Released October 9, 2007 Genre CCM, pop | Recorded 2007 Label Sparrow Records | |
Length 3:50 (album version)
3:52 (single version) Writer(s) Matthew West, Sam Mizell | ||
"You Are Everything" is a single by Christian musician Matthew West, from his 2008 album Something to Say. It was a #1 hit in early and mid-2008, and was 2008's most-played song of the year on American contemporary Christian radio.
Contents
The song was included on the WOW series, WOW Hits 1, and the compilation album WOW Hits 2009.
Background
By early 2007 "You Are Everything" had been written by Matthew West and Sam Mizell, in preparation for West's third studio album Something to Say.
In April 2007, he began to experience vocal fatigue, and soon his doctors prescribed a two-month period of vocal silence after they discovered vocal fold hemorrhaging and performed surgery.
West later said that "You Are Everything" took on "a new meaning" for him after the surgery: "Before we can have 'something to say' to the world, our hearts and our priorities must first be realigned to rely completely on Jesus, and our confidence in Him and His strength. Sometimes it takes being faced with losing something to allow God to truly become your Everything. I see it now."
"You Are Everything" was recorded in studio as soon as West has recovered vocally. He said that he was "really scared of singing on [the] new record", but realized that after the incident his voice seemed "cleaner and stronger" with higher notes than it previously had been.
Release
"You Are Everything" was released on October 9, 2007, and was Matthew West's first single from his album Something to Say (2008). By March 2008, the song was topping Christian radio charts. In the week of March 7, it reached number 1 on R&R's Christian AC charts, as well as the top position on Billboard's Hot Christian Songs chart.
It was the number 1 most-played song on Christian AC radios in 2008, according to R&R's year-end charts, receiving approximately 47,000 plays during the year.