CCM singer Brandon Lake recently surprised his “Hard Fought Hallelujah” collaborator Jelly Roll with some stellar news about their hit collab.
In a video he shared on Instagram on June 20, Lake surprised Jelly Roll with a plaque commemorating that “Hard Fought Hallelujah” had been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for sales of at least one million units.
The song, which is featured on Lake’s June 13-released album King of Hearts, was certified Platinum before the album was even released.
In the video, Jelly Roll says, “We were just talking about this like six months ago,” and later adding, “This might be my favorite plaque I’ve ever had.”
Their collaborative version of “Hard Fought Hallelujah” cracked the top 40 on Billboard‘s all-genre Hot 100, while also reaching the top 15 on the Hot Country Songs chart.
“I released [the solo version of] this song, and then I felt like, ‘This is too special to not share this song with somebody,’” Lake recently told Billboard of bringing in Jelly Roll to record the song with him. “Thinking about the lyrics, I was like, ‘Man, I think Jelly Roll would resonate with the story of this song.’ I’ve been so inspired by his story, the things he’s overcome. I remember seeing him sing “Believe” with Brooks & Dunn [at the 2024 CMA Awards], and I just bawled my eyes out. It gave me all the faith to reach out. The craziest part of that is he had already heard the song on TikTok and loved it.
“We hopped on the phone, and we didn’t talk music for the first hour. We just instantly became like brothers and talked about life, parenting, touring, family. It was a real friendship off the bat. There’s a reason why he is on top of the world right now, and it’s not just because his songs are amazing — it’s because he’s amazing,” Lake added.
See the video below:
