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Brandon Lake has six Grammy Awards, billions of streams, platinum singles, sold-out arenas, and more recognition than he once knew how to imagine.
None of it, he says, defines him.
“I literally have six Grammys,” Lake says. “Did that change my life? Maybe it gives me a little more credibility. I’m super thankful for them. But I don’t even have those Grammys listed in my Instagram bio because that doesn’t make me who I am.”
The Gospel Music Association recently added another round of recognition with eight nominations for Lake at the 57th annual GMA Dove Awards.
Lake, who won more Dove Awards than any other artist last year, is nominated for Artist of the Year and Songwriter of the Year. His songs “Can’t Steal My Joy” and “I Know a Name” are both nominated for Song of the Year.
He also earned nominations for Rock/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year for “SEVENS,” Country/Roots Recorded Song of the Year for his Lainey Wilson collaboration “The Jesus I Know Now,” Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year for King of Hearts, and Short Form Music Video of the Year (Concept) for “SEVENS.”
The GMA Dove Awards are set for Oct. 6 at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.
Lake is grateful for the accolades. But he also knows the danger of expecting them — or any form of career success — to provide lasting fulfillment.
Over the past several years, Lake has become one of Christian music’s biggest stars, amassing more than 4.2 billion on-demand streams, earning six Grammy Awards, and collecting six platinum singles. His 2025 album, King of Hearts, debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 while topping Billboard’s Christian/Gospel and Rock Albums charts.
He sold out arenas across the country on his 50-city King of Hearts Tour before teaming with Jelly Roll on “Hard Fought Hallelujah.” The crossover hit debuted at No. 51 on the Billboard Hot 100, climbed into the Top 25 at country radio, earned double-platinum certification, and won the 2026 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song.
But if Lake has learned anything over the past few years, it is that true success isn’t a string of accomplishments — and fulfillment isn’t as simple as he once imagined.
A few years ago, as Lake began gaining widespread popularity, he spent months touring and writing with his heroes. He came home expecting to feel fulfilled. Instead, the emotional high he had become accustomed to was gone. Without an audience or spotlight, he didn’t know how to get it back.
“I didn’t know about adrenaline fatigue,” he says. “I came home, and everything was normal, but it just felt like a crazy valley. It starts to attack your emotional management system.”
His counselor told him that losing the nightly rush of adrenaline was like trying to quit heroin cold turkey. Lake began having dark thoughts he didn’t recognize. He tried to fill the void with more songs, more opportunities, and intimacy with his wife, Brittany.
She called him out on his behavior.
His counselor reminded him that God was the only place he could find true fulfillment. Today, Lake measures success differently.
He talks about Brittany insisting they unplug for two weeks at the beach. He talks about never wanting to be away from his family for more than a few days at a time. He talks about evening walks across the farm with their three boys — checking the garden, feeding cattle, and laughing at their miniature donkeys named Gucci, Little Sebastian, and Shaboozey.
It is an intentionally ordinary life.
“I have friends in town — long friendships,” he says. “They’re proud of me, but they’re not impressed by me.”
That grounding has become even more important as Lake’s career and creative interests expand. In addition to preparing a new album, he has collaborated with Derek Welborn to launch Saints Western, a lifestyle brand inspired by his love of Western style and farm life.
“It’s been a wild journey,” Welborn says.
Welborn, a former pastor turned hat maker, recently bought an Airstream, transformed it into a Saints Western pop-up shop, and began setting up outside Lake’s concerts.
“Brandon has influence as far as in the music space, but even just style and who he is, that’s one of the things that we really connected on and became friends,” Welborn says. “To have him as a partner in this with me to collaborate and dream has been pretty awesome.”
Lake and Welborn hope the company eventually grows into a Nashville storefront that feels as much like a gathering place as a retail shop. Lake envisions a space where people can hear live music, build community, and even attend cowboy church on a Sunday morning.
It is another extension of the philosophy guiding nearly every decision Lake makes. As diverse as his résumé and song catalog might be, he isn’t trying to create separate versions of himself for different audiences.
He is trying to remain grounded in the person he is when the stage lights go down.
That person is a husband, a father, a friend, a Christian, a musician, and a man who likes walking across his farm in the evenings. Awards may recognize what he has accomplished, but Lake no longer expects them to tell him who he is.
As his career enters its next chapter, he has one promise:
“I’m not going anywhere.”