The Choir Room premieres «Better Than This» with Clark-Cole
The single grew out of an idea Dorinda Clark-Cole held onto for more than 20 years, and it was recorded in Nashville.
The group The Choir Room premiered "Better Than This," featuring Dorinda Clark-Cole, on digital platforms, Centricity Music reported. The song was recorded on May 18, 2026, in Nashville, during a choir gathering.
An idea that waited two decades
Dwan Hill, the choir's leader and a three-time Grammy and two-time Dove Award winner as a songwriter and producer, said that at their first meeting Clark-Cole told him about a song idea she had started more than 20 years earlier. That is how "Better Than This" was born, written by the two of them with Javier Ordenes and produced by Hill, Ordenes and Marcus Perry.
On the release, Hill said: "It's exactly what the world needs to sing right now" (translation by Sígueme). He also said he has admired Clark-Cole since he was a kid, for her creativity and her voice, and that after spending time with her he respects and loves her even more.
«Singing together is service before it is a showcase.»
The idea Hill kept coming back to is simple: anyone who listens to Clark-Cole and the choir can find hope in God, because things are going to get better. Finishing a song that someone else dreamed up two decades ago and singing it with her is also a way of serving.
A choir where every voice has a part
The Choir Room describes itself as a nonprofit family of singers and musicians that is multiracial, multigenerational, drawn from different economic backgrounds and nondenominational, where everyone has a voice. Since May 2022 it has grown to more than 5,000 people, and about 400 attend each monthly gathering.
At those gatherings, classic and recent gospel live side by side, in an atmosphere the organization describes as sacred and joyful at the same time.
Their first album, Love Never Fails, came out in 2025 with 11 songs and appearances by nobigdyl., Emoni Wilkins, DeMarco Johnson, San Franklin and Leeland Mooring, among others. The title track topped the Mediabase and Billboard gospel charts, and the new single arrives right after that song, which also got radio play.
The choir also says it speaks for the forgotten and the overlooked. Singing together is service before it is a showcase. "Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!" (Psalm 133:1, ESV).
New York, February 2027
The next gathering will be on November 16 at Harken Hall in Madison, Tennessee. The "Choir Room Experience" will come to New York from February 19 to 22, 2027, with a performance on February 21 at Carnegie Hall led by Hill alongside Fred Hammond and Brooke Ligertwood.
The three-day event is organized by True North Presents, and registrations for the "Onstage Choir" are filling up fast. The stage, then, fills with ordinary people who rehearse, travel and sing the same part as the person next to them.
Before you sign up, check the dates and requirements on the organization's website. If the trip isn't within reach this year, there is another step closer to home.
At your church's next rehearsal, learn the part of the person singing next to you and help them get there on time. What choir song marked your church, and who taught it to you?
