“All of my best friends” and why “III” is still the best
By: Otis Corrêa
Tags: Hillsong, Christianity, Creativity, Music, Review

“All of my best friends” and why “III” is still the best

A review for Young & Free’s newest album

When they came to be in 2013, it was a pivotal moment.

Hillsong United used to be the youth expression of Hillsong Church, helping to shape the heart, style and worship of youth ministries all around since 1999. I grew up in church absolutely involved by that expression. And then in 2013, they released “Zion”, the album that presented the world with “Oceans” and Taya Smith.

That same year, the then 30yo Hillsong Church was, just in time, gifting the world with a new youth expression, just by focusing the fact that United original fans were now in their 30’s. Great premise. Not so original at the time, but pretty solid, featuring some of fans all time favorites like “Alive” and “Wake”, the first album (recorded live at summer camp) and the first set of EP’s featured the vibe and sound we should look forward to. And we did.

When they recorded “Youth Revival” back in 2016, the much better sequel to “We are Young and Free” became a personal favorite of mine that year, and probably “Passion” was the greatest cause for this. That particular song embodied so much of my feelings and thoughts over that time, being freshly young, vulnerable and mature in the same process.

And this is the reason why “III” was such a great album.

The third instalment was first released as a studio record, followed by a Live edition recorded on Hillsong “mega” Conference the same year. It’s bold and brave in the way they chose to tackle some issues of modern youth, like, depression and anxiety, and the basis of the gospel, like Jesus loves us no matter what. But, somewhat because of it’s maturity, the album was less playfull than the previous ones. That’s it’s difference for the brand new “All of My Best Friends”.

The fourth album is somehow better than the first one and evens the second, as the lyrics are better and well written than previous projects, also contribution of Josh Grimmett, although not so concise on it’s approach, touch better thematically than the previous live albums. One thing is very good about this one: we’re back in Summer Camp, probably for the last time in a while since pandemic, and the vibe is there for pretty much every song they released upon seven singles.

But the pace is not as firm as “III” achieved. Probably because of the new experiments throughout the project, and some strange connections, the album is better in the moments it pushes further over conventional narrative, and just okay when revisiting the tirelessly used common themes – take for instance how definitely original the title song (Best Friends) is and just how common “New Thing” sounds like – ironically. Not repeating the good writing from Youth Revival (that did not presented revival with revival-theme based songs), the new revival songs are not that new, even though songs like “Never have I ever” and “Indescribable” not only justifies the band’s name – what happens when Young & Free turns ten years old in two years from now? – but also changes the way we sing about this themes with dancing pop tunes that sound fresh like never.

But even not being their best ever, the new project is exactly what we needed to finally have enough hits for a Top 20 mix. And that is exactly why it’s worthy the listening.

Most of the album is dancing and playful, so, take your time.