Freshly released to accompany the theatrical debut of the third season of The Chosen, Matt Maher’s new song “The In Between” reflects upon the journey so far. Maher was invited to The Chosen’s Capernaum set to shoot the music video, which fans will are being treated to in theaters before the screening of the first two episodes.
The Chosen
In a behind-the-scenes video released several days before The Chosen opened in theaters, Maher explained that the show has been very influential to him as a songwriter.
“I went to the Holy Land in 2017 and every episode feels like a pilgrimage, which is really powerful. As somebody who uses his imagination a lot, it’s rekindled and reminded me of the power of imagination when it comes to not just storytelling, but specifically reading the Bible.”
Between shots of Maher performing the song on set for the music video, he noted that he wrote “The In Between” with fellow songwriter Judah Akers in the beginning of 2021. Akers brought Maher’s attention to a line Mary Magdalene says in the very first episode: “I was one way and now I am completely different and the thing that happened in between was him.”
The In Between
Maher was touched by the sentiment and he found a connection between this simple line of faith and the nature of God’s relationship with the faithful:
“The idea of Jesus being the in-between, it’s the embodiment of who he is. God reaching down to bridge the gap between us and himself.”
Maher went on to explain that he sent a demo to showrunner Dallas Jenkins – who the behind the scenes video reveals was pronouncing Maher’s name wrong this whole time (properly pronounced as “Maar”) – with the express direction to not share it with anyone. Dallas, however, was so stoked for the new song that he showed it to everybody.
Jenkins, meanwhile, couldn’t have been more excited to include a Matt Maher song in the new season. He said in the above interview:
“I listened to the demo and I just had tears streaming down my face. I showed my family and they were over the moon about it. This is a legit great song that would be awesome whether the show existed or not.”
The video, which has not yet been released on YouTube due to its theatrical appearance, places Maher in various settings that relate to moments when this “in between” happened. Maher gives nods to the moments when the followers of Christ realized their calling. All the while the artistic shots of Maher are spliced with footage from previous seasons to tie it all together.
The video isn’t out yet, but you can hear the song on YouTube:
Music video
In a fun little aside, Maher let the audience in on the tricks of the trade regarding performing on a music video. It doesn’t really matter to the music if he’s actually playing the guitar – since the video will utilize the official studio recording – but the viewers would be able to notice. This means he actually has to play the instrument in the video or it would look awkward.
“It’s not like in a movie, where you can feign punching someone by getting really close. Just like the way Ryan Gosling punched Harrison Ford in the face during filming Bladerunner, ’cause he was getting really close to his face. You can’t air-strum with strings on a guitar. So, I’m Ryan Gosling and this guitar is Harrison Ford.” (Note: It was the other way around; Harrison Ford punched Gosling.)
Fans of Matt Maher and The Chosen are treated to the official music video for “The In Between” in theaters, just prior to the screening. Visit Fathom Events to find a theater near you.
And today we celebrate...