CCLI
ARE WE LOSING THE ART OF SONGWRITING? W / KAELOB MECUM | Matt McCoy
Artist and songwriter Kaelob Mecum sat down with CCLI President Matt McCoy to talk about the art of songwriting and where it’ s at with writers today.
TELLING A STORY WITHOUT AN AUDIENCE [ Matt ] Do you ever feel like songwriters today know too much? They know what works, there’ s a formula for a song, what songs are successful, what’ s trending, etc. If someone that knew nothing was just given a guitar, I wonder what those songs would sound like.
[ Kaelob ] I wonder if we’ re losing the art of songwriting for the sake of songwriting. Telling a story without having an audience for it. Pick up the guitar or sit at the piano and write something that isn’ t inherently catchy. I think that’ s the part of songwriting that I’ m in love with. Even if it wasn’ t my job, I would do it anyway.
[ Matt ] Why do you think that a lot of worship music sounds so similar?
[ Kaelob ] I’ ve wrestled with this thought a bunch of times. In the writing rooms, we always talk about this. I think it’ s because we have so much access to songs that“ work” and are at the top of CCLI. We have incredible examples of great worship songs with a few prominent artists. Their songs have a specific sound for their church, and because we’ re so inundated with the music from their church, I think we create that as the goal. We are moved by these songs from amazing crews, and then we try to implement them and recreate them without even realizing it.
INSPIRATION VS IMITATION [ Matt ] I think that’ s true. As a worship leader, I’ m playing songs that I see are impactful and I’ m inspired by them. That’ s probably true with any type of art. Where is the line though from writing from being inspired and writing from imitation?
[ Kaelob ] Every church has something beautiful about where they are and where they are in their faith journey. We always say,“ What’ s the sound of your church or community?” I also think that sometimes we can neglect asking,“ What is God doing in your life?” and marrying that with what God is doing in the church.
The Senior Pastor at 7 Hills, Marcus Mecum, is my uncle, and I’ ll quote him. He says,“ If you’ re trying to write for everybody, you’ re not going to write for anybody.” He uses the example of the single mom in the room who’ s barely getting by and asks you to think about what she hears and what she’ s going through. How can you bring that together? Being open and honest about what God is doing in you, and then writing a song, and not worrying about if a chorus is“ ultra hooky” and the bridge is“ repeatable”. Because those things will happen. If you write as many songs as possible, the song that resonates globally will happen eventually. But that can’ t be the goal. Just keep writing for the Lord.
Click here to watch the full interview.
Be sure to listen to Kaelob Mecum’ s new album The River, wherever you stream music. Resources for leading these songs at your church are available on SongSelect and Loop Community.
Matt McCoy Matt is the President of CCLI and the Founder of LoopCommunity. com. He’ s also a worship leader and passionate about building simple, powerful, and affordable technology for churches and worship teams. www. ccli. com 64 October 2026 Subscribe for Free...