A few years ago, Brooke Ligertwood was scheduled to help lead a night of worship at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. The New Zealand native decided to write something special for the occasion — a composition she would perform one time, exclusively at the event. Given the setting, she wanted to craft a melody around lyrics taken directly from Scripture. She chose Psalm 117, the shortest Psalm in the book:
Praise the Lord, all you nations.
Praise him, all you people of the earth.
For his unfailing love for us is powerful;
the Lord’s faithfulness endures forever.
“It was so exhilarating, because the text led the way,” Ligertwood reflects of creating the one-of-a-kind selection. “The text led the creativity, and I just got to be part of its musical journey.”
She completed the song, performed it at the museum and chalked it up to nothing more than a singular moment.
Yet, not long after the worship night, Ligertwood found herself in a challenging season that brought her home to Australia, the country where she spent some of the most formative years of her life. “My appetite for absorbing a lot of other influences was very limited,” she says of that period in time. “What I read, what I listened to... It was like my own soul and spirit just craved the Word, like I needed to get that in me. It honestly became this really safe space for me.”
Ligertwood says she would often sit at the piano, open her Bible and listen for the Lord to speak. The more she read, however, the more she began to hear melodies in her head — often melodies that didn’t even fit her typical sonic trajectory. For a seasoned worship leader like Ligertwood, it was a strange turn of events.
“I was almost a passenger in the journey,” she observes. “But that took the pressure off, in a way, because I felt like I was very much just being borne along by whatever it was that the Lord wanted to give me. That’s how these songs and this album came about.”
The album is “EAT,” a 10-track collection of all-new selections comprised of verbatim Scripture and set to a diverse palette of music. Although Ligertwood has never been afraid of experimenting with her sound — particularly when recording under her maiden name, Brooke Fraser — the music she was hearing was out of her depth. That’s why it was important to assemble an array of collaborators who could help her achieve a veritable feast for the senses across “EAT.”
Although most of the songs were written in Australia, where Ligertwood was, at the time, attending to a family crisis, she flew back to America every four to six weeks to record. “By the time we made the record, we had moved here,” Ligertwood reveals of Nashville, where she currently resides with her husband and two daughters.
Ligertwood brought in longtime friend Jason Ingram to produce the ambitious project. She even convinced Ingram to sing with her on “Looking.”
“We’ve been somewhat joined at the hip, musically, these last few years. He is one of our dearest friends,” she says of Ingram, who produced 2022’s “SEVEN” and 2023’s “EIGHT.” “This is a very specific type of project, and you have to be pretty fearless and pretty open to even begin a process like that. Jason is that guy.”
Additionally, she enlisted some avant-garde talent to help her bring the sights and sounds in her head to life. Lauren Daigle, The New Respects, Victory Boyd and Abbie Gamboa all join Ligertwood on the innovative LP. “Because this album is so creative and art heavy, it gave me the chance to bring in some artists, if they wanted to be part of it, whose art I really respect and love,” she says.
The record’s wild creativity is further reflected in its accompanying visuals, courtesy of Ligertwood’s husband, Scott. While every piece of art holds careful intention behind it, the multi-Platinum artist says fans were confused on the frontend when she rolled out the tracklisting as a series of symbols. “That was a little bit deliberate,” she confesses. “We consume things so fast, and Scripture demands that you stop and pause and take a little while longer to read it. And so, [the rollout] was also a commentary on the rush that we’re in to get through things and get information so quickly. But if we’re to really ingest it and get the nourishment we need from it, the Word demands that we stop and sit with it.”
“EAT” might not have been the next record she was planning, but Ligertwood is certain it arrived at the perfect time. “I’ve become aware of just what’s happening with the Bible in greater society at the moment, which is very exciting,” she says, referencing a broader cultural movement toward faith. “Now I can see God’s hand on the timing of why it’s this album of verbatim Scripture at this time in history.”
Before embarking on this new, unexpected musical experiment; however, Ligertwood needed to close another chapter: her Brooke Fraser era. She released her final album, “Brooke Fraser - Live With The Aukland Philharmonia,” last November.
“That felt like a nice way to wrap it in a bow,” she says of the “greatest hits” collection she recorded live in her homeland with a 70-piece orchestra.
When asked if she thinks she’ll ever revisit her pop alter ego, she’s resolute in her answer: “Never say never, but I don’t feel stirred toward that. I love what I get to do,” she says in reference to the worship music she’s making today under her married name. Yet, she still hedges: “I’ve learned at this point in my life never to say never. The Lord has no problem humbling me when I’m prideful about making pronouncements about my own life.
“I rarely decide anything,” she adds. “Particularly in this stage of my life, I feel very much like if I’m going to put my hand to anything, I need it to be led by the Lord.”
Ligertwood’s entire career has been guided by a Higher Power. She signed her first record deal when she was 18. Under her Brooke Fraser moniker, she became a global pop phenomenon, achieving swift success, particularly across New Zealand and Australia. She toured with well-known acts like John Mayer and David Bowie, quickly garnering attention with her beloved debut, “What To Do With Daylight,” and compassionate worldview on “Albertine.”
In the midst of her international pop success, Ligertwood was also quietly serving at her church in Australia. Her involvement in her church’s larger worship community led to early favorites like “Hosanna,” “Lead Me To The Cross” and “Desert Song.” Later, Ligertwood would become synonymous with global anthems that bear both the warmth of her voice and the wisdom of her lyrical pen, including “Who You Say I Am,” “King Of Kings” and “What A Beautiful Name,” the latter of which earned her a GRAMMY® in 2018.
That same year, she released a ballad called “New Wine,” from “There Is More (Live).” The deep cut was something of a personal declaration for Ligertwood as she opened herself up to new possibilities after fulfilling her initial recording contract.
“It was an opportunity to wipe the slate clean and go, ‘God, I want to carry whatever You want me to carry,’” she says of the “New Wine” season that gave way to what became a natural next step into solo worship music. “I never want to become so attached to my idea of how I think God wants to use me that I end up interfering with how He wants to use me.”
“A Thousand Hallelujahs” and “Honey In The Rock (feat. Brandon Lake)” led the way for Ligertwood to carry worship songs solely under her married name. Today, her songs have been translated into more than 15 languages. Recognized as an in-demand collaborator, she’s recently sung on recordings with Jenn Johnson, CAIN and Passion. It feels like a fitting culmination, given the breadth of her career thus far and the depth of her lyrical genius.
It’s also fitting that her most recent endeavor, “EAT,” brings her back to the foundation of her life and work. Whether she’s searching for the appropriate language for a song or the right words to articulate how she’s feeling in prayer, the well of Scripture never runs dry.
“I feel extremely grateful for the life that I’ve had, but I never want to be somebody who works for God but doesn’t walk with Him,” she reflects. “I’ve seen so many people substitute their relationship with God for all the things they’re doing for Him, and it never ends well. It only ends in heartbreak and emptiness and bitterness. Whether you’re in public ministry or not, we always have to be vigilant in our own hearts about that.”
That’s why “EAT” — an album literally rooted in the Word of God — is her most grounded record yet.
Obviously, there’s enough raw ingredients available for a sequel, but whether that’s on the table remains to be seen. Ligertwood is most concerned with staying spiritually well-fed at the moment.
“We’ll always be the most fulfilled and the most at peace when we’re walking in what He wants for us and not our own ideas of what He wants for us,” she says, as she ponders where she’s been and where she might be headed next. “I feel like if I’m to look over my life and ask myself the question: How many of those songs did I deserve? The answer is none of them. I feel like the math doesn’t math. It has to be God. And in the end, I don’t want to live the Brooke story, I want to live a God story.”
