Rhema FM had the privilege of catching up with Hollyn to talk about her debut CD ‘One Way Conversations’.
Tell me for ‘One Way Conversations’, many song writers will write more than what they need. For a finished release do you write more songs than what you actually need? What type of camp do you sit in?
In terms of a finished release for me, the past few projects that I’ve put out I’ve written a tonne of songs! For the first year that I was in Nashville, those songs weren’t really up to the level that I wanted them to be. That was mainly because I was developing my craft and figuring out my lane. I’ve written close to 250-300 songs in the last couple of years. Obviously many of them have not been included in my projects. But I love to be creative. I might even start a song and not finish it because I’m not feeling it, and revisit it a year later. I don’t have a small category of songs that I’ll pull from and revisit every now and then.
Do you see yourself being a song writer for maybe songs that you don’t use, but other people will?
Yeah of course I’d love to write songs for other people. I’ve written several songs in the last year for a few artists and have been involved in their projects. It would be awesome to collaborate with other people!
Has anyone ever given you a challenge for song writing, like writing about something really obscure? Would you take on that challenge?
Yeah definitely, I just think that would heighten your creativity! Nashville is becoming huge for film and TV music, so I’ve got a lot of friends who are in that realm of things and I’ve been to a few writing camps here in Nashville for that. You basically go into a room and they give you words to write about or scenario. I love doing that type of stuff because it gives you a narrower thought process. It’s always super fun – I’m down to write whatever!
I wondered if you could share with us the story behind your song ‘Love With Your Life’?
We wrote ‘Love With Your Life’ because we wanted to inspire people to love with how you live. Whether this is in your occupation, as an artist on the road, in politics or working at a grocery store – you can make a difference by how you treat people. Loving people well is such a priority in the Christian faith – I believe that we’re supposed to love and respect how other people think and live no matter if we agree or disagree.
It’s our job to love them well and show kindness. We wanted to make that call to action. Especially in our culture today when there is so much hate, we can battle it with love and be an example.
We touched on collaborations before. We first heard your voice on Toby Mac song, and I noticed that Toby Mac is now a guest in one of yours. How did that conversation go? Did you say ‘Hey Toby I helped you out with ‘BackStreet Driver’, it’s time for you to help me out”?
Yeah exactly. I love Toby and I’m so grateful that he got to be on one of the songs. ‘Go’ is about a relationship that I was in that was just not the best and I wanted to write a song that was about the relationship side of things, but also for anyone who is just going through any unhealthy patterns. He jumped on that song and they made it a whole level of fun, and polished that one up at the end.
What’s next for Hollyn?
I’m just writing some new music. I have a lot of stuff and ideas that I want to get out there – a new single hopefully soon. Just living life and doing some shows in the summer. A lot of my friends are getting married so I’ve got a lot of weddings coming up soon. It’s going to be a good rest of the year… hopefully travelling, singing some new music and having fun doing it!
Thanks for hanging out with us Hollyn! We’re excited for more music to come our way!
