The long-standing debate over secular versus sacred music and what’s considered acceptable in the church still continues. PJ Morton is no stranger to this topic because he once faced rejection from the church community over his decision to make the music he enjoyed. The child of gospel music royalty, the Grammy-winning producer, singer-songwriter talks about not limiting his music to one genre, his new album and why he wants his legacy to be about freedom.
–felicia j. barclay
- For people who aren’t familiar with PJ Morton, can you give a brief background on your songwriting and production credits?
- … I got my mainstream break working with India.Arie on her second record, Voyage To India [for] which I won a Grammy. Then I transitioned and started to work with Jermaine Dupri, Monica, Jagged Edge [and] LL Cool J. After I worked with J.D. I worked with Musiq Soulchild, Ruben Studdard [and] Mary Mary. So I had my hands in a few different things over the years.
- How would you describe your music?
- I call it soulful-pop music. I wanted to be soulful and touch people in their hearts. And I wanted it to be pop in the sense that I didn’t want to be limited to one group of people or age group.
- You also recently authored your first book. Who was your target audience?
- It’s called Why Can’t I Sing About Love and I guess the target audience would be anybody who’s ever asked that question or have been questioned about the age-old argument about secular versus sacred music. I
- Let’s talk about the new album.
- It’s called Walk Alone and I’m still talking about love and life and still trying to inspire people in their lives. It’s a very musical record. I still have the live strings and the horns. I want it to be clear that I’m a musician.
- What do you hope your impact in music will be?
- Freedom is huge for me. … I want my legacy to be that. I want people to understand that you can be free to talk about real things. Just because you believe in God doesn’t mean you have to say his name in every single song that you have. … I don’t want people to ever think I had to comprise the music.
