The UB Interview: Juan & Lisa Winans Talk Tonight’s ‘Songland’ with Boyz II Men
Juan & Lisa Winans return to the forefront following the success of their 2018 Holiday EP, A Little Soul for Christmas, their new single “It Belongs To Me” features Marvin L. Winans. The song encourages all that the good news and promises of God are for them and will come to pass.
Juan Winans began his career with the Billboard #1 Gospel Album, “Winans Phase 2: We Got Next.”
Juan and his sister Deborah Joy Winans toured in the original musical Born For This: The BeBe Winans Story, for which Juan won Best Male Lead at the 2019 NAACP Theater Awards.
Lisa Winans (formerly Lisa Kimmey) is best known as one third of the Dove Award winning, Contemporary Christian Music trio, Out of Eden. The group was active from 1994 to 2006, producing seven albums. During Lisa‘s tenure with Out of Eden, she appeared on the 90’s sitcom “Moesha,” and hosted original programming for the Gospel Music Channel.
In 2006, Out of Eden retired and released a greatest hits compilation. The trio reunited in 2014 for a special Gotee Records compilation album with a cover of House of Heroes’ single “Constant.”
Juan and Lisa Winans will appear on the second season of the NBC hit show “Songland” in an episode featuring Boyz II Men.
Recently Aries from UB spoke with Juan and Lisa about their debut single “It Belongs to Me,” how the opportunity came for Songland and that experience as a whole.
Juan and Lisa also speak on the Winans legacy as well as their former groups Out of Eden and Winans Phase 2. Plus they give us all advice on dealing with pandemic.
UrbanBridgez.com: What made you guys want to go with It Belongs To Me as the lead single?
Juan Winans: For us it’s a song that God gave us. We’ve been working on the song for over a year and a half. From conception, to recording and mixing. So it’s been a journey, we really feel like it represents who we are striving to be. A place where we are endeavoring to live as children of God and people of faith. And just declaring Gods word on a daily basis. We wrote it way before we heard the word coronavirus. But there is always things that we face that we have to make sure that our perspective is aligned with Gods word. So this song is just our declaration of deciding to live the promises of God, whether that is salvation, healing, and ultimately heaven. God is promised us that we get to spend eternity with him. Through the sacrifice and love of Jesus Christ. So that’s why I think we decided to go with It All Belong to Me.
UrbanBridgez.com: How did Marvin L. Winans get on the track?
Juan Winans: Well he’s our uncle, but this is our first time working with him in this capacity. But initially when I heard the melody, in my heart and in the words I heard his voice singing it. Once we had written a lot of it and sent it to him, over the course of a few months he said Juan I really love this song. So we asked if he would record it with us and he agreed. So it was really kind of an organic process, of getting the song and then involving him. Were family, but like anyone else we’re fans of his talent, contribution to gospel music and just who he is. As a vocalist hes been so instrumental to us. So we’re family, but also big fans.
Lisa Winans: Big fans!
UrbanBridgez.com: When can fans expect a full length album or EP?
Lisa Winans: We’re gearing up for a full album release. We’re working on songs right now, I’m really excited about that process. Collaborating with people who we really admire and look up to. So hopefully the album will be out and available in August. It Belongs to Me is probably the most traditional song we’ll have on our record. So it will be a little bit of a throwback to what Juan and I grew up doing. We love gospel, but also love contemporary music as well.
UrbanBridgez.com: Tell us about Songland and how that came about?
Lisa Winans: So my sisters and I were in a group called Out of Eden. We remained friends with our label president throughout these twenty something years. He called and said my friend is doing this show it’s called Songland and it really spotlights songwriters. I think you and Juan would be perfect for it, so you should submit some songs. So we did and submitted songs and went through the process, we had the hour long conversation with the producers. At the very last minute, we were told that our song was not selected. We were disappointed but we said maybe this isn’t what God wanted. They contacted us again and was like we would really like for you to submit some songs. At first we were a little tender (laughs). Like I don’t know now, because it was quite a process. But thank God we did submit songs again, when we got to Los Angeles and met with the producers. We found pout that we were going to be singing and presenting our songs to the illustrious Boyz II Men. That just blew our minds and the whole process was amazing. The guys were so kind and so nice as well as the producers and Ester, Shane and Ryan are amazing. We learned a lot from that process.
UrbanBridgez.com: Lisa tell our viewers about your time in Out of Eden and how that experience prepared you for now.
Lisa Winans: My sisters and I sang together our entire lives. We all had different plans, I wanted to go to medical school. So we all had different ideas for what we wanted for our lives. But my mother really saw the call of God on our lives. It really pushed us to sing and to do talent shows. To really cultivate that gift. So we reluctantly said yes and our reluctant yes turned into a real solid yes when we went to a DC Talk concert and saw the impact they were having on people from kids to people 90 years old. So we said okay God if this is what you want us to do, we’ll do it. So we spent 14 years, putting out albums and touring all over the world. I think it gave me a real appreciation for the platform. So this time around we understand. Juan had an amazing group as well, so we understand that it’s just not about us. Not about what we can gain from this but more God we want to be used by you.
UrbanBridgez.com: Juan you began your career with Winans Phase 2, what did you learn during that period about the music industry.
Juan Winans: Winans Phase 2 and recording that album to me was like a masterclass. The album came out in 1999 and we had just became a group in late 1997. When I was 16 I was like I really believe this is what God wants me to do. I think he wants me to use this gift and talent for this purpose. I was really new to singing and Winans Phase 2 was my introduction to songwriting. Working with the likes of Rodney Jerkins or Narada Michael Walden or Babyface. These people were just extremely successful in the world of music. So being able to witness their process and see how they did things or how they prioritized certain things in a song or a artist. It was really informative to me being so new. Things I can still draw from today. I learned a ton in that process from recording, to traveling and just all of the amazing people who we got to work with.
UrbanBridgez.com: What does it mean to represent the Winans in music?
Juan Winans: It’s a privilege, it really is. It’s something I don’t think I’ve ever taken for granted. Yet the older I get the more appreciation I have for it. I have a better understanding of the sacrifices that they made, to allow God to make them who they are. I understand the excellence of their music. So that’s a standard that we are trying to carry and expand, in areas that we can. If God will give us the grace to do that, we will consider it an honor. It’s great to have uncle Marvin on a song because in many ways it feels like a uplifting of what we’re doing. So that is important to us, to talk about legacy. To have the person who’s basically the patriarch of our family be on the song and essentially give us his blessing.
UrbanBridgez.com: How have you been dealing with the Coronavirus, do you have any words of encouragement to all of us during this time?
Lisa Winans: I still have days where I’m fine and comfortable, then a day will hit and I’m like oh my gosh. So I think we’ve been trying to do is give ourselves allot of grace. To recognize that this is an extraordinary new and unforeseen kind of season. Potentially very stressful just kind of looking at the same walls and the same people (laughs). Thankfully Juan and I work together, so that’s not much of a difference. But just missing the spontaneously of life, I think is okay to mourn those things. I think it’s okay to talk to God about your feelings. But I think it’s a time to be easy on yourself, be easy on the people around you to try to love in grace. Propel the conversation and atmosphere in your home and let things slide as much as you can. Just recognize that’s stressful for everyone. If you have a mask, take walks, do some physical exercise. Step outside even if it’s just your front door and get some sunlight all of those things really help. I think will help fight off depression and anxiety. As well as praying and spending some time worshiping God and listening positive uplifting music like, It’s Belongs to Me (laughs).
UrbanBridgez.com: Anything else you want to share before we wrap?
Juan Winans: We hope when people hear It Belongs to Me, our prayer for this song is it will touch people and they will feel Gods presence. We hope you enjoy the song especially during this season and we hope it’s encouraging for people to keep going. Keep the right perspective. Thank you so much for having us!
