Even when it was difficult, Helena Mayer followed God’s call in her life through music
Helena Mayer has dreamed of becoming a popstar for as long as she can remember.
As a little girl, Hannah Montana became Mayer’s model and she aspired to be rich and famous. But unlike many others, Mayer’s dream was not completely crushed in second grade by reality. If anything, it has begun to come true.
Even though at times Mayer seemed to have a different plan for her life, she listened carefully to God’s words of instruction. Through following a plan greater than her own, Mayer has found a beautiful peace in not necessarily knowing where life will take her, but in knowing she is on God’s path for her.
As a senior worship lead for contemporary chapel band, and a music and worship major, Mayer says music has always been her “thing.” At an early age, she felt called to be “a pastor through music.” Mayer started out in church and school plays and musicals, almost never missing a talent show throughout elementary school.
She naturally gravitated to anything music related.
In high school at Oaks Christian School, Mayer sang in the choir for two years and she did theater in both middle and high school. She began singing worship during her sophomore year of high school, which prepared her for her current position as a lead in Azusa Pacific’s contemporary chapel band.
“I was pretty much in charge of what I am now at APU: getting the band together, rehearsal times, schedules, and making sure rehearsals and everything runs smoothly,” she said. “It’s fun, I enjoy it. I have a co-lead, Austin, who’s the electric guitar player, and honestly it’s been perfect, the team’s amazing.”
Although she did theatre for many years, Mayer was more drawn to the environment of music and vocal worship than the competitive atmosphere of drama. This is not to say she didn’t have any Broadway dreams for a while.
“A big component of it also is I definitely did not like the politics,” she said. “There are a lot of politics with music [also] but I feel like you can find your little niche kind of wherever you go with music.”
Mayer did not originally plan to go to college right after high school. However, she was able to consider APU due to scholarship opportunities. Mayer said APU’s Honors College, which she has been in since her freshman year, and the close location to her hometown were the deciding factors in the end. She was ultimately drawn by the “come as you are” feel on the campus “versus having to fit a certain mold” type of environment at other colleges.
The trajectory of Mayer’s plans post-high school graduation were altered by God’s call on her life. She originally declared as a Psychology major when she was entering as a freshman.
However, a week before the start of move-in weekend, she felt a tug on her heart in the direction of music. She had been planning to minor in music and see where that led. But, realizing she was using psychology as a backup and as a viable career choice just in case music didn’t work out, Mayer felt the Lord’s call on her life very, very clearly.
“The Lord just said, ‘Hey, you know that I’ve called you to music, what makes you think that you can use college as a plan B. Do you not trust me and my plan?’” Mayer recalled.
After this distinct call, she took a leap of faith and has not looked back since.
“I’ve loved it, it’s been great,” Mayer said. “I wouldn’t be able to do what I’m doing now if it weren’t for [the music] program so there’s a lot to be grateful for.”
In November 2018, Helena released her first song on Spotify, titled “When It’s Over.” Coming out of a place of deep grief over several deaths of those close to her, Mayer released this single earlier than originally planned in response to the Borderline shooting in her hometown of Thousand Oaks and the Woolsey fire that burned most of the Conejo Valley.
“It was my own external processing, my way of saying that this is okay, that this is an okay thing to do: to grieve and to process,” Mayer said. “Because you need to do that stuff in order to move on and to move past it.”
She empathized deeply with those who were grieving at the time over the loss of loved ones to senseless violence and the loss of homes and possessions to a natural disaster.
“It’s just so cool to see the ways the Lord works amidst so many different circumstances because I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the first song that I wrote was about grief,” Mayer said. “I felt like it was my way of helping my community and my way of reaching out.”
Mayer does not label herself as a Christian artist. While a strong believer, she knows there is a distinct line dividing the Christian music industry and the mainstream music industry. Feeling that the calling on her life from the Lord is to “help and reach the lost,” Mayer knew after writing her first song with her producer that she leaned more toward mainstream than Christian music.
“We’re in a world and a time right now where so many people are turned off by hearing anything related to God or Jesus and they become shut off to the idea, and that breaks my heart,” Mayer said. “I think it’s just a really horrible misrepresentation of what faith is and so I think the best way to go about that is to talk about faith without talking about faith.”
However, Mayer knows she is still doing her part with her music.
“I feel like I’m a catalyst, I feel like that’s my role,” she said. “In order to do that, I need to be a little bit more discreet in the way that I talk about faith.”
Mayer categorizes the style of the songs that she has released so far as “lyrically emotional, energetic pop and R&B influenced.” Mayer loves singing all different genres, but in particular, right now she is into R&B and soul.
“There’s something so beautiful and so unique about [those genres],” she said. “It’s fun because it engages and allows different styles of my voice, like there’s just a lot more artistic freedom I feel with it, versus pop which is very kind of straightforward.”
Mayer does not have any specific plans after graduation, but instead of being stressed about that, she sees it as an opportunity for freedom to follow the Lord’s call on her life.
“I have some potential job opportunities working in a church or church-like settings but what I do know is that I’ll continue doing music as an artist,” Mayer said. “I’m just going to continue that trajectory of releasing [a song] every ninety days as doors open for me and keep seeing what the Lord does in my life in this next chapter.”