Songs in Solitude: The Power of Writing Alone
Over the last decade or so, songwriting patterns in the Christian Worship Music industry have shifted from solo writing toward collaboration and away from solo writing styles.
Worship Leader Research posted an article in July 2025 entitled, “Worship’s (Mostly Male) Power Players: The Rise of the Songwriting Family.” They discussed this major change in how the most important songs for the church come together.
“In the 2010s, nine new songs were written by a solo songwriter. But in the 2020s, at least so far, that number has dropped to zero. While data shows a trend away from solo songwriting over the past two decades, collaboration is now unquestionably a constant across all the new popular songs of the 2020s.”
Of course, a major reason for this shift is the economy of the music industry. The royalties from CCLI and other licensing agencies, along with publishing and streaming percentages, add up. There are only so many songs that can be worship hits, so the major players tend to work together and share the benefits.
There are also social, creative, and spiritual benefits to writing in a group. There can be supportive collaboration and powerful moments connecting with friends in worship. These experiences can produce beautiful moments.
However, not every song needs to be written in a group. Some messages need to come from one heart. Some creative acts need to sit in our souls and grow until they are ready to be fully expressed. Sometimes a song needs to be written one tiny line at a time over months of listening and seeking the Lord.
Here are three reasons why large collaborations can hinder creativity and three reasons why writing solo can open the door to unique creative ideas.
Thanks for reading Holy Listening: Cultivating Sacred Songwriting! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
What Happens When Songs Are Created Together?
Collaboration can limit creative expression.
The creative pace can move too quickly.
Inclusiveness can overshadow continuity and originality.
1. Are you painting a canvas or a mural?
Every creative act is different, and the artistic intent will influence the dynamics of its production.
If you’re painting a landscape on a canvas, having four or five artists with paintbrushes will only make the task harder. Sure, a unique experience could be cultivated (don’t find me downplaying unconventional creative methods), but generally, the intimacy and individuality of that expression are going to require singular focus and input.
Or, are you making a mural on a busy city street? Is the layout pre-determined, and is everyone pitching in to get the task done? Some projects are inherently collaborative, but the outcome is usually more generalized than in an individual expression.
This kind of art has its place, but it’s different.
2. The creative pace changes
When you bring more people into a collaboration, the creative pace is altered.
Every time I work with someone else in real time, I feel the pressure to generate ideas and offer answers. While this can be a useful exercise, I often find myself anxiously fishing for whatever will satisfy the group.
Urgency doesn’t always produce the best creative ideas. We tend to take the path of least resistance when the pressure is on, and this means we might be more susceptible to creating in the same “grooves” we have always created with.
Over time, this can culminate in more “ordinary” and “predictable” music: the stuff that makes sense, but seems to lack vitality and heart.
3. Unity can make the message generic.
To successfully write together, a common goal must be determined.
Sometimes, the more vivid and deep topics can be pushed to the side for something that will be easier to collaborate with. Achieving a group dynamic that is unified around a topic that not everyone is sitting with can be challenging.
It’s like being in a small group, but the conversation keeps drifting toward topics you are unfamiliar with. At some point, you have to decide if you are going to try to steer the conversation toward your perspective or let it continue as-is.
If the goal is to write something general, then this might work. But particular topics from deeply personal experiences are harder to address in a group.
My Observations
Co-writing can be a powerful experience, but I’ve noticed that many of the latest songs are championing generic themes of faith. These are useful in one sense. They help bring the new songs to as many unique houses of worship as possible. But in the process, the particular expressions of God’s grace are overlooked for the topics that everyone can relate to.
Additionally, not every creative is equally equipped to collaborate, nor are all people wired to thrive in a group setting. Creativity can be a deeply personal and intimate act, and in a group, the most vulnerable parts can be withheld, even if they are the creative diamonds needed to bring a project to life.
We can celebrate songwriting collaboration, but we can also recognize that the dynamics of group creativity leave some possibilities off the table.
It’s a good reminder for anyone who finds themselves in a co-writing situation to remember a few things:
Prioritize prayer and responsiveness to the Holy Spirit over personal injections.
Listen more than you share and encourage safety and vulnerability in expression.
Be willing to take a large or small role in the process, depending on what God is revealing in the group.
Make sure that competition stays out of the way
Thanks for reading Holy Listening: Cultivating Sacred Songwriting! This post is public so feel free to share it.
What Happens When Songs Are Created Solo?
Expression can be deeply personal and vulnerable
The creative pace can adapt to every project
Experimentation and risk-taking can produce truly original ideas
1. Expression can be deeply personal and vulnerable
Even among closest friends, some things need to be processed alone. There are topics, thoughts, and ideas that stay hidden until quiet solitude gives them space to emerge. Yet these hidden experiences can be the most transformational pieces of a new song.
Groups make vulnerability, at the very least, much more challenging. But one of the great benefits of working alone is that you can stay in a sustained state of vulnerability with yourself. This place is about openness to self and receptivity to God.
2. The creative pace can adapt to every project
Some songs come all at once, and others trickle. Some ideas are suddenly clear, and others are opaque. We might need to observe this idea from a distance for a while. We may have the first line of the bridge, but not know what should come next.
Admittedly, this can be the perfect place to bring in a collaborator, but even so, the just-right words can be elusive. When you create alone, you enter into the flexible pace of expression where everything flows the way it needs to.
When we allow the creative pace to be what it needs to be, we can sometimes stumble of the most beautiful ideas we never knew were there. There is something about the revelations that come an hour into a creative endeavor that are not quite the same as the ideas we get when we first start.
3. Experimentation and risk-taking can produce truly original ideas
When you create alone, the pressure to please and impress disappears. There’s a secret power in knowing that, even if what you create right now isn’t worth much, you have the freedom to fail and try again.
You can go for that vocal run that you’d be too nervous to try in front of others. You can say something in a way that doesn’t make sense, but gets the next lyric that does work out of your system.
When you have the freedom to try anything, the most original and creative ideas show up. You can take all these discoveries and craft them into something special, and never speak of the weird ones again!
Conclusion
Collaboration has become a standard for Christian songwriting, and the music that has come out of that movement has had a particular impact. There’s even a theological power in sharing songs of unity for the unified church to sing in worship.
Even so, group writing can sometimes limit vulnerability, creativity, and originality in favor of more accessible themes. The inclination to drift toward the ordinary and overlook the deeply personal can leave certain creative ideas unaddressed.
There are songs that can only be written in private prayer. That doesn’t mean they are only for private listening, but solo songwriting leaves space for deep reflection, unique ideas, and spiritual expression that can’t always surface in a group. There is deep value in the songs that emerge from personally seeking God and creating in solitude.
Co-writing isn’t going to go away because collaboration is the heart of the kingdom of God and, in many ways, a foundation to the creative act. Still, creating alone is the counterweight that balances the songs that speak to the masses with the unique messages God brings through his creatives.
