“Nobody changes the world standing in the crowd, nobody’s voice is ever heard until you open your mouth.”– “Love Is Action” by Tauren Wells
The lyrics from ΓÇ£Love Is ActionΓÇ¥ describe where Tauren Wells is as a recording artist embarking on a solo career. ΓÇ£I have more awareness of who I am, what I want to say and where I want to go,ΓÇ¥ he says. ΓÇ£I canΓÇÖt say that I had that when I was younger.ΓÇ¥ Tauren is the former front man for Royal Tailor, a Provident Label Group/Sony Music act whose two albums over a five-year career garnered two Grammy nominations and another for New Artist of the Year from the Gospel Music AssociationΓÇÖs Dove Awards. The group formed in college, but eventually, life pointed in other directions. The guys began to marry and start families. In 2015, the group parted ways to pursue individual interests. In many ways, pursuing a solo career felt like a complete reboot. In fact, May 2016 saw the release of TaurenΓÇÖs first music in three years. The hard-hitting ΓÇ£UndefeatedΓÇ¥ featured Reach RecordsΓÇÖ rapper KB and served as the soundtrack for the internet-famous Dude PerfectΓÇÖs ΓÇ£World Records EditionΓÇ¥ episode on YouTube, which has garnered over 23 million views since its release. TaurenΓÇÖs single ΓÇ£Love Is ActionΓÇ¥ from debut solo album ΓÇ£Hills and ValleysΓÇ¥ topped the Christian Radio Charts for eight weeks straight. ΓÇ£Hills and ValleysΓÇ¥ won Best Contemporary Christian Music Album at the GrammyΓÇÖs, but he isnΓÇÖt making music to gain notoriety ΓÇô ΓÇ£I feel called to call greatness out of people.ΓÇ¥
The excitement and positivity are palpable not only in TaurenΓÇÖs talk, but his music as well. TaurenΓÇÖs energetic style plays on pop sensibilities with a heavy dose of urban appeal, likened to Bruno Mars, Maroon 5 and OneRepublic.
In short, be prepared to dance. ΓÇ£WeΓÇÖre going to get down a little bit,ΓÇ¥ he says. ΓÇ£At the same time, I feel provoked to do something. I want it to be multi-dimensional. I want them to leave inspired, but also asking questions: What do I do next? What does what IΓÇÖm feeling mean, and what do I do with it? I feel like at that point, we can give them a vision: Here are ways you can express your gifts. I feel like the music is the runway to taking people somewhere.ΓÇ¥
To do that, Tauren knows heΓÇÖll have to ΓÇ£plot a new course.ΓÇ¥ That goes down to the details of his record deal with Provident as well. ΓÇ£TheyΓÇÖre doing new things with me that they havenΓÇÖt done before. TheyΓÇÖre using me and a couple other artists that are outside of the norm to try some new strategies, which is exciting for me.ΓÇ¥
Make sure you read his devotionals and stream his music!