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Your last pop album of all-new material was 1999's What Kind of Love. What was it like to get back in the studio and work on new stuff again?

Margaret Becker It's always surprising to me that I get to make music, let alone make a living from music. So to be back in the studio with a brand-new bevy of songs that are just me—not myself with other people like the records that released between 1999 and now—it's just a privilege and an honor. It's really my dream come true.

What's the biggest difference between recording independently and with the support of a record label? Do you miss the latter?

Becker I'm so lucky. I'm one of the few artists you will probably ever meet who absolutely adores her record company, still to this day. My time with Sparrow Records was amazing. They were so supportive and they literally gave me my dreams. But there came a time when I felt God was calling me to branch out in other areas, and I knew that I could not serve them if my attention was diluted. That's the day I went in to Sparrow and said, "Guys, I am ready to do something different. It's not because you haven't done an excellent job—I am not going [to another label]. I just feel that God is calling me to try some new things."

I enjoyed it when I was there, but like anything else in the journey we take with Christ, it's the fire by night and the cloud by day—when it moves, you've got to move. I am in my next chapter. The beauty of being an independent artist is that you are on your own time schedule and you can indulge yourself. I hate to say it that way, but it's the truth. What I do miss is the budget and the staff of really talented people. What I don't miss is the timeline, which was always quite consuming.

From the outside looking in, how has the Christian music climate changed in the last decade? Do you like what you see?

Becker We grew as an industry [back in the '90s]. When you're growing that fast, you have to segregate, in a sense. We've got a really strong worship community now that has a light drawn on it, and I'm so happy about that. We have really strong divergent styles. I think that we've never had as many forms of music and expressions of Christ content as we do today, and that excites me. I love that we can hear everything from reggae to acid jazz, written and performed by Christians. That's fabulous.

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