and then also on this album "Freedom". And what I say of Brown, is that he helps me to be a better artist because he's not just a producer that is putting his mark on things and when you hear it, you know that it's Brown Bannister. I think there is a lot of that in there but more than anything, I think that he helps artists to really discover who they are. He's always wanting input on how a song should go and how it should lay out and how we feel about certain lyrics and how we want to bring those things out. And I think as a result of working with him I've become a better artist. I know more about my sound and I know more about what I want to do as artist.
Signup for a free account or Log in to leave a comment.