Lakewood Music’s full-length sophomore album, Shout!, is available now. The project features fourteen songs, including the debut single, “Can I Get An Amen.” Lakewood Music, comprising Alexandra Osteen, Tauren Wells, Ramiro Garcia, Deborah Orta, Daniel Franco, Joe Catuby, Jamie Garcia, Arthur Ceker, Abel Orta, Jr, Alyssa Padilla, James Orta and Louie Garcia, is known for captivating crowds with their moving and motivational set of original music. The ensemble’s unbounded energy and exuberant brand of praise music is a force for love and hope. The group will be on tour this fall as special guests of Tauren Wells on his The Joy In The Morning tour (most dates are currently being rescheduled due to the impact of Hurricane Ian). In this TCB Exclusive, Alexandra reflects on the album’s title, how collaboration enhanced the project and what her goal is for the sophomore record.
I want to start by congratulating you on the group’s sophomore album, Shout! which dropped last month. Can you share how the title track represents the full project?
It’s always a little tricky trying to figure out what you want to call an album. Typically, it’s such a big body of work that has different themes and meanings and sounds. But ultimately, we went with ‘Shout!’ because it is powerful. If you’ve heard the song, it’s a powerful song, a bit of a rock and roll tune that you can’t really sit during or stay very quiet during. Our shout is our praise, and that’s what this album is filled with. There are so many different themes and genres and styles woven throughout, but ultimately, it’s our praise to glorify the goodness of God. The song “Shout!” plays off the story in the Bible where they walked the walls of Jericho and when they shouted the walls came down. It’s a reminder of the power of our praise. Wherever you find yourself, whatever season of life you’re in, or battle you face, your praise is important and can change your situation. I love the power that comes with it and love to sing it over my own life and the lives of others when leading worship. You never know what someone is facing and there is lot of power in joining together and singing an anthemic song that says “shout until the walls come down.”
Is there a track, or lyric, that you’ve been surprised by how listeners have responded and interacted with?
There is one song on the album called “This Is The Day.” I love the song, and it’s a fun pop song. It comes from the scripture “this is the day the Lord has made.” I have seen such a beautiful, positive response to the song. I didn’t expect people to grab ahold to it as they have. I think for myself, and others, it’s a great song to set the tone for your day, your church service. It is so declarative, and every day you don’t always feel like you want to rejoice, but to sing the words, and that life over yourself, is powerful. That’s one that has been very cool to see people loving!
Are there any personal highlights that stand out to you from the writing and recording of the tracks for this collection?
There are so many good memories and great times from creating this project! But one of my personal favorites was writing “Come To Me.” It was a fun time writing with myself and a guy on our team, Louie Garcia. And we got to work with two amazing writers Patrick Mayberry and David Moffitt. We wrote the song last summer and it was one of those experiences that felt that the idea just came so beautifully. And for me, it’s a personal song. The song is based off the scripture “come to me all who are weary and carry heavy burdens.” It’s a relevant reminder for me and so many, that Jesus always has His arms wide open to us. There are no rules we need to follow to come to Him, we can just come as we are. The song is written from the perspective of our Heavenly Father, and I love getting to lead it with Patrick.
This project was influenced by many writers within and outside of the Lakewood Music group. How do you think the project was enhanced with these influences?
We do write as a team and have some amazing writers in our group and in our church, but we were able to find amazing people who are incredibly gifted and talented, and also have the best hearts. They worked with us to bring this album up and to the level we knew it could be. We felt so honored to get to work with so many different people. Dwan Hill was a huge part of this album, and Jonathan Traylor and Melody Noel wrote a song with us, and that’s just to name a few. It’s special to get to collaborate because in Christian music it’s the same goal. People from different organizations and different places in the world come together to write a song to lift up the name of Jesus.
With this being Lakewood Music’s sophomore album, how does that impact your definition of success and how you view the project?
One thing that we are hoping and praying for this project is that people can sing these songs in their church. We write songs for our church, but then we write for the body of Christ and believers. There is a lot of power in these songs. They’re fun and upbeat, but also meaningful and worshipful. Not for us that they are our songs, but that the power of the songs could move beyond the walls of our church in Houston. But it’s a blessing to release music and do stuff like this, so it’s a blessing in itself.
You’ll be heading out on tour with Tauren Wells later this year and into next year. What are you looking for on those nights?
We feel so honored and excited to be going on tour with Tauren Wells! I think it’s going to be a super awesome opportunity to meet so many people and share this music with so many people that would never have heard it, or us as a group. It’s cool to be able to perform live because there is so much heart behind seeing the people and the worship. I’m excited to share it all across the US!
Are you planning to continue the conversation with sharing these songs and stories in other mediums?
We definitely want to do that. This album we recorded live, so all the songs have live components to them. We are starting to roll these out on YouTube. And then of course, we try to be active and share on our social media about the songs and create more connection with people and the heart of what it means to us.
What are you most expectant for in the remainder of 2022 and into 2023?
With the tour, we are all really looking forward to, and continuing to write and see what God can bring out of us as a group of writers and musicians. We just released this album, but we already want to start working on the next because we want to be open and ready for what God wants to say through us and use us to do.
