Where do you see music going in the next five
years?
To me it’s still all
about the song. It’s all about creating, writing and just making great art.
Great art sells; and people want an experience. You better be really good at
what you’re doing and get them a good experience.
How have developments in technology changed the
way you approach your art/career?
Technology gives me
the ability to create sounds in my studio. All of a sudden, I’ve got thousands
of sounds and moods and wind and rain and thunder and orchestra at my
fingertips. You can start to visualize and hear this thing in your head before
you get in the studio.
What hasn’t changed for you over the course of
your career?
I’m still Michael W.
Smith, and if I’m grateful for anything I think I’m just really glad I am who I
am. I haven’t succumbed to the pressure to become someone else. I have to
reinvent, but I think you can reinvent and still stay true to who you are.
What are your plans with your career over the
next five years?
My number one priority
at this point is to make the best record I’ve ever made of my entire life;
this’ll be my 21st record. I would love to score another movie. I’d
love to follow up the Freedom project
with another instrumental record at some point, and I’ve always wanted to an
album of oldies. Then I think that there is [another] world of film that is
coming my way, not only as an actor but as a producer.
What is your advice for the next generation of
artists?
Be true to who you
are. Be authentic, and don’t chase the next thing. Just be who you are, and
stay accountable. And when you’re creating, just let it be real.
“O Lord, You have searched me and known me,
You know when I sit down and when I rise, You are familiar with all my ways...”Almost 10 years ago, I was standing in a
Pennsylvania field on a warm night in June when these words, fueled with
emotion, urgency and humility, thundered out from stacks of festival speakers
and made their way into my heart.
And you know, I really couldn't believe it.
In fact, if I'm honest, the first time I saw Michael W. Smith perform, I was
stunned.
Expecting just another hyped up,
emotion-exploiting, main stage-manipulated rock & roll circus event, I was
literally dumbfounded when Michael stepped up to the microphone that night and
began reciting Psalm 139 from memory.