What really led to a Josiah Queen’s “success”
Josiah Queen, the “breakout new artist” everyone is talking about, has recently blown up on Spotify, the radio, Tic, Toc, Youtube, and pretty much every Christian circle. With hits like Dusty Bibles and Prodigal, as well as 1.3 billion combined global streams, this 23-year-old has rapidly impacted people with his folk/pop style music. Shall I go on?
….Dusty Bibles made the Billboard Hot 100, and certified Gold in under six months from its release, landed in the Top 3 Christian/Gospel Streaming Songs in the U.S., made the Spotify Viral 50 in over 15 countries, and reached the Shazam Top 200 in multiple territories, his Mt. Zion album hit #1 on Billboard’s Top Christian Albums chart, and he had a sold out 34-city North America tour. But that’s NOT the point of this article…
You could go find countless posts and information merely chronicling his vast accomplishments anywhere you look. What he accomplished is important, but what I want to focus on is how he got there. How did he reach his seemingly overnight success? Cause if you’re like me, the idea that someone simple like us, just working a normal 9-5, could be suddenly selling out tours across America and Europe and have millions of followers and loyal fans, seems like the kind of stuff you dream about. Josiah said himself, “it’s like everything we always dreamed about.” So how did he do it? And maybe more importantly, is it worth it? Can we apply any of his strategies to our lives? Should we?
Josiah Queen had just graduated from the University of South Florida (USF) with a bachelor’s degree in December 2022 focusing on financing and investing. He was a 20-year-old working as a janitor at the church he grew up in, and even sometimes working at a car wash. Yet, he had a passion for music at an early age, playing on his church’s worship team and writing his own songs by the time he was 16. But 2023 found him a young graduate, writing songs with no success, and wondering how he was going to support his fiance. He had been posting on Tic Toc for several years and trying to get signed with a label, thinking success would only come if he could make that happen. But God had other plans.
After years of writing songs he thought labels wanted, Josiah said ‘Forget it. I’m just gonna make something I like.” He posted a demo of “I am Barabbas” and he woke up on Easter weekend with millions of views. He then kept releasing music every month and took his debut album to Billboard’s Christian Chart’s number one with no label whatsoever behind him. He even ended up being signed with a label Capitol Christian Music Group like he dreamed.
“It went from music is my dream to music is my living.”
– Josiah Queen
Yet even though from the outside, it could seem like overnight success, it wasn’t. Josiah was cultivating his craft and his relationship with God for years, teaching kids church on Sundays, travelling with his mom for a church ministry that taught people how to share the Gospel, playing guitar, and writing music in his bedroom. “It all comes out of my relationship with God.” He said when asked what makes him Josiah, “It’s the most interesting thing in my life.”
This wasn’t a random overnight success, he had years of quiet faithfulness, and he was rewarded for it. We see this principle captured in two passages in the Gospels.
“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.”
– Luke 16:10
“For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.”
– Mathew 25:14-30
The success we all want typically doesn’t come from doing the flashy things—just the things people notice. It comes from years of hard work that no one sees, thousands of prayers, and boring repetitions you may think doesn’t matter. In the end, the popularity and applause can’t carry you once the lights go down and the party ends. “There’ll be times when things aren’t blowing up” – Josiah said in an 991 JOYFM radio interview. “Why I have peace and joy is not because of the numbers or how people react to my music. I have to keep going back to the root of why I love music which is writing music for Jesus.”
So what brings success? Regardless of the visible achievements, it’s stewarding your passions and resources to the best of your ability. As you can see in a post Josiah’s mom made on Instagram, when it comes to your future, with God it doesn’t matter the plans you set for yourself or even the degree you get.
“Three years ago, Josiah graduated from USF with his bachelor’s degree and told his dad and me, “My plan is to never use it.” Yet watching him and Trinity walk in their God-given purpose has been nothing short of miraculous. Tonight, he’ll stand on that same ground again this time for his Mount Zion concert at the Yuengling Center before 7,000 people the very place he once walked across to receive his diploma.”
– Deborah Queen
Knowing that God is at work in everything, even the seemingly pointless parts of our lives, frees us from being paralyzed in anxiety and fear about our future. We can step out in faith and take risks, knowing we ultimately can’t mess up our lives. God will work all things for our good. It may not be a record deal or a sold-out show like Josiah. It could look VERY different from that, but his plans for us are always ultimately good. We can rely on that when we’re in the “janitors closet” of life.
We can trust him with our dreams—even broken ones. We can keep being faithful where we are no matter how boring it gets. We can be good stewards by looking for ways to use and cultivate our passions even alongside other things. God used the quiet faithfulness of Josiah and he can use your quiet faithfulness too. When no one sees, when it seems like no one cares, God sees. God cares. And one day, even if it takes years, even if you don’t see it yet, he will reward you in some way. He will use every single thing you have done to write a future better than what you may think you need, better than you could write yourself — with a long list of flashy earthly achievements or not.
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