In addition to the deeply personal nature of Next Step, the 10 tunes also highlight a wider spectrum of genres. Fans of the group will still find the same familiar voice tied around inspiring pop, but they’ll also be surprised to hear elements of dance, R&B and straight-up gospel on occasion.

“I actually didn’t grow up listening to Christian music. I grew up dancing and listening to a lot of [mainstream] pop,” Greene explains. “But when Kirk Franklin came around with so many hip-hop and dance tracks, I loved all of them. And now you’ll also find him next to a lot of R&B, hip-hop and dance in my iPod, alongside everyone from Hillsong to LeAnn Rimes. My tastes are very wide, which some may say sounds sporadic, but I’d say it sounds eclectic.”

As for the current climate in Avalon, the foursome just recorded the new song “Still My God” for The Greatest Hits (Sparrow). Even if Greene and the group are thrilled with how it turned out, they admit the project was at the prompting of their longtime record label and actually marked the end of their contract with that company.

“To clear up any confusion, it’s an industry world and you don’t always get your way, but at least there are some songs that were not included on the last [hits] collection to update fans with what we’ve done over the past six years,” she summarizes. “We’re praying about our future direction [in terms of labels], and we have a lot of [musical] ideas on the table. We recorded a song with Kurt Carr last year, which was more on the gospel side. We all have children now, so we could turn to a lullaby project or children’s worship sort of thing. We have a lot of options; we’re just praying for which ones to take.”

Visit melissagreenemusic.com for more information.

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**This interview first published on March 25, 2009.