Jordan Feliz Explains Why "The Future" is a Gift from God

Centricity Music's Jordan Feliz releases his highly anticipated sophomore album Future today. The album is available now on Spotify, Amazon, iTunes and on www.jordanfeliz.com.

The Christian pop singer-songwriter's current single "Witness" is impacting AC radio across the country and climbing the charts. He can be seen kicking off the Winter Jam 2018 lineup in major markets around the U.S., and will be headlining his own "Future Tour" this April in support of his album release.

Jordan Feliz has rapidly become one of Christian music's major artists since the release of his first EP, Beloved, for Centricity Music in 2015. The success of his first single," The River," led to his first Dove Award, with Feliz winning New Artist of the Year in 2016, along with receiving nominations for Song of the Year and Pop/Contemporary Song of the Year for "The River." 

Q: Did you expect your previous EP and album to be so successful?

Not even remotely close. I didn't think it would be successful at all actually. You hope and pray things go well and that people enjoy the songs, but it's one of those things that is really hard to expect anything.

It was one of those things where you create something and then you pray that the Lord uses it in people's lives whether it's to one or a million.For me it's about keeping your eyes on Jesus and making sure that the things that we're striving for success-wise matches up with the success of the Kingdom.

However, I did feel a lot of pressure when writing this album Future. Because of the success of The River and the first record, it put an insane amount of  stress and anxiety on writing this next álbum. I went through a series of anxiety and panic attacks because I felt like I wasn't going to be good enough to write another record and it was never going to be what people would expect from me.

But I had a close friend who spoke truth over me and it was near the backend of Ephesians 1:18 that says that 'our future is found in the rich inheritance of God' and that crushed me. Realizing that with my eyes looking at one level of what the world thinks success is and then what that looks like myworld got skewed by this pressure from the enemy and I realized 'man I need to fix my eyes on Jesus and listen to Him; listen to the songs that He gives me.'

Future is definitely a gift from God.

Q: Did you approach making this new album any differently?

Yes. I think 90% of this record was made on the road, which is awesome, and I fell in love with that process. It's not like last time when I spent 5 hours in a studio and then leave. Usually we would have an additional cowriter come out for 4-7 days out on the road and we spent time in the back lounge on the bus and brainstorm, get creative, get inspired and that was really really fun to be a part of.

Q: Did you write or cowrite most of the songs on the álbum? Who are some of the cowriters and producers?

I did cowrite all the songs on the álbum. Some of the cowriters were Ethan Holls, Paul Duncan, Ross King, Josh Silverberg who wrote The River with me and Coby (Wedgeworth). I have two producers: Jordan Sapp and Coby Wedgeworth.

It was definitely a group effort putting this record together, and being able to have the Lord inspire it.

Q: What were some of the highlights for you in making this new record?

I think the highlights were acknowleging that the songs were a gift from the Lord. Watching Him give us things that we never would have been able to come up with on our own.

With the first record, it was as the Lord gave us tools to write the songs, find the songs, dig them out and put them together.  Whereas Future feels like every song is a gift from the Lord, He gave it to us and it feels very real and genuine, and authentic.

Q: Tell us more about your phase in, that phase, this phase in your career.

When I was 17, I joined a metal band called The Current Affair and we toured the country and did Warped tour and some other big mainstream music things and it was really fun .It actually was the point in my life that set me on fire for ministry.

The rock band chapter of my life lasted about four and a half years and then we all moved on.

It's funny because the lyrical content was all Christian lyrics, so it was really fun to perform and play things likes like Warped Tour and you know General market clubs and and we were talking about Jesus on stage. That's what set me on fire for writing more songs for the church and getting more into the CCM industry.

I'm honored to have been a part of that band for so long and I'm stoked that we got that opportunity and I'm also really blessed to be where I am now.

Q: I've been reading your bio that when you moved to Nashville you were pretty uncertain about your future what did you do then in facing an uncertain future? How can we face the future with hope when we are so uncertain of it?

That's an awesome question. For me, when we moved, our future was extremely uncertain.

We moved based on a call from Jesus and we felt like He was just telling us to go to Nashville. To this day, all the lessons that we learned on our way to Nashville and the blessings and the provision that He showed us still holds me over today.

There's what like 60 billion people (or something close to that)on the face of this planet and we all have different lives, different emotions and different seasons we are walking through.

Some people are dealing with divorce, some are dealing with the dating trends today while others are dealing with so many different things that for me one of the things I hold so tightly to is that our future is really just found in the inheritance of God, which is where this all started. That's the beautiful thing as Believers as we believe that God is Sovereign over every situation and out every season in our lives. That real yis like the undertone of the entire record - the fact that we don't have to live in worry. We don't have to live in fear because we believe in a God who holds our future and is sovereign over it even when we don't understand our present or past what's to come. 

We still believe in Him and that He is our rock.

For more information on Jordan Feliz, please visit Jordan's website, Facebook,Instagram and Twitter.   

 

 

 

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