joy mcAlister

"I HAD BEEN WORKING ON THIS CONCEPT OF AN ALBUM FOR ROUGHLY THREE YEARS AND THOUGH THE COLLECTION OF SONGS I HAD WERE GOOD, THERE WAS NO CENTRAL THEME OR LINCHPIN TRACK TO MAKE THE PROJECT COHESIVE. I STARTED THINKING ABOUT WHAT COMMONALITIES EXISTED THROUGHOUT THE ALBUM AS A WHOLE (A THIRD OF WHICH WAS YET TO BE WRITTEN), AND EVENTUALLY LANDED ON AN IDEA I COULD RUN WITH: THIS IS AN ALBUM ABOUT ALL THE WAYS I'VE BEEN WRONG ABOUT GOD SO FAR, HOW HE'S SURPRISED ME, AND MY COMMITMENT TO REPENTANCE, REGARDLESS OF HOW SILLY IT MAY LOOK, OR HOW EMBARRASSED I MAY FEEL. REPENTANCE IS FREEDOM, SO IT WILL ALWAYS BE WORTH DOING (NEVER MIND THAT IT'S OBEDIENCE). 
WITH THE CONCEPT IN MIND, I BEGAN THINKING ABOUT SPECIFIC WAYS I'VE BEEN WRONG ABOUT HIS CHARACTER AND OUR RELATIONSHIP, THE THINGS I'VE DONE IN MY YOUTHFUL ZEAL TO PURSUE HIM IN WAYS I THOUGHT WERE RIGHT (BUT… WEREN'T), AND HOW I'D LIKE TO MOVE FORWARD WITH ALL OF IT IN MIND AS I BECOME “A REAL ADULT.” 20 MINUTES LATER, I HAD A FULL SONG, AND THE THEME OF THE ALBUM WAS CEMENTED. I CALLED MY PARENTS IMMEDIATELY TO FREAK OUT OVER IT BECAUSE WRITING SOMETHING LIKE THIS IN SO SHORT A TIME IS ALWAYS EXCITING, AND THEY HAVE KNOWN MY STORY AND TENDENCIES THE BEST AS THE YEARS HAVE GONE BY. WE HAD A GOOD LAUGH OVER SOME OF THE CHEEKIER LYRICS AND MY DAD HELPED ME BEGIN TO FLESH OUT WHAT THE TRACK COULD BE INSTRUMENTALLY. WORKING ON THIS SONG IN THE STUDIO LAST SUMMER REMAINS ONE OF MY FONDEST MEMORIES. I CAN HARDLY BELIEVE IT, BUT TWO YEARS LATER, THE SONG (AND MY DECLARATION) IS YOURS TO KEEP!"

"it was August 2020 and I was living in Queenstown, New Zealand. I was taking part in a School of Worship at the YWAM base I had been living & volunteering at for almost two years. as I'm sure you're aware, the year had no shortage of challenges, and I welcomed the creative outlet of musical assignments which tethered me to my own history whilst living 8,700 miles from home - in the middle of a global shutdown.I found solace in our lectures & discussions, and relished the opportunity to grow in my skillset as a worship leader, as we wrote and led together as a school. I had long since buried my desire to write my own music after coming up with some embarrassing and rudimentary break-up songs at the ripe age of 13, but weekly assignments with my songwriting group bade me to give it another shot (under threat of a failing grade). we had written a couple of songs together at that point, and I found myself enjoying the process more than I expected. I started listening more closely during our lectures and pulling from my journal entries here and there for “hooks” that I could work into our songs to give them a more dynamic and theologically compelling sound. one day during lectures, as I was reading my Bible, a specific set of verses stuck out to me: 1 Peter 1:10-12. “As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look.” the final sentence hit me right between the eyes, and I pondered what it must have looked like in heaven when the Father told Jesus “it's time.” i scrawled out a couple of lines in my notebook, capturing my best guess of that golden, awesome scene, and kept thinking. I had been teaching myself how to play the keyboard for almost a year, and it wasn't uncommon for me to stay at the base late into the night practicing because I had nothing better to do. except that night, when I stayed, it wasn't merely to practice, but to write. those lines I scribbled down earlier morphed into a pre-chorus and I quickly began to fill in the rest of the song: God Among Men. I tinkered around with weird inversions and notes, finding the perfect foundation for the lyrics to rest in; The whole thing took me about 3 hours. while the writing process was effortlessly fast, the releasing process was painfully slow. but god is good, and faithful. 

Five years later, to the week, i recorded it with a dear friend. it was worth the wait. this is the song that made me a songwriter."