VaShawn Mitchell was born and raised in Chicago, a city known as the birthplace of Gospel music. His love for Gospel music led him to spend many years in his youth as a Music Director and then Minister of Music in the city of Chicago.
Mitchell will be conducting a live recording for his newest album, Chapter X, at Sound Board at Motor City Casino Hotel on Oct. 31 at 7 pm. This album embarks on the journey of “newness” with a new sound and energy that he expects his fans will love.
What can we expect from your live recording session?
This is what I’m calling Chapter X. After everything that we’ve all been through, from COVID to the loss of family members to just everything we’ve experienced the last couple of years, we don’t know what God is going to do, but we do know he’s going to do something. I’m trying to make music that will empower, inspire, and uplift those listeners not only today but for years to come that God is still the greatest power source. You should expect a lot of dancing, a lot of praise, and a lot of worship. More importantly, expect to say the next day “We had a time last night” because that’s what we’re going to have.
What inspired you to do this?
I haven’t done a live recording since Live in South Africa in 2016. I did a couple of studio projects and I was like, “I need the energy.” I needed the energy of a live project where you’re releasing new music and releasing lyrics that people are feeling and their emotions. I wanted to release this sound for the next phase of VaShawn Mitchell. When I was thinking about it, I realized Detroit is such a rich gospel legacy city. I definitely wanted to release this new gospel music and record it in Detroit for that reason.
What is your creative process when writing songs?
My creative process begins with reading the Word of God but listening to what I call the sounds of the earth, which people would take that look different. What I mean by that is watching CNN, listening to the news, listening to the mother on the corner talking to a child, and just listening to what people are going through or what they’re experiencing. Is it happy times, medium times, good times, or bad times, and trying to write music that will heal, encourage, empower, and uplift. Music for me is an experience and it heals, and it resonates for years to come, not just today. That’s my creative process, then we get to creating that sound from what we heard and it becomes a song from there.
