the future of worship music

a friend asked me this week if i had an idea about who the next big worship leader would be.
and it got me thinking about the future of popular worship music. (and usually thinking about the future includes thinking about the past)

i think we have gone through a few phases in the past decade.
in the 90's some bands started writing songs that began what might be called "modern worship". sonic flood, delerious, and some others started writing songs that broke away from the marantha and vinyard sound. songs like i could sing of your love forever and in the secret were emerging with incredibly popular "me-focused" themes. and throughout the 90's bands were popping up left and right with new albums and new songs and many of them were focused on our response toward God. to list a few: light the fire again, hungry, breathe, trading my sorrows, lord you have my heart, in the secret, i could sing,
as i see it, this started to frustrate some people and many started refocusing on the ancient hymns, put to rock band music. passion put out a hymns CD, and many of the big names (tomlin, crowder, redman) recorded hymns, and played them at their shows. this made hymns "cool" again. from this resurgence, came a much needed focus toward the character of God in modern songs. and i think that is where we are at today. there a so many great songs that have been written in the past 3-4 years. songs that start and end with the greatness of God. and other songs that start with a focus on God's character, and end up with a personal response.
so that's the lyrical side.

the musical side is interesting:
worship music is pop music. as much as crowder and hillsong united and i would like to think it's not, the songs that are being written are pop music.
99 percent of worship music follows an ABABCBB pattern. (verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, chorus). and usually it includes a opening guitar riff that comes in precisely similar places: riff, verse chorus, riff, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, riff. and to add to that, the penultimate chorus is almost always a break-down chorus that builds back up for the last chorus. (sometimes, the bridge is the breakdown instead of the chorus)
and the reason everyone does this is because it works.
i've been leading worship for a congregation for a couple years now, and i have seen first hand, that this cookie cutter structure works well. especially if it's in the key of C and has a big chorus note of an E. to name a few that follow this: majesty, how great is our God, you never let go, happy day, king of wonders. (of course, not many people can sing them in this key, so i bring all of these down to A or Bb)
i think we are going to get sick of this though.
i love all of these songs, but i dont know how many more of these types of powerful anthemic ABABCBB songs can be written.


the other element in looking at the past decade of worship music is personalities:
first there was maranatha, vinyard. then came sonic flood, delerious. then came passion, tim hughes, and hillsong. that's where we are at now, sorry everyone else, it's: tomlin, redman, crowder, hughes, and hillsong. churches have been looking to the biggest names to create the songs that will define their year. and for the most part, i think the big names have been doing a great job. but i think there is going to be a shift.

thinking about the lyrics, the structures, and the personalities,
what's next

ease of recording and publishing is changing everything.
i think we are seeing and going to see a flurry of small-time artists writing some terrible songs, ok songs, and great songs. and these small-time artists are going to be able to get there songs recorded and out there to some local churches and conferences. everyone wants to be the next big name, but i think we are entering a time where the big names will die down and the local artists will get to create songs for the local churches.
and structurally, i think that some are going to follow the cookie cutter structure, but others are going to try and pioneer some new and fresh creativity. and hopefully we will find some fresh ideas that work really well.
lyrically, my hope is that we have found a good balance. a balance between the rock solid foundation of the character of God, and then responding as individuals and as a congregation. this is the sweet spot for song writing. this is how king David wrote songs. this is how we worship God in life. truth leads to response.