Christian Music News & Reviews

Q & A with Nichole Nordeman on New VeggieTales® Project

An interview with Sparrow Records’ Recording Artist and Singer-Songwriter Nichole Nordeman about her involvement with the all-new VeggieTales adventure for girls, Sweetpea Beauty—A Girl After God’s Own Heart, including her original song,” Beautiful For Me.”

About the story of VeggieTales®: Sweetpea Beauty—A Girl After God’s Own Heart

Q: What was your favorite part of the show?

If I had to choose one, I’d say my favorite scene is Sweetpea in the forest finding beauty in all sorts of unconventional things that might not be considered beautiful to anyone else. Her friend Prince Larry says to her, “How is it that you find beauty in everything?” And Sweetpea says, “I don’t. It’s God who sees beauty in everything. I just choose to agree with Him.” And I thought that was a great way to look at ourselves. God’s the one who sees us as beautiful, and we can either choose to agree and say, “Thank you. I feel cherished and loved and I choose to believe that,” or “I disagree” and work like crazy to improve on His work.

Q: Why do you think Sweetpea is described as a girl after God’s own heart?

I think that she’s described as a girl after God’s own heart because she is always looking for and finding real beauty in people and in the world around her, and seems to be able to look past all of the “surfacey” stuff everyone else seems to be getting caught up in. She’s not afraid to peel back as many layers as she needs to in order to find something beautiful. And I think that is certainly what God asks of us –to peel back a few layers and figure out what’s happening on the inside.

About the Song, “Beautiful For Me”

Q: How did the lesson of Sweetpea Beauty influence the writing of the song, “Beautiful For Me?”

One of things that was most inspiring to me that I literally stole right out of the story line was the mirror idea.

I was so interested in how devious that mirror was and how he gave Queen Blueberry the espresso and said, “whatever is inside your heart is how you will finally look on the outside.” And you know, it was just hysterical that she instantly sprouted facial hair and warts. I was instantly grateful I didn’t own a mirror that possessed that power. But the mirror throughout the whole story intrigued me and ended up being a pretty central part of the song. Because we all tell ourselves lies in front of the mirror, and we all want to believe in the improvements it suggests we make, it’s very difficult to walk away. In fact, I know an artist who was struggling so much with the issue of beauty in her own life that she covered every mirror in her house so that she would not even just casually walk by and sort of catch a glimpse of herself. She really wanted to get real beauty back in perspective. I thought that was really cool.

Q: How does the song tie into the lesson of Sweetpea Beauty?

The song is written from God’s perspective, which is always a tricky thing to do. But I so much wanted to capture that moment where a person realizes from the Lord’s vantage point how beautiful He really thinks she is. And how broken hearted it must be for Him when His own creation is so unhappy with the work He’s done and spends a lifetime trying to improve upon it. I just wonder if that doesn’t break His heart a little bit. So I really wanted the song to capture how much He adores us and how we captivate Him because He made us in His image. I hope the song does that.

Q: What lyric of the song best describes the theme of the show?

I think it’s one line after the second verse, where I say, “I want a heart that’s captivating.” To me, that’s it. I can stand in front of the mirror all day long and like what I see or not like what I see, or lose five pounds or gain 25 pounds, or cut my hair short or dye it brown…but in the end, I want a heart that’s captivating. It has to be about that.

Q: How did you choose the title of the song?

Well, the title kind of chose itself. When you finish a song, you go back and you say, “what’s the obvious title?” Initially it was, “Beautiful To Me.” But as I thought about things from God’s perspective, I changed it to say, “Beautiful For Me,” which made it more about belonging. He created us to beautiful FOR Him alone, and I thought that was an important distinction.

Q: Explain the line “You should have seen the day I made you beautiful for Me.”

I was trying to imagine How God must have felt when He deliberately designed us and formed us our mom’s bellies when we’re just itsy bitsy…and how much love and care went into that design. I was just trying to imagine what that would be like for God to care so much about His creation. And I know that on the day that He made each of us, He smiled and rejoiced and danced, and breathed life into us. So, that was a fun line to write.

About Parenting/Being A New Mom

Q: Do you have a game plan for how you will deal with beauty issues with your daughter?

One of the lessons that my mom taught me early on was to be really proactive about what to expose children to…because in today’s culture, advertising campaigns are not passive. And so, our daughters are going to bombarded with images all day long. As moms, we really don’t have the luxury of just sitting back and hoping that they feel okay about themselves and not really being proactive about helping them understand what true beauty is about. When I was little, I was not allowed to play with Barbies, which was a pretty crushing blow to a five or six-year old. And I just couldn’t believe that my mom was going to be so strict about it. And she tried to explain in my little girl language about how it just doesn’t matter what you look like when you grow up…and to have a doll that everybody wants to look like doesn’t necessarily mean that’s what God wants YOU to look like and that’s okay. So even though I thought it was so unfair, I sure understand her wisdom in that now. She was choosing to be proactive in saying, “No, I’m just going to send her a different message.” And that’s how I want to parent. I want to be very intentional about sending the right messages.

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