Interview with Matthew West
Matthew West, host of Gospel Dream 2008, works the crowd during lulls in the taping
By Deborah Evans Price, Senior Music Editor, Gospel Music Channel.com
Matthew West is one of those multi-talented guys who just seems to do everything well. These days the gifted singer/songwriter can add television host to his resume as he becomes the Ryan Seacrest of the Christian community by hosting “Gospel Dream.” West handled on-camera duties with ease and when the cameras weren’t rolling he joked with the audience and tossed out chocolates. During a break in the action, he took time out to play with daughter Lulu as she visited the set, and to talk about hosting a talent competition.
GMC: What do you think of the show?
Matthew: It’s a great show. The talent and singers here are great, just like, wow! I can see the pressure that the contestants are under. They feel like ‘This is my one and only big break’ but I’m living proof that sometimes the big break is something completely different. I told them that every competition I’ve been in, I’ve lost. Yet it was through the losing that actually encouraged me to get better and refine my craft, be a better songwriter. A lot of times it’s the things we don’t win, it’s the losing situations that define us more than the victories, so hopefully they can be encouraged by that and move on to bigger and better things.
GMC: What contests did you enter that didn’t pan out?
Matthew: I did the Christian Artist Seminar in the Rockies sponsored by Gospel Music Association. I went there as a college student and entered the competitions and there were thousands of competitors. I entered the songwriting competition and just got destroyed and I entered the artist competition and made it to the finals out of all the competitors, but I got third place two years in a row. I was just devastated at the time, but it motivated me to get better and by the time they saw me again, I was going to be more and more ready, but little did I know it was going to be another seven years before I got that deal. Those are some of the competitions that I’m thankful that I lost because if I had won, I would have just thought that everything was going to be that easy.
GMC: In addition to encouraging the contestants, it’s obvious you enjoy interacting with an audience. You were really engaging the crowd during the downtime and kept people seated and entertained.
Matthew: I don’t think a lot of people realize how much down time there is [during a TV taping]. On this show, they have the backstage interviews that are taking place directly after the performances and judges comments, which means that the people who are in front of me are just sitting there going, ‘we’re waiting. We’re waiting.’ So I try to lighten the mood a little bit and I had to smuggle some chocolates from my dressing room and toss them out. It’s fun because the audience is all ages, which is something I’m used to because my concerts tend to have that as well. We had a wonderful woman, Jewel, who was 85 years old and we awarded her "best audience member". She won a Twinkie, and of course she gave it away.
GMC: What do you think it is about talent competitions that seem to have captured the American imagination and fueled such successful TV shows as American Idol, Nashville Star and Gospel Dream?
Matthew: I enjoy those kinds of shows and part of it is because I feel like there’s something about being in on the ground level of someone being discovered. It’s like finding that diamond in the rough. The next time you’re just sitting in a restaurant, you never know if your waitress could be that talented singer. I think everybody has those closet dreams of stardom and to see somebody realize that, that’s just something really exciting to see. It’s like watching an American dream happen, either here at Gospel Dream or any of those talent competitions. [The audience] feels like he’s one of us. We like him. We support him and I think those are neat stories. The truth is with any artist, they weren’t born with a record deal. We all have that back story and I think these talent competitions to sort of allow the American public to be a part of that background story from the beginning. I think it’s interesting.
GMC: You sing, you write songs, you host – your career has so many levels. That must be gratifying.
Matthew: I think somehow in your career as an artist, it’s not just one thing that defines you. There are all these different pieces of the puzzle that get put together. It’s causes that you’re passionate about. It’s the music that you write and the things that you want to communicate besides the music and someday it’s a book. I don’t ever want to do a movie though, but it’s all those different ways of telling the story of your life. For me, I just find myself humbled by how many opportunities I get to share my life with people, so when GMC called me up, I said, I’m happy to be a part of it and I think the show is going to be a big success.
GMC: Would you want to host Gospel Dream again next year?
Matthew: I don’t know. Will I be the annual host? Maybe. I used to resist the hosting gig, but you know I realized that I just love people and I love communicating with people. I realize that sometimes that’s going to involve being on stage as a singer. Sometimes it will involve me just engaging with the crowd during a hosting situation and sometimes it’s me in a room writing a song. The thing I just find so exciting is to see what God has planned for me next – just to see the different places my music career takes me. The biggest thing is hoping that people are encouraged when they leave, so whether I’m hosting or singing, I hope they leave with a smile.
