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THE MARY MARY INTERVIEW & CD REVIEW: It's all about 'The Sound'
Scroll down to watch Mary Mary sing their smash hit "Get Up."
Fast forward to 2008: DJ's at Urban AC and Hip Hop stations are cranking the synthesized pulse of "Get Up," an equally arresting recording that motivates listeners to be "go-getters," that could run neck-to-neck with any Rhianna jam.
What the two bangin' cuts have in common is that they were born of Mary Mary, the soulful contemporary gospel sister act, Erica and Tina Campbell whose urban-inspired sound was contrived by long-time producer/collaborator Warryn Campbell.
Since their debut album "Thankful" (released in 2000) Mary Mary's barrier-breaking music has had a twinge of spunk that suggested they were boundary-less, on a mission to saturate the un-churched with truth-telling lyrics and club ready beats, while never abandoning their breeding ground -- the church.
With their "hype" hair, hip hugging wardrobe, bangin' beats and relatable lyrics, Mary Mary's agenda has permeated perceptions about the look and feel of salvation. The unstoppable duo continues to cross over the spiritual bridge that divides Believers from non-Believers, as they introduce God to millions of unsuspecting listeners via their Hip Hop, R&B, Soul, Electronic and Pop infused vibe with the release of their fifth studio recording, "The Sound" (Columbia/Integrity Music.)
Each of Mary Mary's previous offerings cascaded smash hits: the RIAA platinum-certified Thankful (featuring "Shackles:); the RIAA gold-certified Incredible (yielding "In The Morning" and "Thank You") and RIAA gold-certified Mary Mary (which boasts "Heaven" and "Yesterday.") Their fourth album, "A Mary Mary Christmas" released in 2006 was also a success. Considering the sisters' best-selling purview, "The Sound" will likely be an encore award-winner, debuting as Billboard's #1 Gospel Album, #1 Christian Album and #7 Top 200 album.
As much as the Inglewood, CA natives acknowledge their gospel base, they want to be seen on the same level as other great entertainers of any genre. "We're just artists who happen to be Christians," Tina said.
Unlike any of their other work, their new project inches them closer to mainstream comparisons and might further step up their secular appeal because as a total package "The Sound" sounds decidedly like a pop album.
The album remains gospel by its incessant message that having a connection with God causes one to be triumphant. "The Sound" aims to encapsulate the spirit of victory with a hodgepodge of styles, both past and present. Opening with the warm female voice who provides their definition of sound assists with translating "the sound" on each track.
The journey begins with the title track "The Sound," a sixties-flavored number that could bring back The Jerk (a dance from that era). From there an imaginary DJ from "My Block Radio" navigates through the tracks. (This cleverly creative arrangement reminds me of the times when DJs played music that they or their listeners enjoyed because of the way it made them feel, not due to chart status or popularity.)
As the Campbell sisters rap/rhyme, "The God In Me" picks up on T-Pain vocoder-like expressions, the song "Superman" gets a visit from Hip Hop's David Banner, uber breezy "Seattle" and "Dirt" are easy-listening cuts and the heavy strings, bass drum drive to the off-beat syncopation of "I'm Running" looks back to the 70's. As the only two gospelesque tunes of the album "I Worship You" and "It Will All Be Worth It" (which features a family of their favorite gospel predecessors) bring the ladies back to their soulful element. If the point of the diversity they present on "The Sound" is to show that they are just as talented and sometimes more so than the mainstream elite, the point is well taken.
It's one thing to sing about "the sound of holding on and staying strong" as the lyrics of the title cut go, but the Campbell sisters know all too well about crying out to God in desperation. In April this year, the group and their families encountered an unexpected health crisis. They were forced to cancel concert dates in Europe when Warryn —- who is married to Erica -- had to undergo emergency surgery to remove one of his kidneys where cancer was found.
Via cell phone while they were rolling to their respective hair appointments, I spoke to the down-to-earth pair about Warryn's outcome, their career, and their passion for "The Sound:"
Being marketable and competitive
Mona Austin (MA): How are you involved in your career development form a marketing standpoint?
Tina: We don't just leave it to chance. We try to be hands-on and very involved in the process. We hired our own Web team. We hit the entire United States and the rest of the world. After our hard work it's in n God's hands.
MA: Do you see yourselves as competitors along with the mainstream or is competition a "bad word" in ministry?
Tina: It's not necessarily a bad word depending on what the intention is. It is a competitive market. We have to understand this. When you enter the business of selling records you have automatically entered a competition. But the mindset and motivation and your views and passion and how you approach it can determine whether it's a bad thing. Is our whole entire goal and aim to sell a whole bunch of records and letting people know who we are? Not necessarily. Is our focus and priority more about making sure people know who we represent? Yes. It's not competition as in we wanna beat everybody else. We do wanna win ... but do we want people who hear our music to know who we're representing? Yes.
MA: You've won a number of awards including an ASCAP for the song "Yesterday." Speaking of competition, you ladies are judges for the singing competition Sunday's Best. Judging people who are praising God with their voices -- isn't that an oxymoron?
Erica: We're not judging their praise we're judging their talent. It's the difference between your profession and your business. My profession is singing and I want to be the absolute best at it. The people in the competition, that's their profession. Their business is to spread the message of Jesus. You can't get the message confused. Professional you have to be the best. You have to have the look. You have to have the sound. You have to be able to be marketed. But your business is always to spread the message of Jesus. I can't judge that but I can judge you professionally. People may feel like it's an oxymoron, but if you understand the principles then it makes total sense.
The Look of Success
MA: What influences the Mary Mary look and style?
Erica: I don't understand why it's so foreign for Christians to be cute. . .If I represent an awesome, perfect, incredible God shouldn't something about the outside of me reflect that as well?A nd we're trying to encourage women to take care of their temples, which means their bodies, your health to reflect what's on the inside. And that's the only thing we're trying to do. Now, we're normal, we're human. I'm actually on the way to get my hair done right now. I'm getting my nails done after that and ther's no reason for that.
Tina: Both of us had taken on a vegan diet after about a year ago shortly after I had my daughter. Never thought that would be possible for somebody like me and Erica and somebody who had bacon, eggs, potatoes and biscuits their whole entire pregnancy, I never thought I'd be eating tofu and soy protein, but I hired a chef who brought me food that was so incredible I couldn't deny it. Once I became knowledgeable and started reading up on all the health benefits of eating that way, I thought it was a great idea. It had to be the food that soled me. . ..
We have kept up a vegetarian lifestyle more so than vegan. It gets a little hard to maintain a vegan lifestyle n the road. We let beef and pork go and we eat chicken very rarely and drink loads of water and it makes a world of a difference on how you maintain your health.
MA: With your family originating from the South (their mother is from N'Awlins), once in a while you don't get the urge for some sweet potato pie or pralines?
Tina: Oh honey don't get it twisted! We like all of that. We like dessert.
And that's where the challenge is, we eat salads and fruit at the t the end of the day you want some sweet potato pie or some cake and ice cream. We don't eat pork chops and beef ribs and all that stuff anymore, but we will entertain some 'lil desserts here and there. So that's where we're trying to find the balance. I have not found it yet, but I'm still searching.
The Sound
MA: What is "The Sound"?
Both: It's our music with the sound of joy encouragement, desperation, faith, passion and intensity behind it.
MA: "The Sound" is your fifth album, how does this one stack up to your previous work?
Erica: I believe it's our best work to date. I think as you go through life you grow in faith, you grow naturally, spiritually, you grow, you learn, you get stronger. So I think our subject matter has changed in that way. Songs like "Seattle" and "Dirt" reflect where we really are. At the same time we're normal so we listen to the radio, so you wanna be relevant to what's going on ... I believe it's a cut above the rest even if you compare it to R&B and Hip Hop albums, the tracks are amazing. It's not a good gospel album, just a good album. But when you add a good album with the power of Jesus Christ it phenomenal.
MA: At one point, Warryn Campbell, who is the producer had a health scare.. How is he doing today?
Erica: He's doing absolutely fine.
MA: What was the motivation for the song, "The Sound"? It reminds me of Tina Turner.
Erica: I was driving down the street. I was just thinking what does it sound like in a person's voice when they are victorious. What do you see in a person's eyes when they are determined to leave the past in the past and to become their best selves? Sometimes it's just in a holla. Sometimes it's not a particular word. That's the sound we're talking about: what a person feels, like when a football team goes onto the field and they holla real loud because they're determined to win. They're not saying 'we're gonna win,' but that yell they let out lets you know they're ready to fight and they're ready to win. The sound that you hear when a person comes to that place is "the sound of victory, the sound of no defeat, the sound of holding on, the sound of staying strong" (lyrics from "The Sound").
MA: What do you want to say to your listeners with "The Sound"?
Erica: It's no longer to time to just exist. It's time to live. It's time to soar. It's no linger time to just have a dream. It's time to walk in expectation of that dream and take nothing less than the manifestation of that dream. With faith and persistence nothing is impossible with the Almighty. That's what we're trying to portray with this CD.
MA: You have an array of other gospel acts on the album. How did you decide who you wanted to work with on this project?
Tina: We didn't really think it out that hard. We just had a list of people who we loved growing up. . .fortunately everyone said yes. all of the were people we wanted to be like. We call this our "dream come true song." Our parents only let us listen to gospel music in the house so we learned from them (It Will All Be Worth it features Karen Clark Sheard, Dorinda Clark Cole, Rance Allen, Andrae Crouch, Joe Ligon of the Mighty Clouds of Joy, Walter Hawkins, Tramaine Hawkins). What's more awesome than that is we caught it all in the DVD. Me and Tina are just overwhelmed with emotion because you're standing here with people you've admired all your lif.e Yes, they were all our idols.
MA: How did you pick up on R&B, Hip Hop, mainstream, secular music?
Tina: The streets we were on is where Hip Hop came from. You know what I mean? Our parents just didn't allow it in the house. WE heard it in the neighborhood. WE heard it at school. We heard it in cars driving down the street. We just weren't allowed to listen to it inside of our own home. And the reason behind that, my mom explained later on is.. . .some of the songs could be planting messages subliminally that were above your child's level of understanding that would be introducing you to subjects that your parents weren't ready for you to be introduced to.. So for that reason my mom was like, 'I think you can't go wrong with gospel so we'll just stick to gospel.'
The lead song form the Sound, "Get Up" will be played on Ugly Betty this week. It was also the track used in the post election piece on the Tom Joyner Show. Stay up to date on "the wonderful world of Mary-Marydom" as Tina calls it, by logging on to www.ilovemarymary.com. Mary Mary is anticipating the 2009 release of their bath and body line "Be You By Mary Mary," which will be available in participating Walmart stores nationwide around Valentine's day.
Watch Mary Mary perform "Get Up":
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