Hillsong Young & Free

One of the groups affiliated with the Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia, the Hillsong Young & Free collective performs pop-styled songs with a target audience of young believers. Unlike their elder siblings in Hillsong United and Hillsong Worship, Hillsong Young & Free shift the sonic focus from guitar-centric worship band music and take inspiration from contemporary pop and electronic production, which results in a Top 40 sound with a spiritual message. Of their several Top Two Christian albums, 2016′s Youth Revival was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album. Into the 2020s, they continued to issue a steady stream of material, including 2018′s III (Live at Hillsong Conference) and 2020′s All of My Best Friends, which received acoustic and Spanish-language treatments in 2021.
Established in 2012, the group issued the singles “Alive,” “Wake,” and the Spanish-language “Vivo Estás,” all in 2013. Filled with dance beats and teen pop anthems, their debut album, We Are Young & Free, arrived later in the year, featuring production from Hillsong veteran Michael-Guy Chislett. The album topped the Billboard Christian Albums chart, reached number 22 on the Billboard 200, and landed at number six in their native Australia. They topped the U.S. Christian chart again at the start of 2015 with the This Is Living EP (featuring Lecrae on the title track) and delivered We Are Young & Free: The Remixes EP before year’s end. It landed in the Top Three of the Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart.
In early 2016, Hillsong Young & Free released their sophomore album, Youth Revival, which peaked at number two on the Billboard Christian albums chart while reaching number three on the overall album chart in Australia. It went on to earn a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album. A year later, they returned with an acoustic rendering of the same album called Youth Revival: Acoustic.
In mid-2018, the group issued their third live full-length, the aptly titled III: Live at Hillsong Conference. It returned them to the number two spot of the U.S. Christian chart. Following 2019′s III: Studio Sessions and III: Reimagined, they delivered their fourth live album, All of My Best Friends, in August of 2020. That Grammy-nominated set was expanded in 2021 with All of My Best Friends (Acoustic), which arrived just a month after their foray into the Spanish-language Todos Mis Mejores Amigos. ~ Neil Z. Yeung & David Jeffries