Grammy and NAACP award-nominated platinum-selling soul singer Major Johnson-Finley (known as MAJOR.) wants his listeners to know he has evolved from his Houston, Texas upbringing and Berklee College of Music training into the “hope dealer” he is today.
Now married, the artist behind the 2016 bestselling EP i am MAJOR. and the 2018 full-length album, Even More, said he is chasing his destiny—although, other than bringing glory to God’s kingdom, he is not completely certain of what the details of that destiny are.
“Ultimately. I believe in the right now that my purpose, my purpose is to deal hope,” MAJOR. said, “but [dealing hope benefits others and me]. If what you’re doing is helping others, and not helping you [and vice-versa], that’s not [a] purpose.
“When it is [a] purpose, it is a God thing, and it will always benefit both the giver and the receiver,” he continued, “because God never intends for his work to go forth and eliminate anyone from the equation of his goodness. So, my purpose is to continue to amplify hope in the world: hope in love, life, and in the future. And I pray that my destiny takes me to fully do all of those things.”
In addition to his acting credits on shows such as Masters of Sex and Star, MAJOR. produces music that is grounded in truth and intention, impactful, and “addresses right now moments and right now needs.”
The lyrics in his song, “Why I Love You” read: I found love in you/And no other love will do/Every moment that you smile/Chases all of the pain away/Forever and a while/In my heart is where you’ll stay.
While some may interpret the lyrics are meant for a significant other, MAJOR. said they are really a love letter to God.
“The intention of [Why I Love You] was to help people understand how to truly do this love thing on earth as it is in Heaven,” he said. “I wrote it as a love letter to God, and love wrote me back. People get a healthier understanding of what love really is and how it is to be fully realized.”
In another song, “Joy in the Battle,” MAJOR. describes a situation where, despite trials (“lost some things,” “made some enemies,” etc.), the singer finds “joy in the battle” and “joy in victory.”
“That is my truth,” he said. “And the intention is to get people to realize, bro, that we don’t need the permission of our storm or our circumstance or our hardship to choose joy. We choose joy anyway. That’s the authority and privilege of the believer.
“Because what we can do is run the track [record], the credit report of our Maker, that just like we got out of the last storm, we can get out of this one too, and in the midst of it, we can choose joy that commands our reality to do nothing but fall in line. That is the intention.”
If given the chance to advise “Old MAJOR.,” that is the artist from 2016, MAJOR. said that he would tell not only him but to aspiring artists, visionaries, and business owners to “keep going and “lean into the downloads that God gives you” because the journey will make sense “in due time.”
“Lock into your truth,” he said. “Let it evolve. Always know that there’s room to be better and to become better and do just that, because there will be a time when everything that you have shared is everything that the world needs.”
