ZOEgirl a rock band? Well, not quite. But they've left teen pop behind—while still reaching teens with a message of hope and purity.

Chrissy Conway, Alisa Girard, Kristin Swinford

When Britney Spears, boy bands, and teen pop topped the mainstream charts at the turn of the century, ZOEgirl went for a different message—and a radically new look. Rather than singing about sex and showing lots of skin, the trio of Chrissy Conway, Alisa Girard, and Kristen Swinford addressed typical teen topics like self-esteem and sexual purity. Today, ZOEgirl continues exploring similar themes, but with more of a band-driven pop/rock sound for Different Kind of Free (Sparrow), their new CD coming September 16.

You've put out four CDs in four years, and when you're not writing or recording, you've been touring. What's that been like?

Chrissy: It can be overwhelming. Sometimes I think we're so used to being overwhelmed, it sort of gets to be the norm. When we're not overwhelmed, it's like we've got to go do something.

Alisa: It's almost like we're always so busy that when we do have a few days of down time, we almost get depressed because we feel like we're not accomplishing anything. We do really like to work, but I think we need to realize that it's okay to just have some down time once in a while.

Kristin: I have a hard time allowing myself to relax. When I do come home, I just want to watch movies or chill, but I have a hard time allowing myself to do that. There are a million people that I have to call to get back in touch with since I've been gone so long.

How do you balance the schedule with seeing friends, family and maintaining relationships?

Chrissy: I still have my core friends that I've known for years, and they're all very understanding. They understand that it takes me a week to call back. But we definitely enjoy what we're doing as ZOEgirl, and none of us could imagine doing anything else. We're going strong and we'll keep going strong until God says different.

You have changed so much from your beginnings to now. In your shows and on last year's remix CD, a song like "I Believe" got a total facelift from a dance beat to a rock beat.

Alisa: That's really where our new record is really going—more in the vein of that remix of "I Believe." There will still be a lot of pop and there's going to be some R&B beats, but a lot more rock guitars too. Even lyrically we're incorporating a lot more songs that shoot straight to God on edgy issues, just expanding and growing in every territory. As much as a jump as the second was from the first, the third will be from the second.

Was that a conscious decision? How did you grow into it?

Chrissy: We had some of those elements when we first came together, but the vision was to do more of a Britney Spears pop thing, which was really a void in Christian music. Now that the musical climate is changing and we're hearing from our audience, we're learning what issues they are going through and how their tastes are changing as they get older. That's given us more room to grow. Plus, we've established ourselves a little bit more since we first came out, so I feel like we have more liberty to put more of who we are individually into the music. Music is going in so many different directions now that I think you can experiment a little more.

A long time ago, you could develop a sound and stick with it for the course of a career. Now you have to keep changing just to keep up. Is that constant change a burden?

Alisa: No! In fact, I'm glad it's that way. It's exciting to be able to progress because your own tastes change, the way you view music changes, and you hear new things that inspire you. If we were trapped in this box of having to do the same thing over and over again, I think it would have been extremely frustrating.

Chrissy: We can more freely express what we're doing in our own styles and it's still going to work because we're so different. It's just going to take it to another level.

You've always been really good examples for teens on how to be godly and cool at the same time. How do you plan to continue that stance?

Alisa: First and foremost, our main goal is to glorify God with what we're doing. It makes us really sad that in mainstream media, people—especially musicians—are getting identity from their skin rather than their talent. We're continuing to address self-esteem because everyone is worth so much and has been placed on this earth for a purpose. Teens can get sidetracked, feeling like people will only like them because of their looks. We're here to continually remind people that you can still be cool, have fun, and have relevant clothes without showing all of your skin.

I'm a child of the late 80s/early 90s. It didn't seem like there was much pressure back then to be hip and cool like MTV. Why do you think it's escalated so much since then?

Kristin: Well MTV was big then, but not as big as it is now. Now MTV doesn't just cover the culture; it is the culture. And that's very sad. Young people aren't given the opportunities anymore to make decisions about what is acceptable and what isn't. It's just put in their face that this is acceptable, and they don't even think about it. A lot of teens don't actually take the time to think "oh maybe that's wrong to wear" because it's become so much a part of the culture.

Chrissy: I think that's all the more reasons why we as Christians need to step up to the plate and present an alternative for them to listen to, something that is stylistically true to their needs but gives them a message of hope and salvation that's hopefully going to encourage them. God has something much more valuable, and I just pray that he would allow us to continue pointing listeners to that greater purpose.

Learn more about ZOEgirl at our artist page for the band, which includes a review of their remix album Mix of Life. You can listen to song clips and pick up your own copy of their album at Musicforce.com. Different Kind of Free releases September 16, 2003.

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