Brittany Nicole Waddell, better known by her stage name as Britt Nicole is a Christian pop artist. Waddell began singing at the age of three in her home church.
She, along with her brother and cousin, eventually became involved with the church’s daily program on Charlotte TV station WAXN.
This Christian pop artist is known for her debut mainstream single, “Gold”, however nowadays, her political affiliations seem to be making more headlines than her career choices.
Let us explore her much-acclaimed musical career and the hurdles she recently came across.
Early life & Achievements
Born in Kannapolis, North Carolina, Britt Nicole began singing at the age of three in her church, Truth Temple of Kannapolis.
She was soon thrown into the spotlight after becoming an avid member of her church’s daily program on Charlotte TV station WAXN.
She had always been a gifted dancer, taking ballet, jazz, hip hop, and lyrical which became her passion later in life.
To focus on a full-time music career, Nicole turned down a scholarship from Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Pursuing this dream, she released an independent album on January 10, 2003, by the title, ‘Follow the Call.’
Following its success, she signed a management deal with Vertical Entertainment in 2004. The very same year she also in 2004 she released her debut extended play, Brittany Waddell.
She was signed to Sparrow Records 2 years later and released her first studio single by the name of “Indestructible” which was featured on the WOW Next 2007 compilation CD.
She also collaborated with Christian hip-hop group GRITS’ 2006 album, Redemption, on the songs “Right Back” and “Soul Cry”, both under the name Brittany Waddell.
With mild success, her second album Say It peaked at No. 40 on Billboard’s Christian Albums chart. However, her debut single from the album “You” peaked at No. 6 on Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs, her highest charting song to date in 2007.
2007 had been a big year for the young and ambitious singer. As of November 2007, Nicole released her first EP titled Holiday Trio. The EP featured a Christmas theme which was a collection of originals and covers.
Continuing this string of insignificant recognition in the music scene, Nicole continued to release albums the following consecutive years.
These included The Lost Get Found (2009); Acoustic Playlist: Bold (2010) was released under StarSong; All This Time (2011); and the much-acclaimed Gold in the spring of 2012.
The album that skyrocketed her career was titled Gold, which was made available to her fans by March 26, 2012.
The album debuted at No. 1 on the Hot Christian albums chart and No. 41 on the Billboard 200, the highest charting album on that chart for the singer.
Many of her singles from this album, including “Stand” and “Breakthrough” peaked at the very top on US Christian pop radio and on UK Christian Pop radio respectively.
In December of the very same year, she released two Christmas music videos, “Jingle Bell Rock” and “O Holy Night”.
See also: How a Tiktok Video Changed Katy Nichole’s life forever?
Following the success of her “Gold” album, Nicole was signed under the notorious Capitol Records, which had declared “Gold” as her debut single for mainstream pop radio on December 4, 2012.
The planned re-release of her album, Gold, was set for 2013, for her music to illuminate the mainstream music markets.
Revisiting the album once again in 2013, she released a Gold EP with the radio version of “Gold”, two remixes of “Gold” and the “Gold” music video.
In 2014, her song “The Sun Is Rising” was included as part of the soundtrack of the film, The Other Woman, gaining popularity without being an official single on any of her albums.
In 2015, Nicole took a break from producing originals and released her first remix album. The Remixes hit the shelves on March 17, 2015.
In the following year, Nicole announced a self-labeled album, Britt Nicole was set to be released in 2016.
After a long hiatus, the Christian anthem veteran Britt Nicole returned with her first single in five years.
The song, “I’ll Fight for You” is her first single since her time away to focus on taking care of her young family.
As stated in her Instagram post, the song was written by Nicole, Jason Ingram, and Seth Mosley which discusses the perspective of faith and her undying belief system to encourage us in the midst of our trials. “I’ll Fight for You” has also been announced as the lead singer for her upcoming album which is set to be released in 2022.
Struggles & Controversies:
Nicole came from a troubled lifestyle, experiencing anguish and bitterness over he parents’ divorce when she was seven. It is reflected quite prominently in her music, especially in her songs; “Don’t Worry Now” and “All This Time”.
In an interview, she revisited those tense events of her past and said, “I didn’t know that I had unforgiveness in my heart but I was at a church service one day and God showed me that there was a lot of unforgiveness towards my parents, where I was just holding on to the hurt and the pain. God was saying, ‘You have to let go of it, you have to forgive.’ When I did that I ended up writing the song… “
Moving past her dilemmas about marital life, she married Joshua Crosby on July 1, 2012.
In the following years, she gave birth to 3 beautiful children the name of Ella Brave Crosby, Adin Jerusalem Crosby, and her second son Eli; recently in 2019.
In a blog post, she openly discussed her husband’s infidelity after the birth of their 2nd son and the process of healing and moving on.
Read also: What Really Happened to Amanda Cook?
Moving on to the problematic core of her career, it is quite common in the contemporary Christian music industry has stayed comparatively silent on the subject of Trump, according to an article written by Billboard.
This was indicated through a rough estimate of the responses of high-grossing Christian artists about the elected POTUS including on Election Day and Inauguration Day. However, the circumstances changed by December 2019, as several evangelical worship artists who prayed for President Donald Trump in the Oval Office including Britt Nicole.
After the visit, she tweeted, “One of my favorite memories from 2019.
Visiting @whitehouse with my brother and friends!!!! I will never forget this moment. #faithbriefing.”
Things took a turn for the worst when Britt Nicole openly supported the Supreme Court ruling regarding abortions and the pro-choice movement.
Her political and ethical alinement have definitely left a sore imprint on her career as a contemporary Christian musician.
Conclusion:
Her recent attempt to revitalize her music career will definitely have to go through some hurdles.
She has a core legacy that is supported by many of her fans nationwide. Her success will continue to grow, overshadowing the negative aspects of her public and private life.
