LOOP COMMUNITY
GROWING AS A SONGWRITER & WORSHIP LEADER W / KALLEY | Matt McCoy
Kalley Heiligenthal joined Loop Community Founder Matt McCoy to talk about songwriting, her journey as a worship leader and artist, and her new music!
GROWING IN SONGWRITING
[ Matt ] Did you always want to write worship music?
[ Kalley ] I disqualified myself early on with songwriting. I’ ve come to realize that if I don’ t feel I can come into something and be the best, I shy away from it. I didn’ t want the learning process of trying and failing. I think for new writers or people that have that dream on the inside, it can be easy to look at people that do it and it looks so seamless. But the reality is it’ s a growth curve.
We all are learning and growing. Is it a call of God on your life, is He asking you to do it? If He is, He’ s going to get you there. We’ re going to grow in humility along the way, we’ re going to grow in excellence, we’ re going to grow in running back to Him and His evaluation of us. It’ s a process that takes time. I’ m so glad that I had the Lord lead me down it.
THE SONGWRITING PROCESS
[ Matt ] What does your songwriting process look like? Are you mostly writing alone or do you cowrite?
[ Kalley ] When we moved to Nashville I got to explore coming alongside worship leaders and artists to help them form what they were trying to say. I love stepping alongside someone and helping them figure out what the Lord is saying to them and how does that sound.
With these singles I’ m releasing, and the upcoming album, it was a big step to come back to write in my own voice. I got comfortable helping other people shape the way that they wanted to say something, but finding what I want to say was a journey. For me the challenge has always been the Lord saying,“ I want to hear it like you.”
ADVICE FOR WORSHIP LEADERS
[ Matt ] If you could give a younger version of yourself or a young worship leader advice, what would it be?
[ Kalley ] If there’ s any aspiration that doesn’ t start and end with Jesus, it’ s not what you really want. I would have told myself,“ Kalley, you can spend your whole life chasing good things in the name of Jesus, but ultimately none of those things are designed to satisfy you. There’ s no amount of people in the room or stadium filled with people, or chart you can reach the top of, that will ever compare to when His eyes are on you and when His voice comes and speaks who I am.” The thing that we’ re designed and made for, we already have in Jesus. Everything I need I have right now. I would tell her that. It’ s been a long process, and the Lord has been faithful to walk me through that.
Click the video link below to listen to the full interview!
Be sure to listen to Kalley’ s new singles wherever you stream music, and get the Master Tracks to lead them at your church on LoopCommunity. com.
Matt McCoy Matt is a worship leader, songwriter and Ableton Certified Trainer from Chicago, IL. He has been using Ableton and tracks in worship since 2002. He’ s passionate about creating new products and teaching worship leaders and artists how to use technology in live performance. www. LoopCommunity. com 38 August 2025 Subscribe for Free...