Brandon Lake Found ‘So Much Freedom’ After Battling Depression Brought on by Fame
By Movieguide® Contributor
Grammy award-winning Christian music artist Brandon Lake recently opened up about how fame took a toll on his mental health.
After battling a “sudden episode of depression,” Lake leaned on a few close friends from home for support.
“Guys, I don’t know what’s going on right now,” he told his friends. “I’ve been home for a few days … and I don’t recognize myself. I’m not myself. I’m freaking out. And I’m feeling compelled to just crash or do something crazy.”
His friend Micah prayed over Lake, and “As soon as he prayed over me, man…all of the weight and the craziness in that moment, it broke,” he explained. “I broke, but in a good way, which led to confession.”
“I was starting to feel depression coming on,” he said.
Lake’s career skyrocketed during the pandemic with the release of the song “Graves Into Gardens.”
However, as his career took off, with signing to a record label, going on tour with Bethel Music and multiple collaborations with various artists, Lake struggled to manage the pressure.
“I’ve heard it said that your body doesn’t know the difference between good stress and bad stress, it just knows stress,” he said.
“I’ve started thinking in ways I’ve never thought, like being completely vulnerable,” Lake shared. “I even had a low moment. And y’all, this is like the span of a few hours, a few days. And I’m already thinking like, ‘Should I just leave this Earth?… I’m miserable…Would they just be better without me? Does anybody love me? Am I even seen?’”
Lake decided it was time to get professional help.
“I began to meet with Chip, my counsellor, my therapist, if you will, and he gave me language to understand what was happening,” he revealed.
“I’d come off the road and I had no more adrenaline,” Lake explained. “And what that [does], is it attacks your emotional management system, your pain management system. And talking about health, it attacks your immune system. So you can easily, if you’re somebody on the go and not giving yourself time to rest, you will get sick.”
“I began to talk with him [his therapist] and he gave me language for that, which brought about so much freedom. And [he] helped me with some tools to make sure I’m combating that,” Lake concluded.
He’s explored looking to God amid mental health struggles in his music, too.
Last year, he released his single, “HELP!”
“This is the truest and realist song of this past season for me,” he said. “I pray that so many people who don’t even know who God is would hear this song and it would encourage them to cry out for help.”
“In my lifetime, I’ve never experienced more opportunity to cave under the weight of anxiety and depression,” Lake added. “I believe it’s important that we are real, honest, and raw about the mental battles we face—that we bring them into the light so God can remind us of who He is and who we are. I believe we need honest songs, but we also need warfare songs to come against those attacks that try and keep us from being everything God wants us to be and from living truly free. Freedom has been purchased, but we need reminders that it is our inheritance and the reality we can live in daily through Him who set us free.”
Movieguide® previously reported on Lake:
As conflicts rage around the world, Lake has funneled his fears and emotions into his songwriting, turning to God in the midst of chaos.
“I found myself singing about Heaven,” Lake told PEOPLE. “These emotions were just building up and building up, and then we just wrote this song about our final destination, which is heaven.”
“I’m not someone to ever watch the news, but the past few days, I have probably had the TV on or my phone on nonstop,” he continued. “Writing a song about Heaven and how God is still holy and sovereign was just the medicine my heart needed.”
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