Brooke Ligertwood
With a passion for truth, art, humanity and the church, Brooke has served the global church through song, leadership and creativity through her many years as part of Hillsong Worship, which she leads globally, whilst also enjoying a successful mainstream career of almost two decades under her maiden name (Brooke Fraser). She passionately asserts that all of life, for the follower of Christ, is ministry.
We were able to sit down with Brooke to hear her heart behind her new album SEVEN.
Your debut, solo album is out in the world! How does it feel?
This is crazy, but actually it’s my seventh solo album (not why it’s called SEVEN though)… but you’re right, the first (and possibly last) album of worship songs for the church (I am very happy serving and leading Hillsong Worship, which is how I’ve been serving the church with worship songs for past 17 or so years).
You wrote the lead single “A Thousand Hallelujahs” with your husband, Scott Ligertwood, and Phil Wickham. Tell us about collaborating with Phil for the first time - you two are both such seasoned writers but on opposite sides of the world! What did he bring to the session?
We actually only live an hour up the road from Phil so we’re practically neighbors (Scott and I have lived in the US for many years). We have so many mutual friends and had heard about each other for years but only met and became friends relatively recently. Our kids are similar ages and absolutely love each other, so that family connection is very sweet.
What Phil and ourselves have in common is that we honestly just truly love the local church. We literally wrote “A Thousand Hallelujahs” in Phil’s church, inspired by the generations who had gathered to worship in that little church hall, offering their thousands of hallelujahs to the Lord. We all shed a tear when we found out the congregation that meets there sang “A Thousand Hallelujahs” in that very room a few weeks ago. What a stunning full circle moment.
Tell us the backstory behind “I Belong To You (Dylan’s Song).”
Oh, thank you for asking about that song! It’s tender. Our eldest daughter gave her heart to Jesus last year and when I shared the story of how it happened with my friend Chris Davenport, he went and wrote a chorus inspired by the story, then showed me the chorus and asked if we could write it together for her, which I’m so grateful for. So the lyrics are all the things I want Dylan to know and be able to confess about what it means to belong to Jesus as she journeys through the complexities of life and community.
I’ve already had a friend tell me they use this song to sing over their own child who is currently away from the Lord, confessing over them that they belong to Jesus.
Remind us what “Nineveh” represents in the Bible and why you chose this microcosm to title track #6 as?
“Nineveh” sticks closely to the narrative of the Biblical book of Jonah, but the bridge takes us into the New Testament and turns the lens on ourselves. It’s the prayer that Jonah, in his rebellion, never managed to pray. He ran from telling Nineveh the truth, begrudgingly obeyed in the end, but never confronted the “Nineveh” within himself.
He obeyed, but he never really surrendered. “Nineveh” encourages us to learn from his error.
Finally, what is your greatest hope for these songs as they start finding new life in churches around the world?
Oh gosh… I hope they really help. I hope that these songs help build the local church in the most practical way. There are many songs on this album which are very practically useful! And then I hope these songs help nourish and nurture people’s individual walks with the Lord. That people are able to see Jesus more clearly, more vividly, because of the way He reveals Himself to them as they worship Him with these songs.
I pray they become well-worn paths to the throne room for people, as they have been for me.
Brooke Ligertwood | SEVEN
Lead songs from SEVEN with your congregation. Resources available at MultiTracks.com.