About Jordan Feliz
Say It
Thereâs a subtle shift that happens in an artistâs life when they start to achieve any amount of success. Itâs almost imperceptible at first. Private life turns public. Empty calendars turn full. Rest turns obsolete. And the pressure heats up. Christian pop artist Jordan Feliz has experienced this firsthand. So much so, in fact, that Feliz was forced to pump the breaks. âI just kind of realized how much I was holding my career almost as an idol above God and above my family. I really lost myself,â the singer candidly admits. âAll of a sudden, I hit a wall, and I kind of self-destructed.â
Prior to detonating the grenade, Feliz was on topâof everything. His first radio single, âThe Riverââthe title track from his critically-acclaimed Centricity Music debutâbecame a smash hit. Spending an unprecedented 12 weeks at No. 1, the chart-topping single was named ASCAPâs âChristian Music Song of the Yearâ and garnered Feliz his first Gold certification. Each of his six subsequent radio singles has landed in the Top 10 with âWitnessâ notching a second No. 1 for the singer. In addition, Feliz has been nominated for five Dove Awards, taking home the trophy for 2016âs âNew Artist of the Year.â Heâs toured with some of the biggest names in Christian music, including TobyMac, for KING & COUNTRY, Matthew West, Michael W. Smith and Crowder, among others; and in a short time, heâs risen to headliner status. When his highly-anticipated sophomore LP, FUTURE, released in 2018, it debuted at the top of the Billboard Christian Albums chart.
Not only was his career on the fast track, but his personal life was rapidly changing, as well. Feliz and his wife, Jamie, welcomed their second child; and now, the father of two had to learn how to balance family and career on an even greater scale. The stress of it all was, simply, too much. Like anyone carrying the weight of the spotlight and the livelihoods of multiple families on his shoulders, he found himself on the brink of shutting down.
Success began to feel less like a blessing and more like a burden, bringing with it a spiral of anxiety and fear that resulted in Feliz experiencing the first panic attack of his life. âItâs like all your dreams kind of get handed to you, but thereâs really no fulfillment in it, and I realized that it was because everything was out of alignment for me,â the singer reveals. âNothing was in the right place in my heart or in my mind. I felt like I was letting a lot of people down.â
Once the singer began opening up to his family about his emotions, he was able to better assess the collateral damage and then take the necessary steps to prevent it from destroying him. âI realized the answer and the solution were right in front of me,â Feliz says. âIt just took me saying, âJesus, I need help. I canât do this by myself.ââ
Surrender gave way to what Feliz can only describe as a miracle as he invited God into his anxiety and allowed Him to realign His priorities. So it was with a renewed sense of identity and purpose that the hitmaker re-entered the studio to craft his third full-length project, Say It.
Ironically, he found himself at a loss for words. âBefore we started working on new music, I started asking the Lord to give me something to say, and I felt like He just said, âSay everything thatâs on your heart. Say everything that youâve been through. Be as vulnerable as possible. Tell the world the thing that youâre terrified to tell the world,ââ Feliz says. âI think sometimes the things youâre scared to bring to people are most likely the most impactful.â
So Feliz did the scary thing. He wrote from real life experience. He set his struggles to melody, and Say It became a testament to the way God had reached down and pulled him out of a difficult period. Although the previous season might have been shrouded in darkness and confusion, sonically, Say It is full of vibrant light and clear direction.
Co-produced by Felizâs longtime collaborator Colby Wedgeworth and Jordan Mohilowski, his latest studio effort serves up a healthy blend of pop, Gospel and soul and offers some of Felizâs most transparent lyrics to date.
Lead single âGlorifyâ takes listeners to church with a powerful Gospel choir backing Felizâs recognizable falsetto. In the vein of soulful acts like Earth, Wind & Fire, Al Green and Sam Cooke, Feliz pushes the song into wooden pew, altar call simplicity with a soaring praise-heavy chorus and signature propulsive beats. Two remixed versions are also included on Say It, featuring TobyMac and Terrian and Lecrae and Hulvey.
âI donât know if Iâve ever been as excited for a song as I am for this one,â Feliz says of the upbeat track. âGlorify means âpraise and worship,â but the sub-context of the word actually is to acknowledge and reveal the majesty and splendor of God by oneâs actions. For me, coming out of this hard season of anxiety and stress and messed up priorities, now all I want my life to do is to glorify. I want to reveal the majesty of God by my actions.â
âGlorifyâ might be more proclamation than confession, but other tracks on Say It find Feliz mining personal gold. Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than on the poignant âWounds,â which reveals the singer working through a past trauma. âOver the span of about a year, God was restoring me and making me new, and I realized that I hadnât dealt with an old woundâsomething that I had been holding on to for a really long time,â he shares. âIâm realizing that itâs such a common thing to have a really, really deep cut on your heart that people donât want to take to Jesus. Itâs almost like we feel like God wonât love us if we do; but I believe in a God who, when we invite Him into those places, He will heal us. He will remove those things, and He will replace them with Himself.â
âWhen I Say My Prayersâ also takes a vulnerable turn. Written in part about the miscarriage Feliz and his wife suffered before they had their daughter Jolie and son Judah, the song explores the universal sentiment of lossâsomething he had just experienced days before penning the cut, first with the unexpected death of his cousin and then with the passing of an aunt.
âThe song is about losing someone youâre just not ready to part with yet,â he explains. âBut yet, as believers, we know that weâre going to get to see our loved ones again; and here on earth, we have the gift of being able to talk to Jesus about it and say, âWhatâs heaven like? Will You take care of him? Will You take care of her for me?ââ
Looking to the hope of heaven is a theme that appears throughout the new collection with celebratory opener âJesus Is Coming Backâ and beat-heavy âAnother Worldâ pointing to the fact that weâre born longing for a different home than the one we build on earth. âWe were meant to thrive here, but weâre not meant to be here forever,â Feliz asserts. âItâs OK to feel out of place. Itâs OK to feel like youâre not OK right now. Itâs OK to have all those feelings, because weâre human, and weâre meant for heaven; we were created for that.â
While his eyes are set on things above, Feliz is also focused on the present moment and eager to proclaim the message God has given him. âIâve worked harder for this record than Iâve worked for almost anything in my life,â he admits. âWith these songs, I want to encourage people to talk more about the beauty and the miracles that God does in our lives when we invite Him into our struggles.â
Rest assured, Feliz is practicing what he preaches. Heâs telling it like it is and giving God all the credit along the way. âI guess the reason why Iâm telling people to go out there and say what God has done is because this record is all about what God has done in my life,â he offers. âBut really, all that we need to say is this is all about Jesus, and if His name is not lifted up, then who needs us right now? Nobody needs these songs if theyâre not about Jesus.â