Jonathan McReynolds Talks Winning His First Grammy, Marriage, and more

hey jonathan rick reynolds what's up what's up i literally had to run in the house and uh interview you because i was out then my battery died i was like man i wanted to talk to you outside in the beautiful weather but uh i'm here he said what so yeah it is nice outside shout out to chicago for inviting me back with some new weather so you live in chicago do you live in california like what's going on here i live in california but sometimes i just show back up in chicago just to hang out and check on everybody oh wow that's major i didn't know that you had like totally moved there that's that's incredible i guess that's what happens when you become grammy status right you just kind of move up and out just needed a little break you know just needed a little change a new air i've been here for all 30 31 years of my life so you know just um you know expanding my world a little bit but of course your guy was always home yeah we're so proud of you and i know your mom is proud of you i know your kojic family is proud of you i know the industry is proud of you i believe and uh to be able to win your first grammy where were you at when you got the news jonathan i was actually on a trip in morocco um i went to morocco with um a friend of mine dawana thompson it's her birthday and so she had a lot of her friends out there and uh we were i was you know getting set up i told him that you know this certain point i'm gonna have to kind of set up and move to the side and and get you know on the zoom or whatever the grammy zoom and uh the time difference was crazy is uh i didn't realize that when america goes through daylight saving this time nobody else does at least not in morocco so i was all messed up my time zones were all messed up i was running late i was trying to get stuff together so i didn't even really get to get back on the broadcast to make an acceptance speech uh but i did kind of watch it i watched it happen and i told i told the whole group i was like i think i won and i couldn't be sure because i couldn't hear the sound or anything like that signal was not the best out there either so it was crazy but um i got a lot of text that confirmed that uh what i thought i saw really happened that's really cool and so when do they actually um deliver you or how does this happen you actually get the grammy award is that something that's melded to you how does that work eventually i think it normally takes about a month or so so as soon as you almost forget about it uh it shows up yeah i'm pretty sure you got a place for it in your house too to showcase it your first grammy and did you think you would get it for the song moving on i know you know when you recorded that you did you did it in some type of uncertain circumstances but um the song moving on that you did with molly did you think you would get the grammy for that particular song i mean you never know uh and i'm not gonna probably have my grammy my mother probably is gonna take it from me so there's no dis playing that i'm gonna get to have but uh no i mean you just never know i mean you never know um uh the way you know the grammys are set up i mean i think sometimes people um expect them to kind of always mirror what is happening in the marketplace or what is happening on radio or what's happening in a particular industry but the way the grammys is you know they get a fresh listen to these songs i mean so it's the peers they get a fresh listen to these songs and so uh last time i was nominated uh before this cycles was nominated when it was never singles never radio singles never anything but they just appreciated this song so much that it kind of worked its way up to to to be nominated and so uh you know this is one of those songs that actually i can say that this actually was a number one at radio and uh this was a single uh you know was a really cool and fun feature with my brother molly music who's also you know just a beast and a genius and uh you know somebody that brought something very unique to our music and our generation of christians and uh so i'm really honored i'm really blessed um i think uh it's you know gospel has been pretty tough especially for um you know some of us newer artists this new wave of artists um you know it's very easily uh it was very easy to be taken out by you know somebody who's in pop who just wrote a gospel album or somebody who's in hip-hop who just wrote about my gospel album uh just because of their popularity and stuff like that so it's really cool you know i i really didn't care if it was me or travis or ricky or anybody i just really wanted somebody you know who uh you know i knew i was really in the trenches of this gospel music industry to win it this year and i'm just really glad uh that i was able to bring it home that's good and you've been awarded so many opportunities jonathan i think about you you know co-hosting the stellar awards and also being a judge on bt sunday best and then the grammy and i mean you just you really have put the work in you know what i'm saying i just see your marketing i see your virtual concerts your events your connection with your fans and with your family and uh it just seems like the perfect situation when you consider all of that for you to win this grammy yeah you know i'm just i've been really blessed and i've had an incredible time uh hopefully representing well you know the body of christ the gospel number and my generation in it uh you know that's really been my my goal you know i don't think of myself as the as the as a perfect christian or anything like that but i do uh really relish at the opportunities to really represent us you know and and speak for us and say hey man i don't know what you've been thinking i don't know what you heard but this is what's happening over here i don't know what happened to you a long time ago at your old mama's church or something like that but in 2021 this is what christians look like and this is what we are talking about and this is what we're singing about and i just always i love those opportunities to do that with us in the grammy stage bt stage i'm just really blessed that um you know i've been afforded those opportunities and i hope that i'm handling them well you're doing well believe me you're doing well and i you know we got to come up with a name for you you know like everybody in that era had a name you know like the late james cleveland what was he the like the king of gospel whatever it was and then you have uh byron cage the prince of praise you know you have all these names so what we got to come up with something what what about like the prince of life music or i don't know something catchy i don't know i you know it's funny i was uh i was doing a shot what was that there's like a little kind of behind the scenes thing uh with with the hospital jackson park hospital uh for the stellars uh last year and i was standing there amongst all the the doctors and nurses and we were just kind of doing our photo op a little final picture and stuff like that and one of the nurses looked at me she said that young buck so because kirk has called me young buck so much on sunday best that's become my name to a lot of people so she didn't even say john i don't even know if she knows jonathan anything like that she just young bucks so uh you know maybe at least while i'm halfway young i know you know maybe i could be young but a and you you mentioned kirk franklin and i know a lot of gospel artists have surrounded him you know during this um um i just say this kind of challenging time with his son and i know i believe that you were one of the artists that uh reached out to kirk um and you just told him that that you loved him right and like many other artists that they're showing their support um you did personally reach out to him as well right uncle kirk oh yeah i mean that's my guy i mean we we and and he was uh one of the first to call me after i won the grammys and and and you know he's yeah that's my guy you know and you know when you know when you know a person's heart you know person's character in some regard um you see stuff like that and you you feel bad not not i wasn't embarrassed that you know it wasn't like oh man what a great stain on the church no because you know uh who he is and you also know how human you are and how if everybody is just recording and releasing everything that i do oh man you know this this could go down for all of us and i'm and i i so i pray that christians all over the place realize yeah you know you know we look at it and we understand that you know we we want to watch our language you want to watch the way we talk and respect and love and and train especially when you have a platform but we also have to allow for some level of humanity and uh you know i i i um you know it gets it becomes a slippery slope when you know everything you do and say could be released and recorded and uh been up for public consumption and then you have to apologize to the public you know for something that even maybe you just did to a person and you know perspectives different even on that so uh you know i i'm just praying uh for everybody's sanity everybody's peace because this is a strange time where everybody has something to say about everybody and that's tough that's really tough and i i don't think that people um fully or properly estimate how much that how much toll that can take on a person uh to have to live not just for themselves not just for their family but for the world at large that sucks sometimes you know you know so uh just keep everybody in prayer keep keep all the pastors and artists and people with the public platform with the public target on their back uh you know because it wouldn't even happen to him if he didn't have a target on his back uh you know that wouldn't have been the the way to even address the situation so you know we're just praying that uh you know there's healing in that family friend that there is um you know healing between uh he and his son and uh you know also praying that there is a greater lesson for the church here to learn both on the side of standards and on the side of the grace that's good jonathan uh so it seems like you've been out doing okay during this pandemic i don't know what what has kept you you know in a place of peace and maybe you can share a little bit about that or um has it been hard to like even like date in this pandemic like what what have you been doing this pandemic just you know just to keep yourself fresh to keep yourself sane keep yourself at peace any words of advice you can offer us what has kept you in a place of peace uh uh well i mean i think we all have scrapes with with losing peace sometimes and uh you know this has been one of those years where you know there are small successes um especially when you feel like you've done things creatively and you've been able to ride a wave and and not be consumed by it but then they're also you know it's just one of those things where you realize sometimes you're working twice as hard to get half as far because of how difficult things are so you know i always say again i know that cancer culture doesn't allow it i know that um you know having a ministry and a platform and and having to be publicly saved all the time doesn't always allow it but it's okay to not be okay sometimes it's okay to you know to to break down just for a minute just so you can give it to god and you can properly assess what is going on uh it's definitely you know hasn't been the easiest uh in any way business-wise social-wise nothing health-wise nothing has been easy uh since last march uh but i'm just really glad i think if you ask me what allowed me to keep my peace i'm just thinking the holy spirit in general did i don't think i even i don't want to give myself any credit for doing doing anything special i just think that uh you you keep your mind stayed on him as much as you can you recognize that you're not this is not happening to you this is happening to everybody you're not losing ground here i mean you know uh you know you might feel like you're not moving as fast as you were in 2019 but nobody is so you're not losing ground everybody's in the same standard in the same race and i think everybody's just um if you can get to a place where you're enjoying kind of uh experimenting and thinking of new ways to do things yeah and uh being innovative if you can get into that place where that becomes fun and not work that's probably you know the most healthy place and we've had my team you know me walter and everybody we've had a good time uh in a lot of moments trying to reinvent the wheel and uh for some of us creative people like that uh it's actually not it's not that bad it's not that good so so so what's next for you what what you working on i i don't want you to come back to chicago and uh you know we get we're surprised that you married or something like that like what's what's brewing what's brewing for jonathan mcreynolds like personally and with your music and with your career y'all gonna be surprised when i get married i'm not i'm not i'm not uh i'm not gonna hint at that at all you know that's another thing again you know it's one of those things where um people have so many opinions and so much to say that that that you know somebody like me i have to i have to manage that so i'm not gonna give everybody a whole bunch of time to hum and haul and say and give me their opinions about it it's just gonna show up you know look you don't look for me and i'll be gone and uh but no you know that as far as professionally you know we have you know i started the label last summer uh and signed dough um and you know we have a full album coming out this summer i'm gonna work on that album and and maybe we'll be out in the fall and we've got some other special stuff coming there's a movie uh that i did last uh uh taped um what november december and uh that should be coming out at some point this year you know um and uh on bt and uh yeah just a lot you know we're still looking uh you know for sunday best and all that other stuff i think the only the only hold up is you know can we find a way not to have to do it in the covety way that we had to do it last year we want to try to get it back to closer to normal uh but you know that takes a lot and it probably takes some good good uh you know uh uh participation with the government and the medicine and the vaccines and the black folks and everything everything has to come together for that to work and so uh you know there's a lot of stuff we got a signature guitar coming out this year and i mean just a lot of really cool stuff and you know i know that you know we make plans and god is gonna you know approve them as he sees fit uh but there's a lot of stuff we definitely have on a burner so i'm just really excited i'm really excited and uh hopefully you know we can continue to make good music bring eyes and attention over here here to the kingdom of god uh in a good light and um that's it i mean that's all we can do that's all i really care to do and uh when it comes to the personal stuff it's happening but y'all ain't gonna know about it until it's already happening oh you gotta let 187 you know you gotta know not telling nobody oh man i thought i was like i thought i was in a special club when it came to uh oh man but uh we just wanted to take the time to celebrate you you know chicago loves you and we appreciate you your integral integrity and just everything that you brought to the table has played to your music your humility um just you know you just make chicago proud and uh looking forward to um being able to see you here in chicago maybe having a big party of some sort i don't know when that's gonna happen but uh yeah we just we're just really proud of you i'm glad i could catch you you know you know your your career kind of launched at inspiration 1390 so you know you always got to come back home you know you know you always have to show us some love jonathan reynolds always this is the this is the first and possibly the only interview i've done uh you know since the ground so of course you got a special place in my heart i love my city and uh you know it's always just an honor uh to hear you guys say good job it's you know dc you can say it atlantica said la can said when chicago says it does mean it does hit different so i appreciate y'all uh all right i appreciate you so much love you man and i'm praying for you always and i definitely will stay in touch with you young buck i'm cool with it all right i appreciate it i love you sony love you too

Channel: inspiration 1390

Views: 10,052

Rating: 4.9270515 out of 5

Keywords: jonathan mcreynolds, grammy, kirk franklin

Id: S0rbC8jOygs

Length: 17min 33sec (1053 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 22 2021