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How Forrest Frank Made Christian Music Cool Again With “Child of God II”

From one half of Surfaces to a genre-defying force in Christian music — Forrest Frank’s latest album rollout is a blueprint for building global fan connection with creativity, hustle, and class.

Author

Stephen Frost
June 12, 2025

You may have known Forrest Frank as one half of the duo Surfaces (“Sunday Best”), but have you seen his quite massive takeover in the Christian music world over the last two years?

He hasn’t just taken over, he’s brought new and unprecedented levels of fun and excellence with the release of his sophomore album, Child of God II.

Today, we’re pulling back the curtain on the Grammy-Award nominated pop singer/rapper’s latest album roll out and diving deep on what strategies you can use for your next release campaign.

Campaign Snapshot

  • This Week’s Release: Forrest Frank’s second album, Child of God II

  • Release Date: May 9th, 2025

  • The Album:

    • The album, as implied by its title, serves as the sequel to his debut album Child of God (released on July 26th, 2024).

    • Featuring the singles “Your Way’s Better” as the lead (originally featured on the deluxe version of Child of God) along with Drop, Nothing Else (feat. Thomas Rhett), Amen, No L’s, Celebration, and Woke Up This Morning (feat. Nathan Davis. Jr.).

    • The album cycle kicked off with the release of Your Way’s Better (which was originally released as a deluxe track on Child of God) followed by the Child of God Part II tour announcement last December.

    • The album was announced in the middle of tour on April 26th (less than two weeks away from the album release date).

  • Why this campaign matters:

    • In a world where Christian music hardly hits the mainstream, you have artists like Forrest and Brandon Lake who both have Christian singles simultaneously charting on the Billboard Hot 100 (a rare feat in and of itself).

    • Forrest is someone worth studying because for someone who made a massive name for himself initially as part of the pop duo Surfaces, he could’ve continued riding the wave of secular success. But instead, he decided to step into Christian music and make the genre genuinely cooler (and truly the most fun I’ve seen) than it’s ever been (while still being independent).

    • Whether you follow Jesus or not, there’s plenty to take away from Forrest's latest album rollout that you and your artists can take away for your next release campaign.

The Playbook

Play #1: Flip the Narrative: Show that Christian Music Does Hit

Forrest is a master disrupter who effortlessly disrupts the narrative that Christian music is “boring,” “it all sounds the same” or “just doesn’t hit 🥱”. When he promoted “Your Way’s Better,” he visually demonstrated his case for how Christian music isn’t boring in an entertaining and relatable way.

@hiforrestt

nah this one goes 🙌

Play #2: Utilizing Visually Appealing Transition Videos

Forrest doesn’t just tell you about his songs and how they feel, he shows them.

Play #3: Creating Powerful Fan Moments

Rain or shine: Forrest shows up for his fans in the moments that matter. During a rainy show on his latest tour while fans were waiting for doors to open, he stood out in the rain and gave away free t-shirts signed by him while capturing the moment to show much he’s there for his number one fans.

Play #4: Featuring His Fans Vocally On The New Album

This is how you bring your fans inside your music!

During a stop on his tour, Forrest used a moment during his show to record the crowd of 10,000 to sing on one of the singles “No L’s”. He didn’t just record them, he showed the entire process and first reactions of him actually using the sample in his song (capturing the entire experience as if you’re truly there with him conceptualizing No L’s).

Play #5: Capitalizing On A Viral Dance Trend

What started as a viral dance trend created by husband and wife influencers David Myers and Bridgette Nicole took the world by storm and ultimately led to Forrest doing the dance himself on stage with the creators!

Play #6: Leaning Into His Latin American Audience

Music is a universal language that shouldn’t stop you from connecting with new fans around the world. And according to Spotify, among Forrest’s top listeners on the platform are in Sao Palo, Brazil.

When you know your audience and where they’re coming from, why not lean into it some more? That’s exactly what he did. Forrest created Portuguese lyric videos to dive deeper into his audience and keep those relationships fed, and they paid off with the results you’ll see below!

The Result

  • A completely sold out headlining arena tour

  • 200K+ pre-orders of Child of God II

  • Child of God II, an independent release, debuted at #1 on the Christian Albums Chart & #12 on the Billboard 200 Chart

  • “Your Way’s Better” peaked at #61 on the Billboard Hot 100

  • Over 472K UGC videos created on TikTok and over 180K UGC videos created on Reels for “Your Way’s Better”

Actionable Tips For Your Next Release

1) Create an open story loop when promoting new music and own it

All of the best screenwriters, authors, and storytellers know how to position a problem that exists and needs to be solved. Frank is an expert at positioning himself within Christian music — showing in nearly every post how it can feel cool, modern, and culturally relevant (not corny).

Ask yourself as an artist and marketer: what’s the emotional problem your music solves? And how does it play that role in your listener’s life?

2) Cater moments and strategy to your existing audience

Instead of trying to reach an audience that wasn’t listening to him already, Forrest leaned into his rather massive listenership in Latin America to promote the singles from Child of God II (he’s been posting Spanish captioned videos to connect with his fans outside the US).

And when David Myers took off online with creating the Your Way’s Better dance trend, Forrest leaned into it and stoked the flame of the hundreds of thousands of videos that were being created to this song. After reposting dance clips and encouraging his fans to continue the trend, he created the ultimate on stage moment with Myers and his wife Bridgette Nicole to complete that element of the story.

3) Utilize before and after transitions in your social assets with your next single

Throughout this latest tour, Forrest created dozens of visually appealing transition videos using the hooks of his songs to capture attention online. This is such a low hanging fruit kind of post that doesn’t require an arena or massive audience. Just showing a before and after inspired by the narrative of your music creates an inviting atmosphere for new fans to join in on what you’re building.

When done with excellence (both visually and matching the vibe of the song) these type of posts can capture fans attention and have them consider wanting to join you on your journey as an artist.

4) Create an experience for your fans to be a part of with your music

Whether it’s your name on a deluxe album cover or your voice featured with thousands on a new single, Forrest is an expert on bringing his fans in to help build his empire that both parties are mutually excited about. When you have an audience that’s engaged with what you’re building, why not reward them with some kind of stake or memorabilia in your music?

This is how fans feel heard and seen and will want to continue rooting for you and supporting you relentlessly.

BONUS TIP: “Grind your face off”

Forrest himself pulled back the curtain on his day in life as an artist on the road recently on The George Janko Show—he goes directly from stage mode to edit mode as George saw at Forrest’s LA show. Something I thought was so standout just from seeing an artist like himself achieve the success he’s built (in what appears to be a small team) is he’s not cutting corners to be as excellent as he is.

Forrest unpacked his two modes being “grind my face off” and “fully retired” — he’s either completely in or completely out when on and off the road. So consider a note from Forrest’s work ethic on how to achieve the unprecedented feat he has with his music—”grind your face off” when you need to put in the work, then embrace being “fully retired” when you’re ready to rest.

BEFORE YOU GO…

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We’ll see you again next week!

- Stephen