LOS ANGELES (AP) 鈥� In the nearly 50 years she’s been working as a musician, has repeatedly resisted the labels others have sought to put on her. It’s difficult to overstate the influence the crossover Christian-pop artist had on culture 鈥� evangelical and otherwise 鈥� in the late 1980s and early 鈥�90s. and personal life, many Christians have embraced and then rejected her at various points 鈥� be it her divorce, her move into secular music or her more recent decision to host her niece鈥檚 same-sex wedding.
Her new album, 鈥淭he Me That Remains,鈥� out Friday, was in part a way of processing a serious bicycle accident in 2022, which resulted in a traumatic brain injury, and the long recovery that followed.
In a wide-ranging conversation with The Associated Press, Grant, 65, reflected on how the accident changed her, her willingness to go dark in her music and why she keeps turning back to her faith. The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
AP: Talk about your journey with this album.
GRANT: Two summers ago, I just started writing. It felt so good to write. I used to write as really a therapy process, and I had kind of lost touch with that a little bit, just because I was in other kinds of therapy 鈥� like physical recovery. And it was just magical reengaging in my creative self. I was far enough along in my physical healing journey that it was just like, 鈥淥h my gosh, it鈥檚 all lining back up.鈥�
I think that the entrance into my creative self to go, 鈥淵ou鈥檙e not who you used to be, but you are somebody鈥� 鈥� everybody is 鈥� and that was the first lyric. I don鈥檛 know. It was just like, 鈥淥h God, that felt good.鈥� And then one song led to the next.
AP: Are you fully healed from the accident or are there still some challenges?
GRANT: I mean, there are things that are different. I have a niece that said, 鈥淕od, I think I like you better now.鈥�
AP: How old is she?
GRANT: She鈥檚 in her 40s. (Laughs) I鈥檝e known her since birth. But yeah. My processing is different. And there are areas where I have to be patient with myself, but I feel like I鈥檓 in great physical health. Just in the last year my balance is so much better. I got back on a bicycle in a very safe environment two weeks ago and it was very emotional for me. Everybody is in recovery of some kind.
AP: You鈥檝e never been afraid to go dark with your lyrics. Talk about that.
GRANT: To me, the superpower of music is that it connects you, first and foremost, to yourself, and then to others, to God. Why pretend?
I go dark sometimes. But I think everybody does. I鈥檓 so, so glad for the world of creativity and how I first put my toe in it because that honesty in songwriting has been a constant invitation every day to show up as who I am. God, that鈥檚 what you want for everybody. I don鈥檛 want somebody鈥檚 exterior, like their presentation, to be 180 degrees from what鈥檚 in here.
AP: In one song on the album 鈥� 鈥淭he 6th of January (Yasgur鈥檚 Farm)鈥� 鈥� you sing, 鈥淚 hear the words John Lennon said / Asking me to imagine.鈥� Can you talk about that song and your message with it?
GRANT: There are a few songs on the record that I didn’t write but I love that song and I’ve known the songwriter for a long time. Her name’s Sandy Lawrence. She worked on that song for 15 years. But it wasn鈥檛 until after the Jan. 6 experience at the U.S. Capitol that turned the creative juices for her and she was able to point that song in that direction. But all along it was about unrest.
AP: How do you feel about the current state of the world?
GRANT: There鈥檚 a lot going on, which, by the way, as a global community, there鈥檚 always a lot going on. There have always been pockets of people that were experiencing man鈥檚 inhumanity to man that is unspeakable. That鈥檚 always happening. And so I try every day to remind myself of the amazing power that every one of us has to affect the world by the daily choices we make. And however a people group is being treated, that treatment can be different through you. It can be different through me.
You have to take a lot of deep breaths. And sometimes just sit in the unrest and know that the pendulum swings back and forth, and sometimes at the cost of a lot of life. In the middle of awfulness, there鈥檚 always something good happening.
AP: People throughout your career have wanted to call you a Christian artist, but you seem to have long resisted it.
GRANT: I鈥檝e always been compelled by curiosity and I think sometimes a potential listener can lose interest because of how something is pegged. Sometimes the way I鈥檓 introduced, I鈥檓 on the side of the stage waiting to go out and just the verbiage, I鈥檇 go, 鈥淲hew, I wouldn鈥檛 stay for that show.鈥� Nothing about that interested me. Curiosity is such a great thing. Curiosity makes us lean in.
Everybody鈥檚 faith journey is unique. I am staking everything on the fact that it鈥檚 God who finds us. And I trust that. And I think how we let that exhibit in our lives might make somebody else curious to lean in. As a person of deep faith, I have stood outside under stormy skies, under a full moon at different times in my life and said, 鈥淎m I just talking to the ceiling? Are you really there?鈥� And I don鈥檛 know, I come away and go, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know where else to turn.鈥� But that鈥檚 my journey.
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