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By Kayla DeKraker
From homelessness and addiction to joy and purpose, rising Christian artist Jamie MacDonald has a powerful message to share through her music.
Her debut single, “Desperate,” positioned itself on top of Billboard’s Christian AC Airplay chart for seven weeks. Her follow-up, “Left It in the River,” is going strong with eight non-consecutive weeks atop the same chart.
“Even up until now — I mean, signing a record deal at 40, if I was waiting till I felt ready for all this, it may have been never,” MacDonald said of her skyrocketing career. She signed her label deal with Capitol CGM in 2024. “So just to jump into it and have it go really fast this past year, I think, the only way for me to really do it.”
But at one point in her life, after moving into her stepfather’s home, she had to hide her love for music.
“When my mom remarried, we moved into his house and he really loved our mom, but never really wanted kids,” she explained of her stepdad. “So it was like he’d put up with us to have my mom and it was a time where we all had to become invisible. I wasn’t allowed to sing, because it was like an evidence that there were kids in the house. That was a big rule and I never stopped singing so I got in trouble for it a lot. I would perform in school and be celebrated for it there, then punished for it at home, so it made it really confusing for me. I’d go in the woods a lot and find a place to sing.”
MacDonald continued, “I remember getting a Walkman for Christmas one year and getting the Mariah Carey Christmas album. I remember hearing her do that first vocal run on ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You,” and I was like, ‘I have to learn how to sing like that.’ I just studied her voice and the choir arrangements. I’ve always loved the choir sound and it’s infused in a lot of the record. I love stacking harmonies. I got into Stevie Wonder and Otis Redding. I think just going through a lot of heartache in my life kind of cultivated a deeper, soulful sound.”
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As much as MacDonald loved music, getting into the scene introduced her into dangerous lifestyles. She moved to LA and struggled with drug abuse.
“I saw a couple of friends overdose and that lifestyle, some of the hip-hop culture can be riddled with gang violence, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, all of that was a part of it,” she recalled.
She added, “I came to that place where I’d had enough of living like that, seeing friends overdose and go to prison. I was scared, and I said, ‘God, if you still have a plan for my life, that message I heard at a church camp at 12 years old that “God has a plan for you,” I’d love to know what that is, because what I’m doing right now cannot be the plan.'”
Life 90.5 reported that after that moment, she started reading her Bible, secretly attended church and eventually joined a worship team.
“I was done with the lifestyle I was living. I just had an encounter with God’s presence, and I had known for so many years about the darkness and the dark side that I was hungry for the light,” she explained. She was baptized at age 21.
Through it all, music helped MacDonald connect to God.
“Music has been the main thing that has helped me with my walk with God and even transforming my mind and my life,” she said. “The way that I’ve clung to other music, I just want to be that for other people. It’s such a powerful thing when a song can carry you through something. I just want to bring more healing music to people. That’s always going to be my fuel.”
Recently, MacDonald took to Instagram to announce she’s been named as one of Spotify’s Artists to Watch.
“Honored to be named a Spotify Artists to Watch 2026!” she said in the caption. “Grateful doesn’t even cover it. Thank you @spotify for the love. Tap the official Artists to Watch playlist in my story and give it a listen. So much more music to come this year.”
Her debut album, titled Jamie MacDonald, debuted last month.
“I poured my heart and soul into this record during seasons of restoration, and every lyric holds a piece of that journey,” she said.
It’s wonderful to see how God’s using MacDonald’s struggles to encourage her fans through her music.
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