Interview: Life.Church Switch
Life.Church Switch member Cassidy Estevez talks to Louder Than The Music about the release of their latest full-length album, Simple.
For those who haven't heard of you before, can you tell us a bit about Life.Church Switch and how you got involved in making music?
Life.Church Switch is a collective of worship pastors from Life.Church. We’ve been writing songs for our church together for years! Life.Church Switch was born out of a calling we felt to create songs for our students to listen to throughout the week that are full of hope and truth to encourage them in their walks with the Lord. We wanted it to feel fully pop and current in their musical style. But instead of incorporating secular themes, we wanted it to be full of the Gospel! We’ve been following this calling since 2018, adapting with each new generation of students and the things God is stirring in them.
Tell us about your new album 'Simple' and what the inspiration behind it was?
Simple explores many different themes, and how our heart posture can reflect the Lord through them. Ultimately what we wanted to do was express that through so many different seasons and emotions the Gospel remains steady through all of them. No matter what is happening in our lives, the love of God, His truth, and His Gospel are simple.
Which is your favorite track on the album and why?
I (Cassidy) love every song on this album for different reasons. But personally, my favorite track is the song “You.” For most of my life, especially in my teens and early twenties, my relationship with the Lord has been a story of His faithfulness despite all my running, wandering, testing, failing, hitting the bottom, and needing Him to pick me up again. He always uses everything to bring me back to Him. I cannot escape God’s love. And thank God that’s the truth! This song is literally poured out of my heart, inspired by similar life stories shared by our students, and backed up by my own experiences with the Lord.
What message would you like people to take from your music?
Life is crazy. Crazy-good sometimes, and crazy-complicated others. But God’s love is constant, and the Gospel He calls us to live out is simple.
How would you describe your style of music and what are your influences?
Definitely pop. This record, more than any of our others, pulls in some more singer/songwriter vibes, and I love that. It’s been fun to explore some new expressions musically and allow that to help shape how our songs feel. Rather than point to any specific artist influences, I would say the biggest thing that influences our songs is the students in our church. We write all of our songs after reading through and sharing stories of what God is doing in their lives. The musical aspects of the songs begin to fall into place after we land on what kind of message we need to pursue based on how God’s Spirit uses those stories to inspire us. A lot of things happen at once in the writing room - but the stories drive all of it!
If you could work with any songwriter, who would it be and why?
This is a tough question! All of us on Life.Church Switch would probably have slightly different personal answers. Honestly though, there’s one person we would all want to write with. He’s not a pop writer, but he’s a living legend. Stephen Curtis Chapman. That man wrote some bangers! Can you imagine: The Great Adventure 2.0 with Stephen Curtis Chapman x Life.Church Switch? I’m just sayin.
How would you define success in your career as an artist?
Our only metric for success that matters is did we give all of ourselves that we could toward the mission God has called us to in the time He allowed us to do so? If yes, that’s success. If no, we adjust priorities and keep pressing forward toward that goal.
What is your favorite album of all time?
We each would probably have a unique response to this question, but collectively I can say that Hillsong United’s Aftermath & Live in Miami albums were literally formative, core memory-level influences on our teenage years and beyond. Those albums still go hard.
You're stuck on an island, it's hot, you only have enough battery life left to listen to one song on your phone. What track is it?
First of all, why am I not using my battery life to contact emergency services?
Because there's no signal...
If I can only listen to one song, I’m choosing “When You Believe” from The Prince of Egypt. Because I’m gonna need that motivation and reminder that miracles are possible. It’s just a great song if it’s going to be my last.
What does the next year hold for Life.Church Switch?
We are always inspired by how God is moving in the lives of our students, so we’re always writing new music! You can stay connected to all that is coming from our team by following us on socials @switchmsc.
