While Aodhán King is new as a solo artist, he’s no stranger to the music industry. King began releasing music in 2013 with Young & Free, the youth extension of Hillsong Worship. He’s best known for his Young & Free song “Sinking Deep,” a worship track often sung at PLNU’s Time Out Chapel services.
But King is branching out from just leading worship with Young & Free and recently released his debut solo album “Beyond Us.” The 13-track album features some names from the pop scene, including Paul Klein of LANY, Griff, Jenna Raine and more. “Beyond Us” isn’t just another worship album – it bridges the gap between Christian and mainstream music.
“‘Beyond Us’ is my attempt to unify us under a God who is beyond anything we could ever dream or imagine and to create a sacred place for all to come and worship with their questions, uncertainties and affections for Jesus,” King said in an Instagram post.
When I turned on King’s album, I thought it would be another worship album with repetitive bridges and cliché lyrics. At the very least, I thought it might be a record with one or two standout songs. What I wasn’t expecting was for the entire album to feel like the gateway into the presence of God.
“Beyond Us” begins with the song “Prepare The Way,” and it quite literally prepares the way for the whole album. The upbeat, pop-worship track foreshadows the rest of the songs on the album, inviting in “The King of Glory.”
The album continues with the retrospective “Thank You So Much Jesus” featuring Klein, a song thanking God for His faithfulness with the lyrics, “Who am I that I would be the apple of Your eye? / Thank you so much, Jesus, You’re all I ever needed.”
“Without You” takes the album in a vulnerable direction in a way I haven’t seen many Christian albums do before. The song wrestles with doubt while desperately seeking God. Vulnerability continues in the album with “Still Worthy” featuring Jenna Raine, a song admitting the writers’ inconsistent love in light of the unchanging holiness of God.
While I wasn’t the biggest fan of “Time” featuring Lauren Daigle, her featured vocals made the song gain some popularity on social media and Spotify. The following track, however, deserves more attention.
“What Would It Be Like?” is a stripped-down, acoustic-driven track that considers what being face-to-face with Christ might be like. “What would it be like to stare into Your holy eyes?” King asks in the song. “To dwell in Your courts for a while / How could I describe the love I’ve longed for all my life?”
The album concludes with the aptly titled “My Last Refrain,” a hymn-like prayer asking God to keep us tethered to Him.
King delivered a strong album that feels like an invitation into heaven’s throne room. The pop collaborations were unexpected for an artist who only had prior experience releasing music with Hillsong, but these mainstream musicians balanced the record well and brought a fresh perspective to the Christian music genre.
And maybe a fresh perspective is what we need to see more of within Christian music. The partnership with mainstream artists and the honesty in the lyrics are things I wish there were more of in worship albums.
The worship songs you hear on a Monday morning in chapel are great, but there’s something more truthful about lyrics like, “I’ve let the distance creep its way back in / I’ve offered love so inconsistently/But Your heart is steady, You won’t change on me” (“Still Worthy”). Maybe these are the songs we should start singing.
Tessa Balc 
Tony Le Calvez