Forrest Frank turns open verse challenge into 19-winner collaboration album
Forrest Frank did the only thing that seemed fitting when faced with the daunting task of choosing from a flood of submissions for his open verse challenge: He released an album featuring more than…
Forrest Frank did the only thing that seemed fitting when faced with the daunting task of choosing from a flood of submissions for his open verse challenge: He released an album featuring more than a dozen of the top entries.
Frank on Friday unveiled Jesus Is Alive Vol. 1, a 20-track project that includes his original single alongside 19 collaborations with other artists, from recognizable names such as Donnie Wahlberg and Christian hip-hop artists such as 1K Phew, but also several lesser-known performers – a move likely to introduce many of them to a far broader audience.
And if the album title is any indication, another project could be on the horizon.
An open verse challenge is a social media trend where an artist releases part of a song and invites fans or fellow musicians to write and record their own verse to add to it.
It’s not the first time a major Christian artist has expanded an open verse challenge beyond a single winner. Josiah Queen, for example, launched an open verse challenge in February for his song Demons and initially named Julia Poe the winner before adding a second winner, Reagan James Broome, days later. Queen even said at the time that he was “tempted to release all of the verses at once” but felt “logistically it just wasn’t realistic.”Â
Frank launched his contest on April 28 and – almost immediately – acknowledged that narrowing down the submissions would be difficult. In a May 5 post, he highlighted two artists, Kijan Boone and LOST & FOUND, while asking fans who he should feature next. Then, two days later, a smiling Frank posted a video acknowledging he still didn’t know how he was going to choose the winners.
“What am I supposed to do about these open verses?” Frank said in the May 7 post. “Because I’ve already seen seven that I like. And so do I release multiple versions? Do I put out a super song that’s, like, seven minutes long?”
At the time, Forrest Frank also said several “big artists” had privately messaged him wanting to participate in the challenge but felt it might be a little “corny” to officially enter.
“What do I do?” Frank said, dropping his head in mock exhaustion.
In the end, Frank rolled out an album.
Julia Poe and Reagan James Broome – who won the Josiah Queen contest – landed on the new album, as did the aforementioned Wahlberg and 1K Phew. The other winners were LOST & FOUND, Kijan Boone, Mike Malagies, WHATUPRG, Vic Lucas and Limoblaze, Jimmy Levy, Marcus Rogers, ZVC, Bryston Gray, Anike, Brenno, Griffin McCoy, Marissa, aftrhght and Nate Period.
The album dropped just as Frank is set to embark on his 29-city Jesus Generation Tour with Tori Kelly, Cory Asbury and The Figs beginning June 1 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
