When you speak with gospel singer Shaun P, you don’t get that overwhelming feeling that you are a sinner. With some gospel artists, conversations turn so deep you feel the need to repent right there and then.
Shaun P is an easy-going kind of dude, but this does not mean he doesn’t follow his Christian principles. As you will hear on his latest album, Channel of Blessing, the singer has a deep spirituality about him, yet a cool way of showing it.
“The Channel of Blessing has been crafted from Acts 20: verse 35, which basically shows that it is far more blessed to give than to receive. Everything about the album is about living your life for the sake of others,” he said.
“We sing praise and worship songs in church and we love the Lord, however, Jesus said: ‘If you love me then feed my sheep’. How can we love God when we can’t love our neighbours? How can we lift our hands and worship? I am beginning to follow the image of Jesus and am far from perfection,” he added.
He believes that we are all created for a purpose and is using his life to inspire the listener to believe in themself.
“I was born to make history and was given dominion of power and I am destined to make it. I was manufactured this way. The very fact that I was created means God increased his capacity of love and provision. So this applies to everybody. I am making these declarations on this album. There are so many songs about surrendering all things to God. We learn from the Bible that as much as God loved us, so should we love each other. That’s where my heart is and where it will be for a long time.”
Shaun P admitted that although he felt strongly about making the album, it took him a while to figure out what he wanted to say.
“I had just been tossing and turning about songwriting, trying to figure out where I am going. I have had to self-examine the reason I make the music I make. I needed to know if I was doing it for my own satisfaction or for God. I want to believe it’s for God,” he said.
Some artists take the longest time to finish their projects, but once Shaun P had his inspiration to create, he could not stop recording the album.
“It took me about 11 weeks to complete this album, but it felt like two years. My producer is in Durban and I am based in Joburg so we FaceTime a lot to make music over the phone. I have a keyboard so I play as we try to come up with something. I craft the song, making sure the song is easy on the voice so that the ordinary person can easily sing it. After getting the melody I let him do his part and we see if it is what we really want, if not, then we tweak it,” he said.
Although most of the album has Shaun P singing solo, you will be happy to know he included a few other artists too.
“I met Mahalia at a concert in East London and it became a case of when and where so I was happy when it finally happened. Loyiso, too, was a joy to work with. We are good friends and he came to work on Most High God which we cracked in like two hours. I have a friend in the US called Darick L Rutley who also worked with me on the song El Shaddai,” he said.
l Channel of Blessing is at all music stores.