A confident debut

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MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday July 29th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: a newcomer to Nashville’s music scene with deep roots in Christian music.

Artist Mary-Clair recently debuted her first full-length album. She’d racked up impressive streaming numbers before that.

REICHARD: In a conversation with WORLD’s music critic, Arsenio Orteza, Mary-Clair talks about the creative process and how the recent Michael Tait scandal has shaped her view of integrity.

ARSENIO ORTEZA: Mary-Clair Brickell’s album Enough feels unusually confident for the debut of a 21-year old. Mary-Clair completed a degree in commercial music and songwriting in May, but she’d already begun making like a pro. Her first single, “Heaven in the Way,” actually came out two years ago, when the idea of an entire album was just a twinkle in her eye.

MUSIC: [“Heaven in the Way”]

Mary-Clair’s father runs a music-management company whose clients include the Christian artists MercyMe, Cain, and Micah Tyler. So she has seen the music business up close. I asked her about that experience and how it helped put her on her path.

MARY-CLAIR: I was able to get a front row seat to what it’s like to be an artist performing. And I kind of developed a love for that at a very young age, especially being in a place like Music City. So it was just music 24-7 for me, and I really loved it.

One specific advantage of having connections in a place such as Music City—that’s “Nashville” for those not in the know–is that Mary-Clair got to meet and know influential insiders. One of them was the two-time Grammy-winning producer Tedd T. As a business associate of her father’s, he recognized Mary-Clair’s talent and helped develop her songwriting from the time she was a teen. Not surprisingly, he also ended up playing a crucial role in determining the final shapes taken by Enough’s 14 songs. It was Mary-Clair herself, however, who insisted on including the album’s only cover song.

MUSIC: [“Crying in the Chapel”]

I asked her why she chose to include a 1960s Elvis Presley hit on an otherwise contemporary pop album.

MARY-CLAIR: That’s just been one of my favorite hymns, growing up. My grandpa had it on the Elvis vinyl.

MUSIC: [“Crying in the Chapel”]

MARY-CLAIR: And I just always loved the idea of just a hymn that talks about, you know, crying with the Lord, because a lot of the hymns I listened to growing up were very grand and, you know, “Amazing Grace” and “How Great Thou Art.”

Another industry pro who helped out was the Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter, and vocal producer Julia Ross. According to Mary-Clair, it was Ross who contributed one of the album’s most disarmingly straightforward lines.

MUSIC: [“Pieces (Ruthie’s Song)]

It comes from the song “Pieces (Ruthie’s Song).” I asked Mary-Clair to elaborate on where “The weight of the world is as light as your heart is” came from and what it means to her.

MARY-CLAIR: That was written by Julia Ross, and…she has sisters. She’s the youngest though. And I wrote this for my sister. And I just wanted to give her a reminder that, you know, no matter what happens, don’t let it weigh you down. And whenever Julia heard that, she was—she wrote that line down. And I said, “Well, what does that mean?” And she said, “It’s just what you said, you know? The world can be heavy, but as long as you can not let it weigh you down, you’re going to be O.K.”

Another one of Enough’s more attention-getting songs is “Voices.”

MUSIC: [“Voices”]

Mary-Clair told me that “Voices” also has something to do with the “weight of the world.”

MARY-CLAIR: Whenever hard things happen to me, I struggle with the truth sometimes, and my vision can get clouded by, you know, those circumstances of everyday life, and I really try to figure out what the truth is and, honestly, just trying to read my Bible more. That’s the truth. But I definitely struggle with just, you know, who is this speaking to me? Is it me? Is it the Lord? Is it the Enemy? It’s just kind of a dance between that in my mind sometimes.

I spoke to Mary-Clair about one week after news broke regarding the sex-and-drugs scandal involving the former Newsboy and dc Talk member Michael Tait. Although she’s just starting her career, I wanted to know whether she was developing any insights about the dark side of fame as a Christian artist in light of the Tait story.

MARY-CLAIR: My mission as an artist is to show people of all ages that you can be a Christian, and you can follow God, and you can also admit that, you know, you have hard days. But the best thing to do is be honest with yourself and the Lord and your fanbase. I think you owe it to them to let them know where you are and to not put on this facade of, you know, “I’m this great Christian artist, and, you know, I love the Lord, and I never sin!” And that’s kind of the vibe that I get from some Christian artists sometimes.

That’s not to suggest that Mary-Clair’s debut doesn’t have songs that represent the positive aspects of being a believer. It does. In fact, the album’s opening number represents those positive aspects quite well.

MUSIC: [“Your Love”]

The song is “Your Love.” It’s one of Enough’s singles, and it has been featured on the Christian-music playlists of Amazon, Spotify, and Pandora. It’s also one of the reasons that Mary-Clair’s music has already received more than five million streams. So although her debut album is called Enough, it looks as if it will leave people wanting more.

I’m Arsenio Orteza.

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