Kevin Max recently spoke about his new song "Light Me Up" off of his forthcoming Broken Temples album in a devotional style interview of Behind the Song with Kevin Davis.

The former DC Talk and Audio Adrenaline singer shares how he came up with the song, and was looking to express his journey with it. He said originally he was writing a lot of these songs as Audio A songs with Hawk Nelson's Jon Steingard.

(Photo : Facebook: Kevin Max)

"I took a stab at writing a radio song, and was thinking about the common denominators people are dealing with and listening for in a song. What can people relate to?" he said to New Release Tuesday, "The basic overview of my thoughts as a follow up to Kings & Queens was to continue the story of redemption and encapsulate a little bit more of my backstory of being in a valley and going through pain. I wanted to put thoughts of going through doubts of my Christianity and why God called me to do what I do into songs, and further explain my redemption story that is lived out every day."

He continued on about his own personal journey and knowing the feelings of great success and great failure. Max specifically wanted this track to be about finding hope.

He said, "After you've gone through a period of wandering through a valley, or personal failures, or hurts, or a situation in your life where you are searching for the answer, when you find the answer it is like a lightning bolt through your head. It is like a Saul to Paul conversion. That's the basis for the song."

The meaning and intent is clearly evident with sections of verse such as this:
"You light me up, You light me up
Out of the dark you changed my heart
Gave me a mission gave my life a permission to grow
You light me up, You light me up
I once was lost and now I'm not
You sanctify me; give my life direction alone
You light me up, You light me up"

"When I'm saying 'You light me up,' it is literally a revelation. God has lit my mind, my spirit, my body with a mission and He has given me a purpose to live," he stated, talking about the sudden spark of a revelation and its power to take the person by surprise.

Max then spoke about how the song reflected his life, which at times, despite his moment in the spotlight with DC Talk, was filled with loneliness and emptiness. The singer shared how his adoption to a good Christian family did not necessarily mean that was the path he was on and did not really discover Christian music until he met Toby and Mike in college.

"We started DC Talk and made albums and toured and I got caught up in the whirlwind of being in a Christian band. I felt God's Providence directing me again," he said, "After we went our separate ways, I wanted to make music for the general market because although it was one of our goals, I never thought we fully accomplished taking our message over to the masses, and in many ways we were preaching to the choir. After I walked through personal valleys, I realized that I needed to make God part of my story. God really does care for me and He does love me. I was searching for the heart and face of the Lord."

Upon joining Audio Adrenaline he was able to find that spark again and boldly create music he loved and still have God be the influence of everything, "Music is a tool, and if you let the Lord speak into your music, it can be massively helpful," he said

Kevin Max speaks about the song below:

Read the entire interview with Max here.