In the last 12 months, Christian singer and songwriter Brandon Lake made his Grand Ole Opry debut and co-hosted the K-LOVE Fan Awards. He performed alongside Jelly Roll on “Jimmy Kimmel” and “American Idol” on Easter Sunday (which ended with a hug from his fan Carrie Underwood).
Lake is bringing a message of faith to platforms typically off limits to Christian artists.
And it’s resonating. He joined Jelly Roll on stage once again at Stagecoach Festival and was invited back for a second Opry performance on June 5 during CMA Fest, as well as a second ‘Idol’ performance during the show’s finale on May 18, where he sang “Daddy’s DNA,” which is his take on the biblical story of the prodigal son.
Lake’s song, “Hard Fought Hallelujah” featuring Jelly Roll, is charting at country radio and on Billboard’s Hot 100. The song marks Lake’s biggest streaming debut week ever and continues to stream at 8.5 million worldwide per week. It has been in the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Christian and Gospel chart for 22 non-consecutive weeks.
“Daddy’s DNA,” which debuted at No. 1 on iTunes’ All Genres chart, is, according to Jelly Roll, “…gonna be song of the year.”
Lake is also featured in a documentary about the Summer Worship Nights tour with Phil Wickham called “For The One” and once again leads K-LOVE Fan Awards nominations up for Artist of the Year, Male Artist of the Year, Worship Song of the Year and Song of the Year.
On top of all that, the five-time Grammy winner, husband to wife Brittany and father of three boys ( Blaise, 10, Beau, 8 and Banner, 2) just announced a new album “King of Hearts” due out June 13 and a massive 48-city headlining arena tour beginning Oct. 2. In fact, the tour’s Atlanta show sold out in less than 30 minutes which prompted a great reaction from Lake on his Instagram along with a second Atlanta date added to the tour.
Crazy thing is, of all these accomplishments and successes, Lake says he never asked for any of it.
“ My greatest dream was just to sing the songs I wrote — in church,” he told The Tennessean via phone during a break from rehearsals for “American Idol.”
“I have just been focusing on what I love to do the most and I feel like God is taking care of the rest. Hopefully none of it looks like it’s about me, because I never actually wanted to necessarily be an artist. I really fell in love with songwriting more than anything and I just wanted the song to win. I wanted the songs to be famous more than I ever wanted to be.”
Brandon Lake’s ‘Gratitude’ changed his life
Lake’s mantle is filling up with Grammy, Dove and K-LOVE Awards, but what kick-started his skyrocket to fame was his 2022 single “Gratitude,” which hit No. 1 on multiple charts and has racked up 132 million streams on Spotify alone. Lake performed “Gratitude” during his Opry debut and basically let the entire audience — on their feet — sing it back to him hands raised, word for word.
That song, Lake told the Opry crowd that night, “changed my life.”
As Lake’s musical career continued to take off from his days leading worship at his father’s church in Charleston, S.C., to performing for thousands of people and on national television, he says his life has been on a constant trajectory that pulls him outside of his comfort zone, leaving him “shaking in his boots.”
But it’s a calling he isn’t going to ignore, regardless of the fear that comes along with it.
“I just keep showing up and saying ‘yes’ and doing it afraid,” he said. “Because every time I say ‘yes’ and I do it afraid I feel a level of confidence when I’m in it. But every opportunity, God tends to use it, and not just for a bigger platform, but I think ultimately in helping people. Giving them hope in life through these songs. And that’s why I keep showing up and keep doing it and just trusting that God is doing something in and through my life that’s bigger than me.”
Lake’s Instagram account became testing ground for new music
While Lake was touring to support his last record, “Coat of Many Colors,” he began writing new songs. The music got him excited way too soon.
“I’m sitting on these new songs really excited and I’m pretty horrible at being patient, so that’s what got me into some beautiful trouble with this record.”
Lake posted a clip on his Instagram of a song he hadn’t even finished yet, called “That’s Who I Praise.” His fans went nuts and elevated it to viral status before it was even a complete song. That told Lake he had entered a new creative season.
He finished the song and released it. It then sat atop the iTunes All Genre chart during the summer of 2024, beating out Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” as well as Jelly Roll, mgk and Luke Combs for the top spot.
“It really affirmed it when I did the same thing with ‘Hard Fought Hallelujah,'” he said. “I posted a clip while we were still finishing the song and people started begging for it.” He posted: “Share with a friend if you think I should finish this.” One follower writing, “Already my favorite song and haven’t even heard all of it yet.”
Lake added, “Sometimes when you find the right lyric with a fresh melody and the right kind of expression, it kind of feels like it’s never existed before. I think that feeling is what I chase. And obviously, you know, posting a clip of that song, people felt the same way by the way they responded.”
But this isn’t a new phenomenon for Lake. The first-day streams for his song “Praise You Anywhere,” exceeded any other Christian artist ever on Amazon Music — globally.
Lake, who is changing the face and the sound of CCM music, says this new album has a song for everybody, no matter what they typically listen to. It contains straight-up rock, some country, pop and melodic songs.
“I just have all these different genres I love to tap into, but I felt like this record, there were some that really brought out my southern roots and upbringing. I was raised in the south and I grew up on Christian music and country music and so it’s been a really fun season to see that part of me come back alive and then be expressed through my music.”
Lake sees arena tour as a ‘huge responsibility’ — and an ‘incredible honor’
While Lake is still engulfed in the Summer Nights Worship Tour with fellow Christian artist Phil Wickham, he recently announced his own “King of Hearts” tour that is selling out cities before the tickets officially go on sale. “King of Hearts” starts in October and will hit 48 cities, although there isn’t a Nashville stop.
While the “King of Hearts” tour doesn’t have a Nashville date, the sold-out Summer Nights Worship show is coming to Bridgestone Arena here Sun. July 20.
Lake says it isn’t lost on him that he’s in a spotlight few Christian artists get to be in.
“ I obviously feel a heavy weight of responsibility just ’cause I wanna serve people well and I want every single night for every single person who walks through those doors to leave better than they walked in,” he said. “It’s always nerve wracking. But I know if I go out there and give it my best, that somebody’s life’s gonna be changed and we’re gonna have an amazing time. And there’s no reason I need to doubt that, you know? So I see this as a huge responsibility and an incredible, incredible honor.”
Melonee Hurt covers music and music business at The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK — Tennessee. Reach Melonee at mhurt@tennessean.com or on Instagram at @MelHurtWrites.
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