The Writing Worship Podcast - For Worship Songwriters
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The Writing Worship Podcast - For Worship Songwriters
TENFOLD, With All I've Got Song Stories and more with Chidiya Ohiagu
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Chidiya (pronounced CHI-dee-yah) Ohiagu is an independent singer-songwriter and worship artist. Born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, Chidiya grew up listening to a variety of music from pop to soul and R&B, Afrobeat to classical and gospel. His father’s love for music inspired him from a young age, leading him to sing in choirs and fall in love with harmony and varied musical styles.
Since 2019, he has written and released multiple projects, including his breakout single “Already Blessed,” a compelling reminder to be grateful on a daily basis, which continues to impact thousands. He has collaborated with multiple artists and writers, including award-winning artist Chris Cleveland (Stars Go Dim), Mark and Sarah Tillman, and South African gospel artist KingDMusic.
A featured artist on the Writing Worship Community’s album “Community”, he is also a writer on two songs on the new EP “reTURNing (Live)”.
Chidiya’s faith in God is what fuels his music and songwriting. His heart desires to be a conduit for God to flow through and to empower believers everywhere to live joyful, Spirit-filled lives.
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Cydia, we are finally sitting down. This is welcome to the writing worship. Podcast have you ever been on the podcast.
Chidiya Ohiagu:I have not. I have not thanks for having me.
Eric Nordhoff:Okay. Well, we have Chidia Ohiagu, who is, if you haven't heard his song already. Blessed, you will be blessed. So go listen to that song. That song kind of made it kind of made it big 3 years ago is when it kind of launched right? So. I remember I had never heard your name. You joined a webinar of ours that Dave Taylor and I did we? We actually recorded it. It's in the the music streaming course you were a guest. You hadn't done anything yet with writing worship, somehow you found us. How did you find writing worship? And what was that whole experience like just kind of launching with that song. And and it really really blew up for an Indie artist. It really did very well. So tell me about that whole time, and the experiences that you've had with music.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Yeah, thanks. Yeah, it was okay. So first, st coming on to writing worship was, I think I got an email, or I saw something on on Facebook or somewhere.
Eric Nordhoff:Yeah.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Where I was talking about. Okay, here's a release workshop, how to release your music. And I was in this phase because I 1st started releasing music in 2019. And then I released a single, then an Ep, and I just realized, I know nothing about the music industry. You know, I think a lot of people have this idea like, Oh, you just sing a song, and then you put it out, and then it just goes. And then, you know, you're you know everything's good. Then you're like on TV, like, no, no, that's not how it works. You put on devoid. And then it sits there. If, unless the Lord really blesses it, or something miraculous happens, you have to learn how to how to work the engine, or, you know, get ears to it and everything, be it through social media or whatever. So I was in this phase of okay learning a lot about this process, learn about playlist and learn how to optimize releases because I really felt this is something that God has called me to do stuff putting music out. And so I saw that. And I was like, Okay, well. let me take this. Let me take this course. It sounds cool writing worship. That's what I'm trying to do write worship music, and I have a song. And so one of the coolest things about it was that I already had a song that I was about to release. It was already in the pitch tool on spotify. And then, Eric, you sent out an email saying, Hey, guys, Dave wants to show people how to pitch their song on spotify. If anybody has a song that's ready to be released, let me know. And I'm like. do I? And so I was like, Yeah, you know, we'll see what happens. So I put it in there and then I was just over the moon when you guys picked the song, and then it ended up being used, and it was crazy to see him go through. And really like, Figure out, okay, what's the right place to put this song, the song is called Messengers. and it's done. It's had a good impact. And so but a lot of that was because of that webinar. And what Dave did because it got onto some good playlists from there. He really helped to retool some things. So I'm really grateful for that experience. That was my 1st introduction to writing worship. Yeah.
Eric Nordhoff:Yeah, I remember the name Chidia I mean, you cannot forget. It is.
Chidiya Ohiagu:It's like.
Eric Nordhoff:You know we're joking. It's the Oh, oh, Hiyagu is is an awesome last name, but as an artist I don't know how many Chitty as there are. Maybe Chitty is a common name in Nigeria, but I have never heard it before. so.
Chidiya Ohiagu:No, actually, I think I only have. Is there like one other? I've only met one other person. I have an uncle or a cousin on my mom's side that has that name, but it's not the same spelling.
Eric Nordhoff:Okay, interesting. Yeah. So you're from Nigeria.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Yes.
Eric Nordhoff:Originally. Tell me about your journey from Nigeria. What brought you here.
Chidiya Ohiagu:So my my dad went to school here in up in actually up North and back in the seventies. It was like on a missionary scholarship from his high school in Nigeria, and so when he he went to school, got his degree in banking and stuff, and then he move back home to start a family, get married, marry my mom and everything. And so when it came time for us to go to college, you're looking at. Okay, well, where would be the best place? And he wanted us to have that experience of being in the States and also people back home. It's kind of viewed, you know. If you're exposed, you've gone to a few different places. It's viewed better when you come back.
Eric Nordhoff:Isn't it.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Good idea. So that was part of the thing with that So we prayed and took the Sats, and did all the things, and that was that was the that was the initial impetus, you know, to come. And I was always I was Gung ho! Like I'm going to go to Med school. I'm pre-med. I want to wear the white coat and do all the things. And music had always been part of our family, and as because my dad loved singing. He sang hymns, actually wrote hymns as well, and so, and he grew up Anglican so.
Eric Nordhoff:Okay, and organ music was like his, his, his jam. So that's what influenced him. He would listen to a lot of that at home.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Oh, yeah, my dad would sit in the in his bedroom and have his ipad out and just be listening to organ music for hours. Yeah, he.
Eric Nordhoff:Oregon.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Yeah, he he loved. He loved organ music. I can do it for like a little bit. Then all the.
Eric Nordhoff:Haha! I released a I used to work in the Christian music industry. I was actually head of international sales at word entertainment and provident music group. I think I told you this, but we had a couple of accounts, 3 accounts in Nigeria that would always buy from us in big, large quantities. One was a store called Laturna Ventures.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Yeah, I I lived down. I lived in down the street from maternal.
Eric Nordhoff:Yeah, there was a guy named Remy Morgan who came with his family, and he just bought massive like Carloads of product and would just bring it to the, and he was. He was the best merchandiser he was. He seemed to be very sharp. He made a great impression, and did a did an awesome job like representing Nigeria to us, and he had a great credit rating. and so I was. It was always a joy to sell to Remy.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Yeah, it's funny. That's so crazy. Because Laterna was like one of the big names in Lagos where I grew up for I mean, I would go in their store and buy. And you know, look at all the Christian artists and the Ccm artists and their CD section, and all that. It's so interesting how the industry has changed so much because I don't think I don't think laturna is not there anymore. I think they don't exist anymore.
Eric Nordhoff:Mean, I, I ran go global entertainment after that. So that was like from 1996 to 2,004. I worked at the major record labels, and then I started my own company. I still sold Christian music. It started to become less and less, and by the end of 2010 or so it just changed significantly, and and we hardly shipped stuff over there anymore. And so it definitely affected. I wonder? I mean, there's hardly any Christian bookstores here in the Us. Anymore, either. Yeah, it really shifted because even my my mom was in the was in that industry. For a bit. She had a she opened her own little bookstore, and she would travel to the book fairs and such. Yeah.
Chidiya Ohiagu:And so she also got out of it. And, you know, just saw the shift away from I guess more into digital stuff, you know.
Eric Nordhoff:Yeah, yeah. yeah, I never got to go, though. I really wanted to visit Nigeria would would have been fun.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Still there you can. You can still come.
Eric Nordhoff:I still could. I don't have any reason, Chidia. Maybe I need to come visit your family.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Hey? Yeah, we'll show you a good time. Get you some jollof rice.
Eric Nordhoff:What is it?
Chidiya Ohiagu:So okay, so there's a whole thing about the kind of rice back home. It's the kind of rice they serve at parties. It's called Jollof Rice, that's JOLL. OF. And there's a kind of like a rivalry between us and Ghana about who has the better jollof rice. And obviously Nigeria does. So, yeah.
Eric Nordhoff:Are they neighboring countries? I think.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Yes, they're like, basically like a country over, yeah.
Eric Nordhoff:Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Ghana was also that whole region. Western Africa was a was a big Christian music market. right? Sold a lot of gospel music into Western Africa and Kenya. you, Uganda, even other than South Africa. Those were. Those were the bigger markets where we would sell a lot. I mean. A lot of ministries went through there and made a big impact, I guess, on the region. So so you were impacted by all of that, music was a thing for you, not the pipe organs necessarily, but the but other music. How would you describe your music now that you're making.
Chidiya Ohiagu:My music. Now that I'm making, I think it's a it's a mixture of 2 things. It's definitely vertical worship. And then also just kind of music that you can dance to or take. Just take with you on your day to day life like I really want it to be songs that people can use and kind of like, you know. You support your everyday life as a believer. So that's what already blessed is, that's what messenger message is, that's what messengers is. All these songs even turn away. She's like on my very 1st ep about turning away from sin. Just kind of like songs that are like, Okay, this is Christian Pop. This is Pop, but it's it's got a message in it that's actually meaningful that you can take with you. Yeah.
Eric Nordhoff:Yeah, no, it's it's great, it's really good. You have a very distinctive voice as well. Oh, okay, I can tell a chittiest song. and I can hear you singing the songs that that were that we've recorded on this latest ep as well. So we're going to talk about that. You're also a pharmacist, you. So you do wear a white coat.
Chidiya Ohiagu:I do wear a white coat. It happened we got there.
Eric Nordhoff:Did that. So you're the singing pharmacist.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Oh, gosh!
Eric Nordhoff:We don't necessarily love that. But tell me, tell me about that like, what's that all about? That's a whole different side of it.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Yeah, well, it's interesting, because so if you meet any, the majority of Nigerians you will meet will be either they're either doctors, engineers, lawyers, or they're in some kind of field like that. Sometimes some kind of science field and part of the reasons. I've got a lot of pay, a lot of parents growing up. They came from poor areas and they came from poverty. So they were like, Hey, you're going to school. You're going to get the best degrees. You're going to do all this stuff, and that's what happened. Now, my parents didn't really force that on us or push that on us. I was always the one that wanted to be a doctor, but it was towards the end of toward the end of undergrad that I realized, okay, I don't want to go to Med school because it's going to take too long and all the debt. And what's mine? I really want to do this, anyway. And so I reconsidered, yeah. And so my, and then my uncle was like, Well, why don't you look at pharmacy? And I was like, sure. Okay. So so I'd I'd always been singing. I'd been in choir. I've been doing stuff with my church, and I've been doing my own little bit of writing by myself, but I never really thought of it as something I was gonna like do on a big scale that kind of like a pipe dream kind of things like. But you know what this is, what's going to pay the bills. I need to be able to pay my bills. So I was thinking. And so that's where. And also the thing was also the the rub of like, okay, you have a, you have a technical gift. You're able to do well with sciences, and you're also able to do music. So if God's giving you this aspect, why, you don't want to neglect it like, why, we make sure we're using that, too, for the glory, you know. So that's how I ended up taking the pharmacy interesting exam applying to schools. And I'm going to Auburn and doing that. One of the hardest things I've ever done was doing pharmacy school. But I'm glad I did it, and I see I see what God's been using it to do now. Yeah.
Eric Nordhoff:Yeah. How do you see it? Now?
Chidiya Ohiagu:Well, for one thing, it's it's it's helped me to even get into music and start doing music because music is expensive. It takes it takes a lot of work. It takes a lot of time, but I also think it's funny. When I was an undergrad I had a professor. I took a minor. I was starting with doing a minor in vocal music, and my professor at the time I told him I don't see the connection between like science and music like, how how do I connect these 2 things? And he said something to me that at the time I thought was very hokey. But now I think about it actually makes sense, he said to me. I feel like I was in a Disney movie. It was like they come together in you, and I'm like I was like, is this a Disney cartoon? Whatever's going on? I was like.
Eric Nordhoff:Cue, the music.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Princess music. Exactly. So that was what I thought like, okay, that. And I actually laughed at the moment. And he didn't really like that. But looking back on it now, I realized it's finally kind of been like, Okay, you know what? He was right? Because so I think for a long time. I wanted to separate the 2 and be like, Okay, I'm a pharmacist, and I just do pharmacy things. And then I do music, music, do music things. But he was right. They do come together in the person, you know. So that's why I remember when I.
Eric Nordhoff:More ways than one.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Yeah, more ways than one. Because I think thinking about this too, like music, is oftentimes a kind of medicine.
Eric Nordhoff:Yes.
Chidiya Ohiagu:You know, because there's music, therapy and stuff like that. But even outside of that, like, when we listen to a song just like when you have a headache, you take an aspirin, or you take an ibuprofen or something you there are certain songs that if you're feeling down you listen to them. They lift your spirits. If you're you know, if you're having a for different situations, a different song will fit so it's kinda really cool, especially, and with Christian music in particular.
Eric Nordhoff:Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Very much. So, yeah.
Eric Nordhoff:No doubt, plus I mean when I'm taking an antibiotic, I'd prefer to be listening to some Christian music.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Yeah, there you go. All right. Yeah, that, too. That, too.
Eric Nordhoff:I don't know. I don't know. But I think, yeah, I mean the chemistry. There's all kinds of chemical reactions that happen when you're listening to music in your brain and your mind and mindset your hearts, your emotions, that all gets affected. And you know pharmacy does that in a different way pharmaceuticals. So as side note, my next door neighbor is like, was like the president of the Pharmaceutical Association.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Oh, cool!
Eric Nordhoff:For a long time. and he has like a blog, and he has a nickname. I can't remember what it is like. America's pharmacist, or something like that, he goes by so.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Oh, oh, that! Let's check that out.
Eric Nordhoff:Wonder if you know him. But anyway, cool. So we already talked about how you found writing worship and kind of how you got plugged in. Now you jumped right in. You went. I think the next year you came to conference. I met you for the 1st time, and when did you write? So you have 2 songs on this new Ep. Did you have? I know you sang on the the 1st album, the community album.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Right. That's fine.
Eric Nordhoff:Remind me. Did you sing the songs? Did you write the songs as well? I can't.
Chidiya Ohiagu:I don't remember.
Eric Nordhoff:Sure.
Chidiya Ohiagu:No, I know I didn't write any. I didn't write those songs, but I did. I sang I so I sang lead on one with Cody Jones. That's bless your name.
Eric Nordhoff:Yes. And that's the one we're playing and the music that is the bumper at the end of writing of the podcast.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Oh, cool, yeah, honored. And then I think. But then the fun fun fact was like they basically y'all put me to. I basically got put in as like the male Bgv on like 5 of those songs that for that thing. So I just was like plugged in. So I think, yeah, so.
Eric Nordhoff:We didn't have a lot of males.
Chidiya Ohiagu:No, no, it was fun, though I was like I'm I ain't gonna have a voice better than this week.
Eric Nordhoff:That'd be great. That was so fun, though, those those 2 2 days 3 days really record rehearsals. 2 days in May, 2023. That was, that was a blast.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Yeah, it was a blast. It was a blast. Yeah.
Eric Nordhoff:So. And then you when did you tell me about the writing of you have 2 songs on this ep? You're not singing on it because you were in Nigeria during the recording.
Chidiya Ohiagu:I was, yeah, thank you.
Eric Nordhoff:But and they turned out a little bit different than probably you thought at least one of them did so talk about. Let's talk about tenfold first.st And here's what we're gonna do. Listener. We're going to talk about the songs, and then we're gonna play the full song so that you can enjoy it here. I got permission from all the necessary parties, so I don't have to pay royalties on this, and I own the master. So we're good to go. I'm going to play the whole both songs on this recording. So let's talk about tenfold first.st
Chidiya Ohiagu:Okay.
Eric Nordhoff:How did that come about.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Tenfold so tenfold, came out of the writing camp portion of the writing worship retreat that year, and it was so. I was put in a group with Monter Rivera Karina. What's Karina's last name?
Eric Nordhoff:Innings.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Karina Jennings. Thank you, Karina Jennings and Kara Hammonds, and we. We were in the. We were in this little classroom in the 4th Avenue Church of Christ. And we're like this, the kids classroom. And so we're right.
Eric Nordhoff:Oh, you were in the 100 floor, the basement floor. Yeah.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Yeah, so you were in the basement. And so it's like, you know, lots of kids stuff on the walls and little chairs and everything. So.
Eric Nordhoff:It was.
Chidiya Ohiagu:It was cute. And so we're thinking about this. And then Karina had the idea. And she was like, Yeah, you know, just something about God giving back tenfold, and God giving back. You know. I don't know if it was that exact word tenfold at that point. But then. Monty, I think, picked up on that. Okay, tenfold. And so, okay, cool. That's what we're going to go with. And so we started writing this song. And I think that that ride every ride is a little different, because a lot of times sometimes you write people you write with people that you know. But then, when you write with folks you've never written before. It's a different experience, because I've never written with Monty before. I think I may have written with Karina before.
Eric Nordhoff:Have you done a lot of co-writing before this.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Yes, we've done. I've done well. I would say a lot. I had done some, and that was part of the reason why I joined writing worship, to begin with, was to start doing more. Core writes, I didn't have people in my area to do them. So I think at this point. Yeah, this is after the community album. So yeah, I think I had. I had a bunch under my belt at this point. And so it was. And of course, the songwriting personality test and all that is amazing helps to figure out where you fall in quick plug there. But it is, it is true. But the fact is. we got in there. We started thinking about this song. I think the biggest thing about it was that the lyrics we really, we really fought for good lyrics. We really fought to get the best words. And Monty, Monty was really like, particularly like we. We throw out a line like, Yeah, almost there, almost there. And 2 things stand out to me. One was, I'm a melody person. 1st for any song. I'm definitely about melody. If I don't like how it sounds, I'll never hear what this song is about. So same thing with this one, and there's a line in there. We did. We have the verse where you need something to connect the verse to the chorus, and I just had the idea. It's like more than I ever asked to reimagine and like, Oh, yeah, so we use that. And then Kara had this line idea about like every every tier will reap a harvest. And we're like, Oh, that doesn't work. We can't use that yet. But then, later on, this is like early in the process. So later on, we're trying to finish the second verse. I'm like. every tier, we're yeah, yeah, yeah, that's the one. So it's so funny how stuff like that happens in a right where you have all these ideas that will pop up, and then you're trying to like, fit everything. And then gradually it all comes together. So that was a. It was a really, really fun ride. Yeah.
Eric Nordhoff:That was that was the 1st song that was that we were most. I don't think we needed to change anything. Yeah, we we, you know, we we started with 250 songs, whittled it down to 20 tenfold in my mind was also always number one. Just honestly, it was just so done and ready. I wanted to do that one, but we just let you guys know. And then we let everyone else work on the other songs we looked at the we gave. After about a month we listened to the version, the new versions of all the songs that were resubmitted. Then we narrowed it down. Really do. We voted as a label team, about 8 of us down to 9 of us down to down to 6. And yeah. And so tenfold was was always our to me. That's the song. As soon as I heard the chorus it was goosebumps. It was. It was like that line that the melody on on the chorus very memorable. I really. I pitched that song to several worship leaders, and that's the song I will probably lead with. When I go to praise charts. Ccli. when we feature the song. That's the song I want to kind of present, because I'm very, very. I think that song holds up, and I think.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Yes.
Eric Nordhoff:It's with congregations and believers in particular.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Yeah, I remember. Sorry, unless I remember when we had the song share at the Retreat, and I think Mike Murray was in the room. He was the who was the judge. He! He listened. And he just is like. I don't have any notes. That was that was great. Yeah, yeah.
Eric Nordhoff:Mike always has something to criticize. It's his job. It's his job. So he he did does a good job. But yeah, that one is, was ready so. And then, Monty, I'm glad. Did you learn something from Monty, that you that he pushed until it was felt right like? What did you learn from that.
Chidiya Ohiagu:I think that sometimes when you're writing songs, even as the right goes on, you can sometimes be like, Okay, well, let's just this is fine, this these words.
Eric Nordhoff:Good. Enough. Yeah.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Good enough, you know, and I think that was one right where I learned the benefit of really pushing for the best words and not not, and also doing it in a gracious way, because I think sometimes people people can be like. No, that's terrible, you know. I'm not like that, you know. But it was more like, Yeah, we can. I think we can. We can. We can beat that. We can. We can keep. We can hit something better than that if you care for it, and you fight for a song in a right, especially in a co-write. Then the other people start to rise up to the level of the standard right.
Eric Nordhoff:You know it's like raising a family, you, if you have a standard that we all live by.
Chidiya Ohiagu:We're all going to rise to it. Yeah, you know. Yeah.
Eric Nordhoff:So.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Absolutely, and I love the demo, and he just killed it on that demo. And of course, in the final thing.
Eric Nordhoff:Yeah. Yeah. The demo was was already great. A lot of the times I was worried with Demos that I would that we wouldn't hit it the way it was sounding. But I'm very pleased with what Daniel Kinner did and what the band did. That in that experience live was so fun to be in the room. I actually, I'd been that whole recording. You weren't there, but I was. I was outside managing stuff related to the conference. I was moving tables, moving chairs, getting everything reset for the church, so I literally missed many of the recording much of the recording, but I came in at tenfold and got a great video and took the picture that we use for our returning Ep. That came from.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Oh, wow!
Eric Nordhoff:That came from that moment of the recording, and it was so fun. My! I still remember my wife and her ponytails just kind of bebopping. And just. It was right at the time that Monty did that run at the end where the spontaneous comes in and and yeah raises it to another.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Right.
Eric Nordhoff:Yeah.
Chidiya Ohiagu:That spontane. I shared it with you. That spontaneous bit was the part that a friend of mine sent me a text, and he's like what that is amazing. I don't need to know how. I don't need to know where, you know, he just. And it was just out of the blue. I didn't even send him the song. I think he just saw it on Instagram or something, and that I had posted it, and he was just like, oh, that's so good! I was like.
Eric Nordhoff:It is good. That's the part I look forward to. You know the whole song. It's 8 min long. Let's play it for the listeners. Go ahead and everybody just stop what you're doing worship to this song for the next 8 min, and then come back and join Chidia and I. We're going to talk about the next song from the Ep that he wrote. So go ahead. Let's let's enjoy tenfold. All right. We're back from listening to that, and that was again anything else you want to say about tenfold, as we kind of transition to the next song you wrote.
Chidiya Ohiagu:No, I think I think just that. I just really love that name. I think of of any song that I've heard. I've been a part of I feel like this is that name is like tenfold, just like Boom.
Eric Nordhoff:Boom. That's why we put it in bold.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Right, yeah.
Eric Nordhoff:Only song, in bold.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Yeah, I mean, caps, all caps. Caps. Yeah, yeah, tenfold. Yeah, it feels very.
Eric Nordhoff:Yeah. And surprisingly, it's not a common thing. I mean, I guess 10,000 reasons. People.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Right.
Eric Nordhoff:That enough? But tenfold. No, we're we're actually taking it back tenfold, says everything it needs to say. It doesn't need to be 10,000 reasons.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Yeah.
Eric Nordhoff:So good. Well, let's let's move on to the next song with all I've got, which is the last song on the record. The returning Ep. Anybody can listen to the whole. Ep. I encourage you to. But you actually again more, another, more upbeat song. the demo, though. Let's play a little bit of the of the Og Demo that I think it was Haley Hibbard.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Yes. Yeah.
Eric Nordhoff:One of the writers. She's graded.
Chidiya Ohiagu:I'm just laying.
Eric Nordhoff:Laying down vocal vocal piano, vocal Demos, just her vocals alone. Just knock it out of the park. So let's play a little bit of that. And then and yeah, so let's talk about how that song was written, and and that one sure sounds a lot different now.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Right.
Eric Nordhoff:All right. Let's let's talk about that song, Chitty. O, tell me the origin story of with all I've got.
Chidiya Ohiagu:So with all I've got, it came from a focus, right? Actually. So within writing club at the time we had this focus right. And Haley, my Haley, myself, Joel Peace and Jeremy Parr were all in the same group, and I was looking back at the text thread actually, recently. And I was like, Wow, this is September, October of 2023 is when we were doing October 2023, and It was. It was just looking back at the whole process. So we we never met in person for this song. It was all virtual, all zoom, and the idea was just a song of this idea of the song that's like, I'm going to worship God with everything inside of me, and just give it all with all I've got, you know. Yeah. So we started going through it. And so initially, it had this. it went through a couple of different vibes. The 1st vibe was, Haley has this amazing voice, and she did that demo which we listened to, and it was just like that very mellow, almost almost a little map city, I would say a little bit almost what Maverick City maybe a little bit kind of feel. And then Joel went back, and Joel is a just Joel's a worship pastor, and he's also a really good producer. So he went and made this more like upbeat pop, sounding almost like I would say. Jonas brothers, or something like that kind of that feel to it very like Poppy sounding. And so there was that. But I remember that one, too. We went through. After the initial meeting we really wrote the rest of the song via text. It was just like back and forth. It's a really long text thread. But the whole story about this all the whole heart of the song is like just like in the verses it says, or the chorus. It says, as long as there's breath in my lungs, as long as it's beat in my heart I will praise you, I will praise you with all that I've got, and I remember touring with different words and different phrases, like, Okay, you know, do we want to say beat in my heart? Does that make sense? If you understand what it means. You know all that kind of stuff. But it really came together. and I think actually at the Retreat was when we laid down the vocals for that 1st demo, that, or the second demo that Joel did actually.
Eric Nordhoff:Right.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Yeah.
Eric Nordhoff:Yeah, and let's play a little bit of that. So we we heard the 1st one, which was the 1st piano vocal scratch, just voice, memo.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Yeah.
Eric Nordhoff:Haley, and then let's play a little bit of the Joel Peace version. This was the song. This is the version that we listened to as a label team. and we'll just play a little bit of that. And then we we we obviously love that. Did anything change from that point on, or was that pretty much the same, or was there anything added? I can't remember.
Chidiya Ohiagu:I think it. I think it was pretty much the same. I think the only things were. I think there may be like a word or 2 there that you guys had some feedback on.
Eric Nordhoff:Yeah.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Then we kind of like tweaked it. But I think that was about it. Actually. I had looked at. I was looking at the text thread, and just kind of laughing at all the different emojis and things that were going on in there. but see, did it respect? Yeah, no, I think that was it. I think that that was that, was it.
Eric Nordhoff:So fun. So I love hearing the the backstories of of how those things came about. Now it sounds different than the Joel version. Even when you got it. Honestly, what did you think? Because Daniel Doss puts a whole different spin on his songs? He added, just a bunch of I don't know what you call it Southern soul. Little little, I mean, he just has this Southern gospel type vocal that is just to like to die for. But it was. It was quite different, wasn't it?
Chidiya Ohiagu:It was, it was, and I think, and initially, I was a little taken aback. I was like, Huh! That's different. But it sounded good. The funny thing I was like, okay, it sounds good. But it's definitely like it basically went from like as long as there's breath in my lungs.
Eric Nordhoff:Right. He no Poppy.
Chidiya Ohiagu:It'll pop you to like as long as this person models, you know.
Eric Nordhoff:Country.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Yeah. Well, yeah. So yeah, a little bit leaning that way. But I think it's with the choir field and everybody singing along. And yeah. And then Daniel has an amazing voice. So all of that just kind of brought it together. I was like.
Eric Nordhoff:Had them add, this was not live, but we had a Hammond. We added A. Hammond, B. 3.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Oh!
Eric Nordhoff:Adds a nice flavor.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Nice.
Eric Nordhoff:And then Steph's keys on. There she just slays it. The band had a lot of fun with that one.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Come on, Steph. Yeah.
Eric Nordhoff:With all that I've got, I mean, that's like such a that song. I wanted to finish with that on the Ep, because I wanted people to just keep singing it. That's like to me that's like an end of a a concert.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Yeah.
Eric Nordhoff:I want to walk away happy and like praising him with all I've got, you know, and that's how I want to live my life, you know, it's just again. I was talking to somebody else earlier, and you you get formed by the songs you sing. Wow, definitely. That's good. So.
Chidiya Ohiagu:That's a good point. I love that. And I think that's that's the whole one of the reasons why. I think because people have asked me like, so you know, why do you write Christian music, or why worship music? And it's definitely for that reason you get you get formed by the music you listen to, and there's nothing more powerful than singing about the truths of the Bible and about Jesus, and what God has done because we need those things, you know, people, I'm sure you've heard it said, where like people will forget what the sermon was, but they will remember songs they've heard and songs they've learned in church. And so it's so important to have these truths put to song. And you mentioned like Nigeria. And you know, some of the big guys back. Then growing up. I still remember songs by Dom Mohan and Ron Cannoli and Pen and Percy Paul, and all these people and dumb and all of their songs were like straight Scripture with some tweaks, but like super scriptural, and it really was a way that I memorized the words, I think it's so important.
Eric Nordhoff:Yeah, you. You said it perfectly. That's exactly right. and then the way they say it, the way it's delivered, the way it's brought. Just is so moving that it's just a different. a different. It goes all the way inside the the body and out. You know, it's like, it's just different. And Don Moen, yeah, I mean, that guy was the King of International Touring. I would run Moen. And it's kind of amazing because he was not super like he just went where people he just said yes, and went to places. But he I wouldn't say he's like was like the most talented guy. He just went, and he had a there was something on him the way he delivered those songs.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Absolutely. I can tell you that if you anybody that grew up in Nigeria, or probably a lot of Africa between the the nineties early. Yeah. And the nineties knew Don Mohan songs like we sang them in church, and when I came here, and then people were like, Who's Dalmore? And I'm like what he was a rock star in Asia.
Eric Nordhoff:Southeast Asia all up and down Asia. He he would sell out arenas, stadiums. and he did the same in Africa. Yeah, and in Latin America.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Yep.
Eric Nordhoff:Pretty much everywhere else, except for.
Chidiya Ohiagu:The Us. Yeah.
Eric Nordhoff:Us I was the closest I had. There was a season where an artist named Terry Mcalman was really really big, and he had this move with the spirit on him, and I got to work his records, and that was super fun to see in a. you know. And of course, integrity also had Darlene check at the time, and Hill.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Right they were. They were blown up.
Eric Nordhoff:Oh, yeah, those were. Those were really sweet times, and just all the integrity stuff just resonated with with international markets. Integrity had offices and up studios and facilities all around the world. I was really blown that they were the benchmark. See? I worked for word entertainment. Word was the oldest, and we had. We were probably the second biggest, but we were nowhere close to what integrity had, because it was they were. They were so focused on worship. Worship was the language, the musical language of the Church. So it it penetrated way deeper and wider than any Ccm music could ever could. So, and gospel as well. Gospel and worship. They were very similar similar audiences. Well, anyway, good times, thanks for letting me go off on a little tangent about my good old days working the the international sales.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Hey? It's it's it's the funny. Well, the funny thing about it is I, where I live now is actually behind, where integrity music used to be.
Eric Nordhoff:You're in Mobile.
Chidiya Ohiagu:In Mobile, Alabama. Yeah, I did. I? When I moved here I had no idea integrity used to be here. I was like, Wow, and I've met some people here that used to work with integrity back in the day. And it's just like.
Eric Nordhoff:Yeah, Mike Murray is from there.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Eric Nordhoff:Stacey Riddle.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Yes.
Eric Nordhoff:One of our mentors.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Right? Yes. Yes. Stacy, yeah.
Eric Nordhoff:I knew a lot of integrity. My neighbor is a former integrity person. There were lots of integrity people all around me. former integrity people. Yeah. Good memories. It was a beautiful season that was nineties. Yep, yep. Well, you have some new music coming out. Talk about some things coming up in August. It's July. Right? Now, we're going to release this podcast episode sometime in July. So tell us about what Chidia is working on for his, his own artistry.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Oh, all the things. Yeah. So the goal this year was to put out another ep this year. I already have one song that came out in May as a cover of Bethel and Corey, Asbury's Son of God.
Eric Nordhoff:Yeah.
Chidiya Ohiagu:It's 1 of my favorite worship songs. And so following up with that are 2 collaborations coming out, God willing, in August. And so it's kind of funny one. On the one side one is like a straight worship song, and the other is more definitely more ccm, pop. And so one is a collaboration with Mark and Sarah Tillman, who I happen to meet through a mutual friend, Chris Vanderveer. Oh, no, Chris Van Dyne. Sorry. I know a different person named that Chris Van Dyne, and it just kind of materialized. We wrote the song together last year, and it just has materialized into being part of their record. They're releasing a full album. And so this will be the last song on their album. It's going to come out August 15, th God willing.
Eric Nordhoff:Yeah.
Chidiya Ohiagu:And then mine is also another one with a guy named King D. Music, who is based out of South Africa, and he's a gospel artist there, and so that one's a more poppy, upbeat kind of like a Forrest Frankie type vibe, and that one's coming out on August 8.th It's called. Heaven's got my back.
Eric Nordhoff:Cool.
Chidiya Ohiagu:And so I'm excited about both of those. And there's more songs in the in the pipeline. But this year there should be about. There's probably gonna be about 3 collaborations all gonna be on the Ep and prompt to be able to work with via music with helping to do some of the marketing on this, and.
Eric Nordhoff:Oh, yeah, rusty, rusty Herman Rusty Harmon. Yeah, yeah. Did I connect you guys.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Seth Mosley.
Eric Nordhoff:Oh, how funny! Yeah, well, that's Chrissy's distributor.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Oh, wow! Okay. Well, there you go.
Eric Nordhoff:Work with veer on a regular basis.
Chidiya Ohiagu:I did not know that. Look at. Look at God. Okay.
Eric Nordhoff:He was my next door neighbor. What dogs would play together? That was our. That's our connection.
Chidiya Ohiagu:That's amazing.
Eric Nordhoff:He's moved away since we recorded I don't know if you remember Chrissy did an out of the woods.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Yes.
Eric Nordhoff:CEO.
Chidiya Ohiagu:I remember.
Eric Nordhoff:We recorded we we hauled a piano, me and Ryan Hall hauled a piano out into the woods behind Rusty. Who's who runs beer? His backyard. That's where that was shot.
Chidiya Ohiagu:That's crazy. That's awesome.
Eric Nordhoff:Yeah.
Chidiya Ohiagu:So that's good. That's good to hear. I didn't.
Eric Nordhoff:Because well, that's the great thing about veer, is it allows for the possibility of things to up level into the Atlantic system and the Warner music group system. Yeah, that's always interesting and possible. And and fun.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Yeah. So I'm excited. It's it's new new territory for 2025. So we'll see what God does with all of it.
Eric Nordhoff:Yeah, well, it's going to be. I know it's going to go. Well, what do you do to promote your music? What? How do you. I know you make some videos. Do you get out there and play as much as you can? Or are you just too busy making pharmaceuticals.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Well, I try to do a lot of social media. I've been posting posting a lot more lately, especially with the since the last release, and then doing lives, actually did like a Tiktok live last night. On Tiktok. And then I do. I have had some live gigs here in town. I did a men's men's breakfast event for a father's day. so got to play some some songs there and so, and then I lead worship at my church. I'm on the worship team as one of the leaders there at the Highlands. Daphne Campus as well. So.
Eric Nordhoff:Oh, Highlands, okay.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Yeah, yeah.
Eric Nordhoff:He's written with them.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Oh, yeah, amazing amazing amazing folks.
Eric Nordhoff:So they do they do any songwriting any? Have they have a songwriting? Culture.
Chidiya Ohiagu:No. Well, I believe there is one I haven't really. I haven't really seen much of it since I've been there. I've only been there about a little under 2 years now, about a year and a half. So since I've been there, I haven't seen that yet, but I know that they have a rich one from before, because, like even the song place of freedom is their song. They wrote that those are the big ones, and they have a lot of other ones. And so, yeah.
Eric Nordhoff:Have many campuses, don't they?
Chidiya Ohiagu:About 28.
Eric Nordhoff:I think, yeah.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Somewhere in there in Alabama and Georgia.
Eric Nordhoff:Yeah. Yeah. Well, we're reconnecting with with them as some of the groups that some of the churches that we've worked with. I don't know if you knew this. But we have 21 writers currently from one church going through the mentorship. And we feel our calling now. It well, it's we're we're more focused on helping churches develop songwriting cultures.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Nice.
Eric Nordhoff:And because we're seeing a lot of worship leaders just needing help. you know. And how can we organize these writers? And how do we teach them, give them a foundation to all write together, because co-writing is a thing here in Nashville. It's not a thing anywhere else, really. So there's an art form to it. And and a lot of the community that can get built comes from good foundation of good rights. So we feel really focused on that. So maybe we'll we'll do more things with the with the Highlands and.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Hey, man, that'd be awesome. Yeah, it's a great group.
Eric Nordhoff:well, Chidia, we're going to wrap up this interview, we're going to play the version of with all i've got this is how we're going to leave this podcast. But any final words, any words of encouragement you want to give to other songwriters. that you think like have helped you the most in your journey over the last, let's say, 5 years, 6 years since you've been releasing music, writing music. Do you have a tip for maybe the next generation of writers, or something that is really one of the most important things that you've learned about songwriting for the Church, especially that you can leave us with.
Chidiya Ohiagu:I think one of the biggest things would be. It's gonna sound cliche. But keep keep doing it. Keep writing, keep trusting. Keep stay close to the Lord and keep following in the footsteps like if he's if he's called you to do this, keep doing it and keep moving forward, because there's a lot of they may get a lot of no's a lot of like, Oh, that's nice or or just silence at times, and that's and that's that's normal. but consistency, I think consistency, and continue to grow and learn in the music industry. In this little bit of time I've been an experience, I think is the biggest thing, because it's definitely a marathon, not a sprint.
Eric Nordhoff:Yeah.
Chidiya Ohiagu:You know, it's definitely a marathon, not a sprint. But if you're consistent, God will use those songs to touch people's lives and transform people's lives in ways that you could never expect. And I've seen those testimonies already.
Eric Nordhoff:Yeah, that's good. That's a good word. Keep writing. Sounds like a familiar phrase I've heard before.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Eric Nordhoff:We put it on our, we put it on our T-shirts, we finish every email with, keep writing all right? Well, definitely. it's been a pleasure and a privilege to talk with you, Chidia. You're one of my favorite people to see, and I miss seeing you. I don't think you're coming to the writing retreat this fall, but we will. We'll miss you, but I'm we're cheering you on, and we're going to champion you in any way we can on socials, or next time you get up to Nashville. Come up. Come on, let's write. Let's.
Chidiya Ohiagu:I would love to. Yeah, yeah.
Eric Nordhoff:Together.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Yeah.
Eric Nordhoff:Okay. all right, Chidia. We'll see you later. And this is, we're going to wrap this up with with all I've got. Daniel Doss singing lead. This is Chitia Haley, Hibbert, Joel Peace and
Chidiya Ohiagu:Jeremy Parr.
Eric Nordhoff:Jeremy Parr on with all I've got.
Chidiya Ohiagu:Thanks, Eric.
Eric Nordhoff:All right.
