The ascension of TobyMac’s solo career has been nothing short of spectacular. In an era of declining music sales he has consistently defied the odds and has seen his sales increase with each new album release. This is no small feat. With his fourth studio album TONIGHT released on Feb. 9, he is poised to take things higher yet again.
Having climbed the mountain once with the group dcTalk (4 Grammys, more than 8 million albums sold), TobyMac knows how difficult the journey can be and how much work the process actually takes. Rarely does an artist get to soar to great heights for a second time, but soar he has. He took home his first Grammy as a solo artist last year after receiving Grammy nominations for each of his first four solo projects (Momentum, Welcome To Diverse City, Portable Sounds, Tonight). And last year TobyMac topped 2 million in total albums sold during his solo career. TobyMac has also remixed the Welcome to Diverse City album and Momentum, calling the new albums Renovating Diverse City and Re:Mix Momentum, respectively. He has done it with a combination of talent, hard work and humility which has produced songs that resonate with people from all walks of life .
Upon embarking on his solo career, Toby sought to surround himself with a talented and diverse cast of characters, aptly named the Diverse City Band. The result has been a musical fusion that radiates with an unquenchable energy and a penetrating message.
A self-professed perfectionist when making records—he’s been known to relentlessly tweak and massage every little thing in an inexorable effort to make it sound better—Toby is the first to admit that he has to work really hard to make great music. “That’s what drives me,” he says. “I feel like I have to work harder than other people to get there. Sometimes I feel like I’m slightly under-gifted; I usually don't sit down and write a great song in just a few minutes like others can. But I think my work ethic makes up for that.”
Starting with dcTalk, and then going solo when the group disbanded in 2000, Toby still clings to such rootsy notions as hard work, persistence, patience and—perhaps most relevant of all—the power of music, which he insists is still what keeps him going.
“It’s the truth,” he says. “I still believe that a song can penetrate a heart. I believe God can use a song to open someone’s mind and heart. Other songs can just drop what I call, 'the joy bomb' on somebody. I fight really hard to remain unjaundiced—to keep believing that you can actually walk into a studio and write a song that breathes life. That’s the hardest fight for a guy who’s been doing this for a while; it’s easy to fall into the trap of just making it your job. But I still believe that songs matter.”
The songs on TONIGHT certainly matter—everything from the prayerful first single “City On Our Knees” to the testimonial “Changed Forever,” from the worshipful “Captured” to the confessional “Start Somewhere,” and even down to the put-on-your-party-hat grooves of “Funky Jesus Music” and “ShowStopper.” One theme that runs loud and clear throughout is the idea that we all need God, and we need him now—this morning, this afternoon, tonight.
“Right here, right now / Under the stars / I promise You my heart / ’Cause it starts tonight,” Toby sings on the chorus of the title track. “If you gotta start somewhere why not here? If you gotta start sometime why not now?” he asks on “City on Our Knees.” And “I wanna straighten this before the sun goes down tonight,” he proclaims on “Start Somewhere.”
“There’s definitely a sense of urgency on this record,” says co-producer Chris Stephens, who has worked on TobyMac’s last three CDs. “And it’s an album that speaks of unity, of coming together and finding common ground to worship God.”
Toby has long had a passion for racial reconciliation and unity, a recurrent theme in his music. TONIGHT includes songs of reconciliation of another kind—between husband and wife. Toby and Amanda have been happily married for 15 years, but like all couples, it can be hard work sometimes. For Toby, who best expresses his emotions through music, it was a natural step to write about it. In “Hold On,” he sings, “If you move just a little bit closer / You can put your head on my shoulder . . . / Wipe away those tears / This one’s for you.” And on “Start Somewhere,” he’s downright confessional: “I said some things that I regret / And if I could, I’d take ’em back / But here I am, and there you are / The space between us is not so far / I’m reaching out my hand in love.”
“‘Hold On’ is very personal,” Toby says. “Many lines are there to encourage my wife, but I know those lines could encourage anybody in a relationship. As for ‘Start Somewhere,’ any time you’re in love with somebody, you’re going to bang heads from time to time. I don’t know how many times I’ve been lying in bed, sweating it out and thinking, How am I going to make this right? But then you reach that moment of apology and forgiveness. That’s one of my favorite songs on the record; it’s a personal perspective on confrontation and reconciliation.”
And then there’s “Wonderin’,” in which Toby reminisces about the past with Kevin Max and Michael Tait in dcTalk, one of Christian music’s biggest acts in the 1990s. “We was ridin’ in style, clockin’ them miles / With the songs that He put down deep in our hearts . . . / I’m wonderin’ ’bout the way I spend my days / Wonderin’ if it’s even worth the chase / Wonderin’ if they’re stealin’ me from you.”
“It’s just a warm look back at dc Talk,” says Toby, almost wistfully. “It’s reminiscing about Michael and Kevin and what we did together, and recognizing their influence on me. I love what I do today, but there are times when I wonder,What if we stayed together? I’ve got these dreams I’m pursuing now, but are they stealing me from you? I think about Kevin and Michael on every song I write. That's the truth man, we climbed a mountain together.”
Sonically, TONIGHT is typical TobyMac in many ways—an eclectic mix of rap, rock, pop and funk, all laden with catchy hooks and melodies just itching for airplay and audience singalongs. There’s even a healthy dose of reggae on the album closer “Break Open the Sky,” where Toby flexes his Jamaican family ties while Israel Houghton provides guest vocals. Other visiting vocalists include Skillet’s John Cooper on “Tonight” and Relient K’s Matthew Thiessen on “Wonderin’.”
Of course most of the vocals belong to the artist himself. Stephens says Toby “has stretched himself as a vocalist, he writes about things he is passionate about and his vocals reflect that urgency''. Toby agrees: “I do more singing on this record than ever before. I’m learning to use my vocal instrument in different ways, and I’m getting more comfortable with it everyday''.
It all adds up to a project that reflects one man’s desire to push himself beyond “very good,” to dig deep in the quest for that other country where greatness resides. He certainly reached for it. Hard.
“I’ve worked very hard not to fall into the trap of making this just a gig,” he says. “If it is a labor, it’s a labor of love. I know music can’t change the world, but who says God can't speak through a song."
Right here, right now. TONIGHT.
TobyMac is usually styled tobyMac or TOBYMAC
Hey Devil
TobyMac Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
She checked her hair in the mirror
And she stepped through the door like this
Three flights down
And she's out on the streets
Walking brick sidewalks lined in grey concrete
He saw her coming from a few blocks away
Shuffled down the boulevard
Cut me like a deck of cards
I thought you had me
You thought that you had me
But hey, Devil, go on
Get your junk out of here
I don't need you
I don't need you
Hey, Devil, go on
Get your junk out of here
I don't need you
So move on
I stepped to it like I knew what I was doing
I'm a moth
You're the flame
Never knew you'd be my ruin
In the blink of an eye
Element of surprise
Got my feet on the earth
But my face to the sky
Shuffled down the boulevard
Cut me like a deck of cards
I thought you had me
You thought you had me
Now the plot is thickening
Pushing deep under my skin
I thought you had me
You that that you had me
But hey, Devil, go on
Get your junk out of here
I don't need you
I don't need you
Hey, Devil, go on
Get your junk out of here
I don't need you
So move on
Hey, Devil, go on
Get your junk out of here
I don't need you
I don't need you
Hey, Devil, go on
Get your junk out of here
I don't need you
So move on
You're a beauty and a beast
You're the pressure never cease
You're the straight other side
You're a beauty and a beast
You're the pressure never cease
You're the straight other side
You're a beauty and a beast
You're the pressure never cease
You're the straight other side
And they say you never sleep
Hey
Hey
Hey
Hey, Devil, go on
Get your junk out of here
I don't need you
I don't need you
Hey, Devil, go on
Get your junk out of here
I don't need you
So move on
Hey, Devil, go on
Get your junk out of here
I don't need you
I don't need you
Hey, Devil, go on
Get your junk out of here
I don't need you
So move on
Hey
The song "Hey Devil" by TobyMac tells the story of a woman who confronts her temptations and resists the devil's hold on her life. She walks out on the street, momentarily feeling helpless and vulnerable, when she encounters the devil in the form of a group of people or perhaps an individual following her. The devil tries to tempt her, but the woman stands her ground with a powerful message to him that she doesn't need his influence in her life.
In the second part of the song, TobyMac switches to his own encounter with the devil. He describes himself as a moth drawn to the flame and ultimately being ruined by it. Despite his own struggles, he echoes the same message that the woman conveyed - the devil has no power over him anymore.
Overall, "Hey Devil" is a song about standing up to temptation and not allowing the devil to have control. It encourages listeners to recognize and resist the things that hold them back in life.
Line by Line Meaning
She dialed him about six pm
She made a phone call to him at around six in the evening.
She checked her hair in the mirror
She looked at herself in the mirror to see how her hair looked.
And she stepped through the door like this
She walked out of the door in a particular manner.
Three flights down
She went down three flights of stairs.
And she's out on the streets
She is now outside on the street.
Walking brick sidewalks lined in grey concrete
She walked on brick sidewalks that were bordered by grey concrete.
He saw her coming from a few blocks away
He saw her approaching from a distance of a few city blocks.
Red scarf in the wind as it started to rain a bit
As the wind picked up and it started to rain slightly, her red scarf was blowing around.
Shuffled down the boulevard
He walked down the boulevard slowly and casually.
Cut me like a deck of cards
Her behavior to him felt like he was being sliced apart like a deck of cards being shuffled.
I thought you had me
He previously thought that he had her figured out or under control.
You thought that you had me
She previously thought that he had her figured out or under control.
But hey, Devil, go on
He is addressing the Devil, who he believes is trying to tempt him or lead him astray.
Get your junk out of here
He wants the Devil to leave him alone and take his temptations with him.
I don't need you
He is asserting that he does not require the Devil's influence or temptation.
So move on
He is commanding the Devil to leave him alone and move on to someone else.
I'm a moth
He is comparing himself to a moth attracted to the danger and temptation of the Devil.
You're the flame
He is comparing the Devil's allure and temptation to a flame that a moth is attracted to.
Never knew you'd be my ruin
He did not realize at first how destructive the Devil's influence and temptations could be to him.
In the blink of an eye
Things can change very quickly, as if in an instant.
Element of surprise
A sudden and unexpected event or action that catches him off guard and unprepared.
Got my feet on the earth
He has a firm grounding in reality and is not easily swayed or fooled.
But my face to the sky
He is keeping his focus on a higher power or greater good, rather than being brought down by the Devil's temptations.
Now the plot is thickening
The situation is becoming more complex or difficult to navigate.
Pushing deep under my skin
The temptation or influence of the Devil is becoming more intense and harder to resist.
You're a beauty and a beast
The Devil's temptations can be alluring and appealing, but also dangerous and destructive.
You're the pressure never cease
The Devil's influence is a constant pressure or stress that does not let up or relent.
You're the straight other side
The Devil represents the opposite or contrary to what is good or right.
And they say you never sleep
The Devil is thought to always be active and constantly trying to lead people astray.
Hey
An exclamation used to get someone's attention.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Capitol CMG Publishing
Written by: CHRISTOPHER E. STEVENS, TIM J. ROSENAU, TOBY MCKEEHAN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@JoseManuelSeguraGarcia
Santiago 4:7 LBLA
Por tanto, someteos a Dios. Resistid, pues, al diablo y huirá de vosotros.
Lucas 10:19 LBLA
19 He aquí os doy potestad de hollar serpientes y escorpiones, y sobre toda fuerza del enemigo, y nada os dañará.
Efesios 6:10-11,13 LBLA
[10]Por lo demás, fortaleceos en el Señor y en el poder de su fuerza.
[11]Revestíos con toda la armadura de Dios para que podáis estar firmes contra las insidias del diablo.
[13]Por tanto, tomad toda la armadura de Dios, para que podáis resistir en el día malo, y habiéndolo hecho todo, estar firmes.
💪✝🦁🙌
@declanminecrafter828
for people who need help, if you cant seem to comprehend how big Jesus and God is, dont try to comprehend how big. He's the most powerful and divine and holy, that nobody can fully comprehend his power.
@the_only_gen-z_duke_fan
when I'm scared at night... man, this is the song
@everythinggirly916
I'm only finding this song 12 years later but it is so motivating.
@AmiMCGirlChristian
AWESOME! Really gonna sing this when devil trying to bring me down. TY TOBYMAC!!!
@ChristLover53
this is epic!!! i saw this and was like, woh, i will try this and after i listened to this i just got fearless!! i should listen to this when its dark more often. im thirteen.
@km8102
Dang so you’re 21 now lmao
@ChristLover53
@@km8102 why on earth did I feel the need to say my age I have to ask myself now
@km8102
@@ChristLover53 lmaooo
@kingStryker3578
My favorite song from this playlist
@MegaMexican562
I just had a an overdose of tobyMac