Worship Teams
The Importance of Collaboration with for KING & COUNTRY
An important part of songwriting as a worship leader is collaborating with other songwriters! Luke Smallbone from for KING & COUNTRY joins Matt McCoy to discuss his top tips for cowriting.
1. Come in with a humble heart
Choosing to collaborate when writing songs doesn’t mean that you aren’t good enough to write a song by yourself.
Luke: “When we first started working with cowriting, it immediately felt like I wasn’t good enough. I went in to a lot of songwriting sessions thinking that other writers were so much better than me. But now I know it’s that the best idea wins. The best thing you can do is to come into that room with a humble heart and recognize that today may be the day you have most of the answers to the song, or very few. But your presence and your voice still matter.”
It’s important to not come in with high expectations or focus on who is contributing what during a cowriting session.
Luke: “A lot of people get very guarded with your ideas. Don’t come in with an agenda and keep score. To the best of your ability go into those rooms with a humble heart and try to create something that you feel is honoring the gift that God has given you with creativity. And inherently I believe you will come up with better songs.”
2. Write with better songwriters
It can be beneficial to seek out songwriters that you know are more experienced than you and write songs with them.
Luke: “Write with better songwriters. Write with people that are way better than you and you will get better. If you’re the best songwriter in every room you’re in, you probably won’t write great songs.”
Matt: “How do you get those better songwriters to write with you?”
Luke: “Most songwriters can see a talent in someone else. Most songwriters, artists, painters, etc, can see a talent in others that was once in them even if it’s very young. Even if it’s just budding. Be willing to fail. You probably will get turned down by a better songwriter, but keep working on your craft and maybe a year later they’ll see that you’re still writing and growing. Songwriters are looking for other songwriters that are budding. Most of the time in music you go in seasons of doing well, and sometimes you have to recreate yourself to come up with fresh ideas. Those fresh ideas usually come from someone sparking something in them and that can often come from the young. Young and youth can do things that are naive, in a good way, that make experienced songwriters think ‘I never thought of creating like that.’ That’s why you need young talent.”
Watch the full interview below for more songwriting tips from Luke Smallbone!
Be sure to listen to for KING & COUNTRY’s new album What Are We Waiting For? wherever you stream music!
Download the Master Tracks for the entire album to lead the songs at your church on LoopCommunity.com.
