Coming up in the music industry and encapsulating your life experiences and feelings into songs is what many artists aspire too, one in particular we can look toward goes by the name of Josiah Queen. Hailing from Tampa, Florida, he has rapidly began climbing his way to the Christian music “heavens” through his songs by incorporating faith, self-examination, to repentance alongside his audience members. Josiah is no stranger to success especially as of late with 1.3 billion streams, he began his breakout with songs like, “I am Barabbas” to “The Prodigal” and “Dusty Bibles” in 2023, becoming critically acclaimed and reaching significantly high numbers on numerous charting sites such as the highly-regarded “Billboard”. At just the mere age of sixteen, Josiah was creating these songs like “The Prodigal” with a pen and desire to spread his belief of faith and impactful life adventures packed into carefully curated lines. As mentioned briefly, “The Prodigal” is what turned him into the “prodigy” amongst the Christian music community landing him a platinum-certified release, and to creating also “Dusty Bibles” which earned him a gold plaque with the RIAA to sold out iconic venues.
As of late Josiah Queen or what we could uniformly call the “king” of Christian music, is coming off of plenty successful career catapults he’s created for himself with his numerous high charting slots, to a sold North American tour and most recently dropping his new single entitled “Judas”. This recent piece emotionally and spiritually crafted by Josiah, delves into his own self and inner reflections of feelings we all have of betrayal, faith, and soul searching. Josiah’s vulnerability to use his own experiences and morph himself into the story of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion helps to encapsulate the ideas that none of us are perfect and that such negativity can push us further away from faith and ourselves.
Continuing into our exploration of Josiah Queen’s “Judas” it truly separates itself from his other well-known songs such as, “demons” to his other massively acclaimed hit “Can’t Steal My Joy” both topping Billboard’s charts for Christian streaming songs. Alongside producers John Michael Howell and Dylan Thomas, Queen aforementioned draws from within to capture the audience and similarly to our lives through regression to an eventual progression whilst dealing with themes such as betrayal, deep self-analysis to reformation. Speaking more introspectively on the topic of how “Judas” impacts us we can look also into the types of instruments Queen uses from guitars, banjos, and drums to strategically overturn from a low to high point, helping to create the narrative of an uplifting presence for the audience.
Looking holistically at the multiple successful hits Queen has created, “Judas” tells a not so distant story, of how we can repent towards our sins through common thought and positivity to turn them into an encouraging/uplifting spiritual venture. As for how you can truly immerse yourself into these endeavors alongside Josiah, he is continuing on his almost sold-out Mt. Zion Tour across the United States ending at the House of Blues in Boston on May 8th, 2026, to where he will cross the pond over to the tour’s United Kingdom and European segments following until September. If there’s one thing to give back, it would be to go see these shows and firsthand experience how Josiah commands his heart and soul honestly and faithfully to support not only churches, but most importantly the minds and bodies of his audiences. If you would like more information on where to access tickets, experiences, or more music by Josiah Queen be sure to visit josiahqueen.com/tour.
Photo credit: Brady Pettee
Follow Josiah Queen: Website | TikTok | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube