think it’ s so delightful. For so many years I tried to fit in and tried to, I don’ t know, be cool.
And I’ m really enjoying embracing some of the more awkward aspects of who I am and what the genre is. If I’ m allowed to call it a genre, normally I push back on even calling it a genre. I think it’ s a heart condition and a posture, not a genre. But anyway, I just got into the weeds there. I don’ t know if I answered your question
[ WM ] Very well. You did. The labels made it a genre. The labels made it a bin card. But this is great because this is what I suspected what you’ re talking about. Now you’ ve released two versions of Cosmic Supreme, a standard album version, and a deluxe supreme version which contains a huge amount of material. Like the editing process in making movies. There’ s often a lot of film left on the floor. And so, I’ d love for you to tell us about the differences between the standard and the deluxe versions and what was left on the floor. I’ ll call to a few of the songs individually in just a bit.
[ John Mark ] Sure. So, we pretty much finished every song. We went in to record and we released every song that we had gone in to record for this album. A lot of artists will show up with a lot of songs and they’ ll pick their favorites. I’ ll have multiple ideas, but I showed up with 10 finished songs, and those are the main songs that are on the album. So, we have the 10 songs, and we have four live versions, we have four acoustic versions. And I put the instrumentals in there too. And the idea was that over the years I’ ve connected with so many different people doing so many different things. I thought it’ d be really exciting to have different versions of the song. Some people want to hear the lyrics. I thought let’ s do the acoustic versions, mostly an acoustic guitar and the lyrics, and then other people. I wanted to show people that I wanted to demonstrate that it is worship music. And I feel like one of the best ways to do that is to do it. And so that’ s what the live version is all about, is I just want to show people this is something I hope they can get a vision to.
The instrumentals are just cool. I was like, let’ s, let’ s just put them out there too. Maybe people can sing along with them with their friends or with their family. Maybe you can put it on in
the car and listen to it. The supreme, supreme, version is all of that together. And we released it initially with three different singles. And every two weeks I’ d give people something new and then they’ re like, what are we going to do with it? Let’ s just put it all together on a deluxe version. They’ re like, what are we going to call it? And I was like, I think we have to call it the Supreme version.
[ WM ] Well, I dig your song,“ Beauty of the Lord” because it has great lyrical imagery. And the term born again, we don’ t hear often anymore. There’ s no megachurch here, there’ s no projection mapping or fancy lighting, no smoke, no dancers, but you do have an overhead projector on stage. In marketing terms, you have zagged when others have zigged. John Mark McMillan- Beauty Of The Lord [ Official Lyric Video ] John Mark McMillan | Ancient Love- Live
John Mark McMillan | All My Life- Live
[ John Mark ] Yep. Thank you. That part of it is fun. And I think one of the roles of an artist in the world, but especially as a believer, one of the roles as an artist is not just to bring people new things, because if you think about it, nothing’ s really new. Artists don’ t really create anything. They really just move things around.
If you’ re a painter, you’ re moving paint around. you might make your paint, but you make it from real things. Creators don’ t create as much as we take preexisting things and move them around so that they can be seen differently or again, for the first time. And so that’ s what I wanted to do. How can I remind people of something that they once loved that maybe they either forgot that they loved or maybe have thought they moved on from? And so I was like, well, maybe the play is to show people some old images that remind them of another time in their life and do it in a way where they don’ t feel like I’ m trying to impress them as much as I’ m just trying to embrace the awkwardness of it. So yeah, it’ s kind of silly to have an overhead projector on the stage, but it’ s funny how many people have commented about that. They remember being a kid and remember being excited and both terrified that they were going to miss the cue.
[ WM ] And I really like the song,“ Ancient Love”, It’ s was immediately accessible for me as a worshiper. It’ s a great song.
[ John Mark ] Thank you. Thank you so much.
[ WM ] And“ All My Life” is a great 6 / 8 tune with a fabulous surprise chorus. I didn’ t expect you were going to hit me that hard. Again, a song that will immediately connect with believers. What can you tell us about this song?
[ John Mark ] I found myself having made a big circle, and I’ m back where I started, but also in a new place or with new eyes or something. And I was like, oh my gosh. It started when I was seven. I was like, and this thing has been with me my whole life. This desire to want to have this connection to God has been with me 10 May 2025 Subscribe for Free...