‘Hard Fought Hallelujah’ by Brandon Lake & Jelly Roll - Lyrics & Meaning

Originally released by Contemporary Christian trailblazer, Brandon Lake, as a solo track in November 2024, ‘Hard Fought Hallelujah’ exploded into a viral hit in subsequent weeks.

Following this, Lake decided to reimagine the dramatic, faith-filled anthem into a powerhouse duet with Jelly Roll, with their collaborative rendition arriving on February 7th, 2025.

It's a soaring, stirring reflection on the internal battles and struggles that can foreshadow the euphoric breakthrough of belief, with Jelly Roll powerfully explaining in a pre-release conversation with Brandon Lake how ‘Hard Fought Hallelujah’ had inspired the ‘Need a Favor’ crooner to start worshipping again in a way he hadn't in years.

‘Hard Fought Hallelujah’ takes on a cinematic, orchestral feel, with Brandon Lake and Jelly Roll's weighty, rasp-infused vocals accentuating the emotional gravitas of the track.

Jelly's involvement adds a striking sense of grit and angst to the second verse, which only emphasises the celebratory, jubilant ambience of the strings and electric guitar-driven hook.

A choir is introduced towards the latter part of ‘Hard Fought Hallelujah’, which helps to build the burgeoning feeling of joy and peace that emanates throughout the track. It again showcases Brandon Lake's enchanting penchant for blurring the lines between Contemporary Christian, stadium rock and modern country textures, with Lake having teamed up with the likes of Thomas Rhett in the past. Similarly, Jelly Roll has shown love to Contemporary Christian artists in recent years, bringing out Anne Wilson to perform ‘Save Me’ during Faster Horses Festival 2024.

“Yeah, I don't always feel it
Yeah, but that's when I need it the most
So, I'ma keep on singing
'Til my soul catches up with my song”

Some pockets of the Contemporary Christian scene tend to focus wholeheartedly on praise and toasting God's impact on their lives, whereas Brandon Lake always makes a point of highlighting the difficulties he dealt with prior to reaching this point.

This makes the crescendo of ‘Hard Fought Hallelujah’ all the more inspiring, as he underlines that the path has not been easy, but he's made it out the other side nonetheless. He refers to the need for his ‘soul’ to catch up with his ‘song’, perhaps suggesting there have been times where he is singing about his faith, but he has felt like his ‘soul’ is not aligned with those themes, and that he still had some inner work to do. Nonetheless, the protagonist determines to keep singing the praises of God relentlessly, until he reaches his Holy Grail and his ‘Hard Fought Hallelujah’.

“There's times when my hands go up freely
And times that it costs, oh, oh
There's days when a praise comes out easy
Days when it takes all the strength I got”

Brandon Lake continues to stress that, although he writes worship music for a living, even he is not perfect and immaculate, and that there are days where he finds it harder to pray. This message will no doubt strike a chord with listeners who want to take more time out to practice their faith, but struggle to find the words or the headspace.

“I'll bring my hard-fought, heartfelt
Been-through-hell hallelujah
And I'll bring my storm-tossed, torn-sail
Story-to-tell hallelujah, oh
'Cause God, You've been patient
God, You've been gracious
Faithful, whatever I'm feeling or facing
So I'll bring my hard-fought, heartfelt, it-is-well hallelujah, whoa, oh
Hallelujah, hallelujah”

Through a visceral flurry of adjectives, Brandon Lake showcases how his current state of gratitude and happiness has arisen after being through a furnace that has seen him flung around in a spiritual and emotional storm. The depictions of having a “storm-tossed” and “torn-sailed” hallelujah contrasts starkly with the “heartfelt, it-is-well” hallelujah that Lake thankfully ends up on, following his turmoil.

“I've wrestled with the darkness
But I'm tryin' to reach for the light
Yeah, the struggle keeps me honest
And it breaks down the walls of my pride”

Jelly Roll brings a fresh perspective to this feeling of having to fight to stay in the warm light of faith, with the ‘Save Me’ hitmaker stepping into the shoes of a narrator who tussles with his pride. He implies these challenges are what help to keep him “honest”, consolidating the song's theme of becoming stronger through our struggles.

“'Cause faith isn't proven like gold
'Til it's been through the fire, eh, eh
My head, heart, and hands are feeling heavy
But that's when I lift them just a little higher”

This idea is backed up here, as Jelly Roll emphasises how his faith needs to be honed through the flames of his battles, just like how impurities are removed from gold by being put through a fire. Fire is also a way of testing whether something is gold or not.

He evocatively describes how, when he is feeling like crumbling under the weight of his despair and troubles, Jelly Roll finds the energy to lift his hands extra high to praise God.

In a discussion with Brandon Lake ahead of their momentous duet's official release, Jelly Roll touchingly shed light on his own faith journey, and how the solo version of ‘Hard Fought Hallelujah’ had moved him, “The first time I heard ‘Hard Fought Hallelujah’, I haven't had a record touch me like that in so long. It's been years since I worshipped the way that I worshipped to that song. Because like I carry my faith with me, but I'm also struggling, and very honest and open about that. I've been so bitter and hurt by the church, and their dogma, that I created my own”.

He went on, “I believe music meets us where we are. I needed that record when I heard it, but then to double-back and be like, ‘Yo, there's a chance you could work on this record’ with this guy, and I'm like, ‘Whoa. God sends me the record, and not only does he want me to listen to it and worship, he wants me to live with it and learn it’”.

“Yeah, I don't always feel it
Yeah, but that's when I need it the most
So, I'ma keep on singing
'Til my soul catches up with my song

-

There's times when my hands go up freely
And times that it costs, oh, oh
There's days when a praise comes out easy
Days when it takes all the strength I got

-

I'll bring my hard-fought, heartfelt
Been-through-hell hallelujah
And I'll bring my storm-tossed, torn-sail
Story-to-tell hallelujah, oh
'Cause God, You've been patient
God, You've been gracious
Faithful, whatever I'm feeling or facing
So I'll bring my hard-fought, heartfelt, it-is-well hallelujah, whoa, oh
Hallelujah, hallelujah

-

I've wrestled with the darkness
But I'm tryin' to reach for the light
Yeah, the struggle keeps me honest
And it breaks down the walls of my pride

-

'Cause faith isn't proven like gold
'Til it's been through the fire, eh, eh
My head, heart, and hands are feeling heavy
But that's when I lift them just a little higher

-

I'll bring my hard-fought, heartfelt
Been-through-hell hallelujah
I'll bring my storm-tossed, torn-sail
Story-to-tell hallelujah, whoa-oh
God, You've been patient
God, You've been gracious
Faithful, whatever I'm feeling or facing
I'll bring my hard-fought, heartfelt, it-is-well hallelujah, oh
Hallelujah, hallelujah

-

I'll bring my hard-fought, heartfelt
Been-through-hell hallelujah
I'll bring my storm-tossed, torn-sail
Story-to-tell hallelujah, whoa-oh
God, You've been patient
And God, You've been gracious
Faithful, whatever I'm feeling or facing
I'll bring my hard-fought, heartfelt, it-is-well hallelujah
Oh, hallelujah
Hallelujah

-

Oh-oh, oh, oh-oh-oh
Hallelujah, hallelujah, halle-
Halle-, mm-mm
Hallelujah”

For more on Brandon Lake, see below: