Together

Album: What Are We Waiting For? (2020)
Charted: 120
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Songfacts®:

  • "Together" is a song with the themes of hope and sticking together in difficult times. Joel and Luke Smallbone are joined on the track by Tori Kelly, Kirk Franklin and a gospel choir.
  • For King and Country earmarked this rallying cry for unity for release later in 2020 as the lead single from Burn the Ships (Deluxe Edition: Remixes & Collaborations). The Smallbone brothers started performing the song live before the coronavirus outbreak forced music concerts to come to a halt; as COVID-19 ravaged America, the duo realized the song was resonating in a different way. Said Joel Smallbone in a behind-the-scenes video, "When we were in Canada, we played the song live and I remember the second night, Luke walking off stage and going, 'did you feel that?' There's something about singing this song together now that was really poignant."
  • As the song took on a new meaning amid the pandemic, For King And Country made completing its recording their primary focus. They released the finished song and its accompanying video on May 1, 2020.

    "In a time where this virus is not isolated to one people group or country or social class - it has become the great equalizer," shared Joel and Luke Smallbone in the press release. "It is helping us all reconsider this beautiful concept that we all bleed the same blood. And if we are able to unite, and support - be a neighbor to someone, serve someone, reach out to someone–how might those acts of kindness change the scope of our futures, together?"
  • Kelly and Franklin join the Smallbone Brothers for the socially distanced music video. The emotive clip also features various stories from their quarantining fans, who share messages of struggle, resilience and humor recorded in their homes.
  • For King & Country dropped a brand-new rendition of the song on December 31, 2020, which puts the track against a backdrop of violins, steel guitars, and banjos. For "Together The Country Collaboration)", Nashville singer/songwriters Hannah Ellis and Jackson Michelson join Joel and Luke Smallbone, marking the Australian duo's first country collaboration since Dolly Parton jumped on their remix of "God Only Knows."
  • The Smallbone brothers originally intended "Together" for their 2018 album Burn The Ships, but didn't finish it in time to make that album. They eventually sent it to Kirk Franklin, then to Tori Kelly. "That whole bridge on the song is basically all Kirk's doing," Luke Smallbone told Billboard. "He brought in his choir and his band and created the whole section. It was super special for him to come alongside and make it his own and infuse it with this great energy. And Tori has been a dear friend of ours, and she's an unbelievably gifted singer."
  • For King and Country recorded their guests' contributions remotely because of the pandemic. "I never saw Kirk or Tori during the recording process," Luke Smallbone recalled. "We would have phone calls to discuss different sounds, like, 'Could you try this?' or 'Here's what we're looking for.'"

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