Jelly Roll and Brandon Lake teamed up on American Idol to perform their new duet. The two sang “Hard Fought Hallelujah” as part of the Songs of Faith episode. The duo earned high praise from all of the judges for their performance, especially Carrie Underwood .
“I have not met him, but he’s a staple in our house, in our car,” Underwood says.
“Hard Fought Hallelujah” is part of Lake’s new album, King of Hearts, out on June 13. It was while Lake was watching the 2024 CMA Awards when he had the idea to invite Jelly Roll to sing with him on “Hard Fought Hallelujah.”
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I watched the CMA Awards with Brooks & Dunn,” Lake recalls to K-Love, as part of a shared conversation between the two singers. “You performed this song called ‘I Believe.’ So this is some time before I heard back from Jelly and his team. I fell asleep during the awards show. I’m chilling in bed, it’s late at night. I wake up the next morning, and the first thing I see on my phone is a video of Jelly’s performance, and Brooks & Dunn. I opened it up, still laying in bed and I watched this happen. I had never seen church like this happen in this place. It was so unexpected, and I’m literally laying there, and I start bawling my eyes out.
“I felt the spirit of God translate through my phone, from that moment, after the fact,” he continues. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh. This is the dude. He just led the world in worship.’ I don’t think anyone saw it coming. People were standing up, lifting their hands, there are tears rolling down their face. I was just so moved. It gave me all the confidence in the world that this is a dude we have to ask to get on this song.”
Jelly Roll vividly recalls Lake inviting him to be part of “Hard Fought Hallelujah,” and what it meant to him personally.
“He said to me on the phone everything I wish the church would have,” Jelly Roll says. “The way he made me feel is like, ‘Man, if I felt this way on Sunday when I went to a couple of churches, God knows where my journey would be at right now.’ Maybe the things people are still mad at me at for not being where they think I should be, maybe I’d already be there.”
Perhaps no one is more surprised than Jelly Roll at how far he has come, especially in recent years, in every way.
“If you knew how I was talking at interviews five years ago, and it’s all over the internet. Go look it up.” Jelly Roll, who recently lost more than 180 pounds, says. “And then you see how I’m talking today, imagine what God can do with me in five years. And then look at what God’s already doing with me.”
Jelly Roll and Lake weren’t the only performers for Songs of Faith. The entire three-hour episode was filled with contestants singing faith-based songs, along with guest artists and all three judges. Underwood sang “How Great Thou Art,” while Luke Bryan sang “Jesus ‘Bout My Kids” and Lionel Richie sang a song called “Eternity.”
American Idol airs on Sundays and Mondays at 8:00 PM on ABC.