Christian duo For King + Country have recruited Lady A‘s Hillary Scott for a new version of their single, “For God Is With Us.” The song finds the artists sharing their faith in a powerful way.
“For God Is With Us” begins with acoustic guitar and ambient voices, after which the duo and Scott begin telling the Biblical story of how Jesus entered the world.
“No room for a king / No celebration and no ceremony / In that little town no, nobody would think / This is the story of the coming glory,” they sing.
The new version of the song features more country influence than the original, but the tune still keeps a techno-influenced beat drop in the chorus. The three artists sing together in the chorus repeating the phrase, “For God is with us.”
Scott takes the second verse solo, now telling the story of Easter and commenting on the effect of that day on the world. The song features powerful, sweeping production with ambient elements and strong beats, which only serves to drive home the inspirational message.
For King + Country shared their excitement about the release on social media, saying Scott brought the song to “a whole new level.”
“When you pen a song you can only elevate it to a certain point,” they note, ”But on occasion, you get rare opportunities when inviting others in that take the song vocally and heart-wise to a whole new level- and we feel dear @hillaryscottla has done just that!”
The duo, consisting of brothers Luke and Joel Smallbone, originally released “For God Is With Us” in September 2021 as the second single from their What Are We Waiting For? album. They shared with JublieeCast that they originally began writing the song for their Christmas album, but it soon came to embody much more than that.
“Somewhere along the way, we looked back, and Luke and I called one another and said, ‘Hey, maybe this is not just devoted to Christmas,'” Joel says. “Maybe this is a thought, an idea, that could carry with us through the whole year – through Christmas, and Easter, and beyond. Maybe this is a good reminder after so much loss, and so many questions about where God is in the midst of a pandemic, and where God is in the midst of racism or political division.”