Singer/songwriter Jodi King makes up one-half of the contemporary Christian duo Love & The Outcome. King, along with her husband, bassist Chris Rademaker, formed the band just a few years ago, creating music and touring their native Canada as they fell in love (hence the group’s name). Recently, the pair debuted their sophomore album, These Are the Days, and welcomed an addition to their family – a son named Milo.
“We always wanted to do this as a family,” King tells Guideposts.org of her and her husband’s musical career.
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Having a baby and dropping an album all in the same year has been full of unique challenges for the pair. For instance, while talking to us over the phone, King was driving to the band’s next tour stop with Milo in the back seat. Halfway through she pulled over to give the fussy baby his bottle.
“This is the true story,” she jokes as Milo quiets down – when he’s fully fed he actually makes a great roadie, sleeping 12 hours a night and enjoying the attention of the crew and fans.
Life is messy for King right now. A recent dinner with friends ended with Milo puking all over her right before a big show. She cleaned up as best she could, borrowed a shirt from her husband, then performed anyway.
“I just told the crowd ‘Hey, I’m a new mom. I have vomit in my hair but we’re good,’” King remembers laughing. “Any element of ‘faking it’ that I was able to have before, I can’t do anymore.”
But it’s the messy parts of this new life she finds worthwhile.
“I didn’t realize all of the connections the Lord was drawing for me this year but it’s been special,” says King, who, along with her husband, wrote most of their second album while she was pregnant. Blending 80s pop with worship music and callbacks to bands like U2 and The Police, each song is a lesson in love that their son has taught them.
“Milo doesn’t have to do a thing for us to love him, we’ve been in love with him since day one,” King says. “It’s the same way with God. It debunks that religious theory Chris and I both grew up with – that you have to earn God’s love. It’s not true. We’re completely loved as is.”
Balancing their budding music careers with parenting has taught the pair other lessons as well. For the first time, King and her husband have two lives to weigh, one at home in Nashville and one on the road.
“We needed time to let our egos take a backseat and just live and learn a little bit,” King says of the transition to family life. It’s why, when the pair is home, on the couch, maybe catching up on their show of the moment, Netflix’s Stranger Things, work isn’t on the table.
“That’s a rule,” King says. “Phones are off, computers are closed, we’re just husband and wife. I used to try to blend everything together and it just doesn’t work. You have to take off those work hats.”
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The couple’s instituted regular date nights when they’re home too – usually going to Tuesday night Bible study and then grabbing a slice of pizza.
“It’s been a game changer,” King says of their decision to put their relationship first even after Milo was born. “You don’t even realize how much you need it because you get into this zone. Surviving is the wrong word because we’re having a blast but you are sort of surviving. It’s divide and conquer; I’ll do the interview, you run these errands, you’re just trying to keep it going. When we were sitting over pizza that first night I just started bawling. It’s become something we really need.”
As for their music, King hopes the band’s new record can get people celebrating the joy and love in their own lives, just like Milo has done for them.
“I feel like the Lord is reminding me all the time that life is short and these moments, they’re really precious,” King says. “Enjoy them.”
