THE GREATEST CRISIS OF FAITH ISN’T LOSING YOUR BELIEF IN GOD. IT’S WONDERING IF HE’LL SHOW UP WHEN YOU NEED HIM MOST

Emmy Award-winning Spoken Word Artist and America's Got Talent Champion Brandon Leake Announces ‘Intimacy’

"Your words are so poetic, so in the moment... the message is so clear. Thank you for moving us." — Howie Mandel

"I never, in my mind, would have thought that someone with an act like yours could have won AGT... You are brilliant." — Simon Cowell

"His poems featuring themes of grief, parenthood, race, and more were raw and unfiltered."

— NBC

Every parent has imagined the phone call they hope never comes. Every believer has wrestled with the silent question they're almost afraid to ask: God, where are You? It's the question that surfaces in hospital rooms, sleepless nights, unexpected diagnoses, financial uncertainty, and the moments when faith feels less like confidence and more like a choice to keep believing despite what stands in front of you. Those questions became the foundation of Intimacy, the powerful new album from Emmy Award-winning spoken word artist, educator, and America's Got Talent Season 15 champion Brandon Leake.

For Leake, those moments weren't hypothetical, they became his reality. An unexpected panic attack, his daughter's autoimmune diagnosis, financial instability, and months of spiritual wrestling forced him to confront questions he never expected to ask about trust and God's presence.

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Instead of keeping his struggle private, Leake gave it a voice. The result is Intimacy, his most honest project to date. Blending spoken word, music, and raw testimony, the album explores anxiety, grief, fatherhood, and the unseen battles that shape everyday life, offering an honest portrait of what faith looks like when life doesn't unfold the way we planned.

The release follows Leake's acclaimed single, "I've Got," a declaration of God's faithfulness through every season. While that song celebrated hope, Intimacy explores what it takes to keep trusting God when life doesn't make sense. Together, the two releases tell a larger story—not just about God's faithfulness in life's victories, but about trusting Him through seasons where the answers don't come easily.

The emotional centerpiece of Intimacy is its focus track, "Fear," a spoken word piece born from one of the most challenging chapters of Leake's life. "During a sermon, my pastor said there is no such thing as true intimacy without fear being a part of the equation. The name of my album was already Intimacy at the time that I heard this. So for me, I began to really rummage through my mind to explore how I felt about that. To be honest with you, the things that I've cared for most I've also most deeply feared losing, so I came to the conclusion that he was right, that there is no such thing as intimacy without fear. This also came during the season in which fear was a very prevalent part of my life with my daughter's illness, financial instability, and so many other things," says Leake.

That realization reshaped the album. Instead of treating fear as faith's opposite, Leake explores how faith is often forged in the very moments we feel least certain. "For me, this poem is a line in the sand. For too long I think I lived under the assumption that fear is the opposite of faith. But in all actuality, faith in spite of fear is one of the most powerful things that we can have as people and I had to be the one who was brave enough to take a leap of faith in the midst of my fear. So this poem to me is a sign of healing. It's a sign of growth and development and spiritual maturity."

Drawing inspiration from Proverbs 9:10—"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom"—Intimacy asks listeners to reconsider what fear really means. From fatherhood and grief to healing and redemption, each piece points beyond life's circumstances toward a deeper trust in God's presence.

"The overall message of this album is that intimacy is costly, but the cost is worth being paid—that God is not giving up on us and that if we continue to persevere the intimacy that we develop with God will be our greatest reward. The inspiration to this album was three years of trial, difficulty, heartache, pain, frustration, and so much joy, despite circumstance."

Leake wrote every poem, hook, bridge, and spoken word piece on the album, while featured artists contributed their own sections. The project is produced by longtime collaborator Fariss Ryan, whom Leake has worked with since 2014, alongside Stockton producer Teak Underdue and Emmy Award-winning composer John Wineglass. Mixing was handled by acclaimed Christian hip-hop artist Derek Minor, helping bring the album's emotional and sonic vision to life.

Since making history as the first spoken word poet to win NBC's America's Got Talent, Leake has become one of the defining voices in contemporary spoken word. An Emmy Award-winning artist, educator, and motivational speaker, his performances challenge audiences to embrace vulnerability, healing, and authentic faith while finding hope through honest storytelling.

"If you listen to this from beginning to end, you will feel the reward of your time. It will not be a wasted minute. It will not be a wasted second. All of it was intentionally crafted to tell this story of redemption, of healing, of trial, of difficulty, of overcoming, and how intimacy with God is truly worth it."

Intimacy

Track Listing:

Intro

I’ve Got

Doubts Parade

Don’t Count

Whisper

Fear

Love’s Affirmation

Doubts

The Verdict

Shine

Outro

For more information on Brandon Leake and to follow him, please visit Website, Instagram, Facebook, X, and YouTube.