743: From Stardom To Spirituality: Evvie McKinney's Story

[00:00:10] How do you go from being the winner of the inaugural season of the 4 Reality TV show and all that comes with that to managing a career in gospel music? Evvie McKinney is here to share her story, tips, and so much more. Welcome to the Coiling Solution family. This is James Rousseau and my goal is to empower you with awareness and actionable insights. Let's jump in.

[00:00:33] All right, y'all. Welcome to the Coiling Solution show right here on Holy Culture Radio and I've got a treat for you this afternoon. Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, Evvie McKinney rose to prominence as the winner of the inaugural show The 4 Battle for Stardom. Known for her dynamic vocal and magnetic stage presence, she has risen to be a star in the music world, blending genres and delivering messages of faith, love, and perseverance through her music.

[00:01:00] Evvie, welcome to Holy Culture Radio.

[00:01:02] Thank you. Thank you for having me.

[00:01:05] Oh, thank you for being here.

[00:01:06] So let me ask you a question from the start. I always like to help people get familiar with people who join the show. What's one thing you think you can share with my audience that most people don't know about Evvie?

[00:01:17] I'm a gamer.

[00:01:19] Are you?

[00:01:20] I'm a gamer.

[00:01:21] What do you play?

[00:01:24] Oh, well, you know what?

[00:01:27] I've been playing a lot of my Oculus. Well, not, well, probably about two, three months ago. I haven't really picked it up in a few months, but my Oculus, the virtual reality headset.

[00:01:40] You like that?

[00:01:40] I love it. I love it so much. And I play Population One. I don't know if people gonna judge me for that, but Population One on Oculus.

[00:01:53] Oculus. Okay, so I had an Oculus and I tested it and I'm going back about 18 months. So you do you have the latest version or?

[00:02:00] No, I probably have the older version.

[00:02:03] The older version?

[00:02:04] Oculus Quest 2.

[00:02:06] Okay, okay, okay. I only did a game or two with it. It can get immersive for sure, right?

[00:02:12] Yes.

[00:02:12] And so, yeah, I need to pick it back up.

[00:02:14] And then Call of Duty and yeah, all of them. Yeah.

[00:02:19] Okay, so you're a first person shooter game person.

[00:02:22] Yes, I love it. I love it so much.

[00:02:26] Okay, okay. Yeah, people probably wouldn't have made that jump to that conclusion.

[00:02:29] I know.

[00:02:32] That is so funny. So let me ask you, after being on a show like The Four, what was life for you like after that? You know, because once you do a TV show, and I think that was one that just had so many expectations with it.

[00:02:46] Yes.

[00:02:46] It was somewhat unprecedented given, you know, it's Pete Diddy, you had Megan and who else did you have?

[00:02:54] Megan Trainor, DJ Khaled.

[00:02:56] DJ Khaled, right. Exactly. What was it like both during the show and then after the show?

[00:03:02] Oh my goodness, during the show. So it was six episodes in the first season. It was only six episodes. And I came on the fifth episode. And the Lord blessed me to win the whole show.

[00:03:15] So, after the show, I signed my deal. What was really like a default thing because it came with the winner. But I signed my deal with Republic Records and I was living a California life. I was in Burbank, California. So I loved Burbank. I had an orange tree in the backyard. It was a blessing. It was a big, big blessing.

[00:04:09] You're a source of income. You're a source of love. You're everything. The Lord is everything. And so I will honestly say after I won that show, the Lord allowed me to experience so much, so many amazing things. But most of all, he allowed me to really, truly experience him.

[00:04:30] I love that. I love what you said, too, about the Lord reminding you sometime. I was driving in this morning. I was listening to a radio show and something someone said provoked a thought. And that thought to me was that God is our ultimate satisfaction.

[00:04:45] Yes. Right. And that there's so many things that can happen that as humans, we get on the achievement wheel sometimes.

[00:04:51] Yeah. Looking for the next achievement, which is so funny. I know I have a horrible habit sometimes of achieving something I wanted for so long.

[00:04:58] But then I celebrate the achievement for what feels like a nanosecond and I'm looking for the next achievement. Right.

[00:05:03] I said, you know, some of that's from a corporate background and different things, but I don't think it's healthy.

[00:05:08] And at the end of the day, when I've watched even some of the richest people and you've had a lot more exposure to them, obviously in the entertainment world, it seems like they've achieved all the things we would have wanted to achieve, including incredible riches.

[00:05:22] And they are still not satisfied. Right. They're still thrill seeking, unsatisfied, feeling unfulfilled in a tool.

[00:05:31] They have a real relationship with Jesus. I think that void will always be there.

[00:05:37] That's right. For what does it profit a man to gain a whole world and lose his soul?

[00:05:41] Yeah. And I will tell you something, James. I could have made a lot of different decisions, but because I was not willing to satisfy my flesh and I was so willing.

[00:05:57] And even in that moment, I wasn't even mature enough to notice what I was doing.

[00:06:02] It really was the Holy Spirit in me working even then. And I just didn't know it, but I probably could have been one of the top R&B soul singers right now.

[00:06:15] If I was willing to maybe say Jesus a little less or change my message and in my song or not be so they say it's religious, but I'm just on fire for Christ because it's not religion.

[00:06:27] It's relationship. That's right.

[00:06:28] Right. I'm curious that the need to do that, that you felt, was it implicit or explicitly expressed to you?

[00:06:38] What do you mean?

[00:06:40] Like, in other words, to your point, to say Jesus a little less, were people actually saying to you, hey, if you want to go further, you need to pull that back?

[00:06:47] Or was it somewhat more implied?

[00:06:48] A few times, a few times, actually, someone really close to me told me before I went on the floor.

[00:06:56] Or she said, Evie, you may need to, you know, everybody don't believe in Jesus, so you may have to, you know, not say that name like that.

[00:07:06] You know, you can always keep it here, but don't say that name.

[00:07:09] And when she told me that immediately, it was like a darkness that came over me.

[00:07:16] And I was like, well, why would I do that?

[00:07:17] That's what people need to hear.

[00:07:21] And she came after the show.

[00:07:24] She came back to me and she said, Evie, I apologize.

[00:07:27] I was all wrong.

[00:07:29] And there have been a few times where I've had to internally make the decision.

[00:07:35] Either I'm going to do this or I'm going to do that.

[00:07:38] And there have also been times where maybe the Lord knew I probably wasn't mature enough to make the decision.

[00:07:46] He made the decision for me.

[00:07:48] That's good.

[00:07:49] He made the decision for me.

[00:07:51] That's good.

[00:07:51] And, you know, a lot of times you can't see that in the moment, right?

[00:07:53] It feels like a door is closed.

[00:07:55] But later on, you're somewhere.

[00:07:57] Hallelujah, Lord.

[00:07:58] Thank you for closing that door.

[00:08:01] Yes.

[00:08:01] Thank you, Jesus.

[00:08:03] Yes, yes, yes.

[00:08:04] So what made you initially pursue music?

[00:08:06] How did you get started?

[00:08:08] So I grew up the youngest of seven and my father was a blues and gospel singer.

[00:08:13] My mama can't sing a lick, but my daddy was the, he was the entertainer, the singer.

[00:08:18] He came from a family of musicians.

[00:08:22] He came from a family of musicians and singers.

[00:08:25] And yeah, so pretty much it's in my blood.

[00:08:29] It's in my DNA.

[00:08:31] That's good.

[00:08:32] And what, you know, after being on the four to your point, you're out in Burbank, you're doing all these different things, all these different opportunities.

[00:08:40] To your point, the Lord spoke to you and humbled you, reminded me that you are his.

[00:08:44] But what was it like to go through that journey and then, for lack of better terms, say no to those opportunities and come back to your first love?

[00:08:53] Man, supernatural.

[00:08:55] I would not change.

[00:08:57] Well, there are some certain things that I probably would change.

[00:09:00] But for the most part, in the moment, like you were saying, you don't know.

[00:09:09] You don't know that God is using you.

[00:09:11] But now and looking back, it's just like the Lord never left me.

[00:09:17] Even moments when I was upset about something and I may have felt alone, God was still with me.

[00:09:27] Right.

[00:09:28] Right.

[00:09:28] And it's so amazing to just think about the fact that even when we make the wrong decisions, the book of John talks about how the Lord will not take away your sorrow.

[00:09:41] The Lord says that he will turn what used to sadden you.

[00:09:45] He will make it.

[00:09:46] He will turn it into joy.

[00:09:48] And right now, honestly, that's what I'm living.

[00:09:52] And in those moments, I'm so thankful that I made the decisions that I made because God was able to actually get in the driver's seat.

[00:10:01] I was not in a driver's seat.

[00:10:02] And that's something I know a lot of young people in my generation, we're so confused and we panic and we say, no, I need to control this.

[00:10:10] I need to control this.

[00:10:12] You can't control anything.

[00:10:13] You're not in control of anything.

[00:10:15] Actually, the Lord is in control of every single thing.

[00:10:19] So you may as well just go ahead and do your due diligence and align with him and read his word.

[00:10:26] And I was saying something to one of the other interviewers.

[00:10:28] And I said, you know what, we will sit on the couch and binge watch eight hours of a TV show on Netflix.

[00:10:35] But we won't take five minutes to listen to a sermon or just spend time in God's presence.

[00:10:44] And I'm so sad for my generation because these cell phones and you got people that's addicted to drugs at my age and addicted to sex and addicted.

[00:10:56] We're addicted to so many.

[00:10:58] We're addicted to all the wrong things.

[00:11:00] Absolutely.

[00:11:01] And, you know, you hit a nerve with the cell phone thing.

[00:11:04] I just came back from vacation.

[00:11:06] We were gone for a little over two weeks.

[00:11:08] On day three, I'm reading a book from a friend of mine.

[00:11:11] And there was two things he said in the book.

[00:11:13] One, it's healthy to pull up on cable news, which I had done a couple of years ago.

[00:11:18] Like, you know, pulling up on cable news, figuring out how to get my news when I want it and try to hopefully unfiltered and unbiased way.

[00:11:25] But then the second thing was he was talking about social and all the things, you know, like if you've watched The Social Dilemma on Netflix or other things, you know, the gravity of the addiction it can create.

[00:11:36] I decided to, after reading it, delete my social apps from my phone and say if I need to do any postings or whatnot, my team's going to do it anyway.

[00:11:45] If I need to check in, I'll do it from my iPad or my computer.

[00:11:49] Can I tell you, it has been so refreshing over the last couple of weeks.

[00:11:53] Even today, I don't have it on my phone.

[00:11:56] So where would normally be a reflex to it's almost like any few seconds we get, we pick up the phone and want to go and I don't have it.

[00:12:04] Oh, that's so good. So you know what I do? I either go to Audible or listen to a book, jump to my Kindle and read a book that I was into, or I'll jump to the Bible app and check.

[00:12:14] So I've replaced that space with other things that are more fulfilling and more nurturing, right, to my spirit.

[00:12:21] And so I'm thankful for that. So I'm glad you mentioned that.

[00:12:25] Now you are back with a new smash song produced by our brother Rodney Jerkins.

[00:12:31] Tell me, tell us about it. Tell us about it.

[00:12:33] Yes. Produced by yours truly dark child and don't walk away.

[00:12:37] So I wrote don't walk away in May of 2023 and I was seven months pregnant and I had my toddler with me and it's so crazy.

[00:12:49] It's so crazy because Catherine Bruton, who literally is like a literal angel in my life right now.

[00:12:55] She invited me. She said, Rodney Jerkins has a songwriting camp. I want you to come. I want you to meet him.

[00:13:02] And when I walked in this, when I walked in the room, Stanley Brown was at the computer. He was going through some music and I said, he was going through the songs and maybe two or three songs later.

[00:13:13] I said, that's the one I said, that's the one I want to write to. And I just started singing and Rodney came in and Catherine introduced us.

[00:13:23] And then we started, um, I just continued to start singing the melodies and then the words came and he was like, that's the hook. He said, no, you need to put that down right now.

[00:13:32] And so I got up and I put it down. And one thing, I, one thing that I always pray about, especially when the Lord is bringing me before great men like Rodney, I always pray that the Lord allows my beauty to be radiant, not just physically, but spiritually.

[00:13:51] And I, even when I'm in meetings or when I'm talking to somebody, I always want to show people. And I feel like that this is just something that mothers, whether you're single or not, if you're a mother and you're following your dreams and you're in the music industry, you have to work 10 times harder because you've got kids.

[00:14:09] And so I had to prove I can do this. And that's something that I've had to do. And I honestly, that's something that is not talked about, but women, we have to do that. And it's very challenging, but thank the Lord it gets done.

[00:14:25] But I want, I said all of that to say this at the end, Rodney, there was a room and we listened to all of the songs that everyone wrote at the songwriting camps.

[00:14:35] And after my song played, he said, y'all, after the 25 years of me working, I've never witnessed a woman seven months pregnant, sing a whole song with her toddler on her hip.

[00:14:47] And I said, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, because the Lord, man, God is so good. And I'm, this man is a legend and he's a producer on my song and he's so sweet and just so heartfelt and a believer on fire for God.

[00:15:05] Yes. And I just, man, this has been a blessing. And the season that I was in at that time, I could have walked away from God.

[00:15:15] Yeah. I could have walked away from God and it was so much, it was so much coming at me at one time.

[00:15:23] But even in that difficult season, the Lord did not let me focus on what was hurting me.

[00:15:30] He had so much other stuff going on, like me being able to write a song with Rodney and just so much other stuff that was going on in my life.

[00:15:38] And I saw the goodness of God in the land of the living.

[00:15:42] And so, yeah, I know. See, I can talk. I'm going to have to work on it.

[00:15:46] No, no, this is so good. I think, I think it's so good for a number of reasons, right?

[00:15:50] I think people, we all need more examples that are, to me, touchable examples of what it looks like to go through those seasons.

[00:15:58] Because what we promote on social are the highlight reels, right? It's the mountaintop moments.

[00:16:03] Most people are not going to show you what happened underneath the water before they got, they came out and got to the mountaintop.

[00:16:08] And I think the second part is we want to sometimes think as Christians that we're immune to bad seasons.

[00:16:16] Yes. It's inevitable.

[00:16:17] That's the other part of it. It's inevitable. It's just a matter of time.

[00:16:20] It's never had it yet. You're going to face it.

[00:16:22] And I love something you wrote about the song. You said, recently, I've seen the Lord orchestrate his will in my life.

[00:16:28] And at that time, I didn't understand what the Lord was doing.

[00:16:31] And there were even times I felt like I could have drowned.

[00:16:34] Yes.

[00:16:34] But because like Peter, when I chose to keep my eyes on Jesus,

[00:16:38] I learned how important it is to never walk away from God because he truly knows what he's doing.

[00:16:42] When you say, I felt like I could have drowned.

[00:16:45] Yes.

[00:16:46] What was happening at that time?

[00:16:48] Man, everything. You name it, everything.

[00:16:52] And there are some things personally that I'm not ready to talk about.

[00:16:57] But when I tell you I was in a season, I've never felt that way ever in my life.

[00:17:07] The betrayal, and not even from person to person,

[00:17:11] you get to a point where you may feel like you're not where you need to be in life.

[00:17:16] Right.

[00:17:16] And you start to kind of get discouraged.

[00:17:20] But because my system, the Lord, and that's why a lot of people,

[00:17:25] you may not like your family members, but God knew who to put you with.

[00:17:29] And for whatever reason.

[00:17:31] Yeah.

[00:17:32] But I know for a fact, my grandma and my mama,

[00:17:37] they are my prayer warriors.

[00:17:39] And they just kept me, man, they kept me grounded.

[00:17:43] My children, my babies kept me grounded.

[00:17:46] And when I look at them, I see God.

[00:17:49] I see how God loves me.

[00:17:52] I see how the Lord wants me to be with him.

[00:17:56] My little girl wake up.

[00:17:58] She don't care if the lights, she don't care about like bills.

[00:18:02] And that's how God wants us.

[00:18:04] So when the Lord says he wants us to be like children, that's what he's talking about.

[00:18:08] But in that moment of me writing that song, I was rock bottom.

[00:18:12] And I literally just got done reading a book earlier this year.

[00:18:16] And at the end of the book, the author said,

[00:18:18] the reason why rock bottom is sometimes the best place to be is because Jesus is our rock.

[00:18:26] So people, you may, I don't even know who's going to even see this or listen to it.

[00:18:30] But I want to encourage you when you ain't got no money in your bank account,

[00:18:35] when things are not adding up, things are not going the way that you feel like they should.

[00:18:40] But God knows, the Lord knows that your rent is due.

[00:18:43] He knows your car knows due, car and shards.

[00:18:46] He knows all of that stuff is due.

[00:18:47] We act like he doesn't know.

[00:18:51] And see, worry, all worry is, is worshiping what God wants you to not worry about.

[00:18:58] That's all.

[00:18:59] That's all worry is.

[00:19:01] Instead of you worshiping God, you're worshiping the problem.

[00:19:04] And I literally had to learn.

[00:19:06] It does not matter.

[00:19:08] If I book a gig that's going to pay me X amount of dollars or a gig that's not going to pay me nothing.

[00:19:14] God is my source.

[00:19:16] Well, that's good.

[00:19:16] He is our source.

[00:19:18] And when we can just, when we can remind ourselves, we have to remind ourselves, look, it is guaranteed.

[00:19:28] We live in a fallen world.

[00:19:30] You don't have a whole lot of bad days.

[00:19:33] But guess what?

[00:19:34] God is going to walk every bad day with you.

[00:19:37] Every rain and storm, he going to be right there with you.

[00:19:41] You don't need to walk away from him because he's not walking away.

[00:19:46] It's almost like if a husband and wife are at the table and maybe the husband is pulling away and the wife is like, no, I'm here.

[00:19:53] I'm right here with you.

[00:19:56] I'm here with you.

[00:19:58] That is how God is for us.

[00:20:00] But what?

[00:20:00] Us in our selfish and simple ways.

[00:20:03] No, I want it right now.

[00:20:04] I want it this way.

[00:20:05] I want it.

[00:20:05] And then God may give you something, but it don't show up in the package that you want it.

[00:20:10] So you just completely reject the whole blessing.

[00:20:13] Come on.

[00:20:13] That's it.

[00:20:14] Pastor McKinney, you talking.

[00:20:17] You preaching.

[00:20:18] Hey, you know what I love.

[00:20:19] Man, go ahead.

[00:20:20] I'm sorry.

[00:20:20] Please.

[00:20:21] I was going to say I've learned so much in that season.

[00:20:24] And now I used to worry so much about money.

[00:20:27] I don't know.

[00:20:29] I don't know if it was just the survival of me because I grew up in public housing and I grew up in a big family.

[00:20:34] So we had to share a lot.

[00:20:36] We had to pray a lot for a lot of miracles to be done.

[00:20:39] I literally watched my mama pray our water back home.

[00:20:43] So I guess that's just in me.

[00:20:45] But that's something that I have to deal with, the fear of the unknown.

[00:20:50] But God will take you through seasons.

[00:20:53] I mean, Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

[00:20:57] He makes me lie down in green pastures.

[00:21:01] He leads me beside still water.

[00:21:03] So the Lord is showing us time and time again in his word.

[00:21:07] He will never leave or forsake us.

[00:21:09] So why do we believe the tricks of the enemy when we why would you walk away from God?

[00:21:15] Like, honestly, there literally is no reason to walk away from God.

[00:21:19] That's so good.

[00:21:20] So that's why I wrote a song about it.

[00:21:22] That's so good.

[00:21:23] Yeah.

[00:21:23] And, you know, the messages of the song of love and resilience and staying committed through the ups and downs is such a strong message, which I feel is so needed, particularly now.

[00:21:35] Like we are in an incredibly divisive season.

[00:21:38] Yes.

[00:21:39] And so those messages of love, loving people, right?

[00:21:43] Yes.

[00:21:44] And being resilient.

[00:21:45] And something you said is really, I think, really profound.

[00:21:48] Worrying is placing our worship on things the Lord doesn't want us to.

[00:21:52] So like the simple thing is redirecting your worship.

[00:21:55] That's it.

[00:21:56] Right?

[00:21:57] That's it.

[00:21:58] That's so good.

[00:21:59] Let me ask you a question.

[00:22:00] Given the exposure you've had, again, in the secular world, TV, that's a place that a lot of people won't get to.

[00:22:07] Let's be honest.

[00:22:08] A lot of people won't get to being on a show, more or less winning a show like that.

[00:22:13] And now with, you know, I don't even want to call it renewed faith.

[00:22:17] Let's just say refocused faith in such a strong way.

[00:22:20] How are you managing your career in the entertainment space, given where your head is right now?

[00:22:25] How are you managing your career?

[00:22:26] Man, by the grace of God, with a whole lot of prayer, actually prioritizing, spending time with God and praying.

[00:22:37] And not just praying, but literally I've had to learn within the past year.

[00:22:43] Sometimes you have to sit in a, even if it's a dark room with the door closed, sit and listen and wait for the Holy Spirit.

[00:22:52] To give you a download of what you need to do, no matter what it is.

[00:22:57] Because sometimes when we're praying, we're talking, talking, talking.

[00:23:01] We can't hear God until we done, we done made a decision.

[00:23:05] And we were like, well, I prayed about it.

[00:23:07] Well, yeah, you prayed, but did you listen for the answer?

[00:23:11] And we don't listen.

[00:23:12] I know my generation, we don't listen.

[00:23:16] I'm telling you, I'm 27, we don't listen.

[00:23:19] You can't tell us nothing.

[00:23:21] We're going to prove you wrong.

[00:23:23] Yeah.

[00:23:23] See, I can't say it.

[00:23:24] You can say it.

[00:23:25] Because I've got a son around your age.

[00:23:27] And yes, Lord.

[00:23:29] Yes, Lord.

[00:23:32] How do you think about your goals and what you want to accomplish over the next few years?

[00:23:36] Man, I want, it's so much that I want to do, but I want to give back and I want to bring glory to the name of Jesus.

[00:23:46] And I want to bring glory to Jesus and I want him to perfect me and purify me.

[00:23:50] And I want my kids to be perfected and purified.

[00:23:53] And I wrote a song, I want to buy my mom a house.

[00:23:57] It's so much, I have a blessed, I have a cosmetic line called Blessed and Beautiful.

[00:24:01] I want to spread the gospel literally through lashes and everything else, lip gloss.

[00:24:07] And it's so much that I want to do.

[00:24:09] I want to go on tour.

[00:24:11] But I will say I have a goal.

[00:24:14] Thank the Lord that I have successfully executed my music video for Don't Walk Away.

[00:24:19] It's going to come out next month, November 2024.

[00:24:23] It's already done, already recorded.

[00:24:26] It is going to be so inspirational and amazing.

[00:24:29] So y'all stay tuned.

[00:24:29] Y'all follow me on all of my social media at Evie, E-V-I-E underscore music.

[00:24:36] Subscribe to my YouTube channel and you can listen to my music every way you listen to music.

[00:24:42] Thank you, James, for having me.

[00:24:44] This was so fun.

[00:24:45] Thank you so much for being here.

[00:24:47] I appreciate you and continued success to you.

[00:24:49] Thank you for listening.

[00:24:50] As always, if you feel compelled by some of the things you heard from Evie McKinney, let us know.

[00:24:56] By the way, if you have additional points you want to add, let me know that as well.

[00:25:00] You can always hit me on an email.

[00:25:02] JamesRousseau at HolyCoachIt.net is perfect.

[00:25:05] Until next time, be informed, be empowered, be accountable.